She unbound her Terry towelling dressing-gown, 
letting it free-fall to the carpeted floor. 
Posed the nakedness of her middle-aged
body, defiantly in what was unbeknown to me,
a final exhibition of her womanhood. "Look..."
She said in a tactile voice, a kind I’d not heard
before. "What you see is not real, not the
physical me, I am a fetish of my own genesis.
You’ve accused me of deceit only I have burned
myself... Fired my life to please a conception.
Sacrificed paradise, through the dice and paid
the price. Yes, I’ve deceived you, and everyone
I’ve known for all my life, but I’m dehydrating
daily now, and long to be of my kind. Its time
I flowed with the tide!" 

I watched the early evening sunlight reflected
in a tear, slowly worming its way down her
cheek. Me and my inculpate insensitivity. I
sometimes wished I wasn’t as cold as I often
made out to be. My mouth moved without
expelling words, while the mind exploded into
reel upon reel of echoing perplexity. She began
to brush her shoulder length hair aside of her
neck. The torso twisted artistically, balancing
daintily against the backdrop of an invading
night. I observed the delicate way in which she
removed the scalp from her head, unzipped the
skin from her body letting the folds crumple
to the floor like a deflated inflatable doll,
revealing the black glossy coat of a Sea Lion.

Startled by the mutation and inexplicable
change in her equanimity, my stone cold heart
warmed by the empathy on inbred animal instincts. 
The large brown pitiful eyes, set in the puppy-like 
face, spoke in cognition when I stroked the 
velvety-smooth forehead, and asked if I could 
do anything to help. While at the same time 
engaged in bizarre thoughts of bestiality. 

As the creature spread out on the carpet,
resting on her spade-like front flippers, her coat
glistened like a wet rubber suit. My mind
speculated on the feasibility of a sexual climax.
I caressed her soft pulpy neck, but she
interrupted my intimate continuity by saying
in a peculiarly high bubbled voice. "Yes, you
may help, for tonight I will take to the
Humber and swim to my fishing grounds to be
among my kind. I have loved you more than
you will know, and will always remember the
kindness you have given me, but the tide has
turned, and the moon attracts my senses no
longer can I take my former form. Please take
me to the river bank where we will say our last
farewell." I asked if we could wait, if only till
the night had fully engulfed the evening and
had itself fallen asleep. 

Here was my wife of sixteen years, and I had
never known, never suspected her of being an
aquatic mammal. OH, I had my suspicions of
infidelity, as most men who have a woman
they believe to be the prettiest in the world.
But, now I look the evidence is there, and
always has been. Her nightly visits to the
swimming baths, the late night fish suppers,
and her amazing ability to balance a ball on her
forehead for any length of time.