Not all mermaids live in the water. Some mermaids live on land and only fish in the water like other people who cannot swim as well as they can. Along Galveston Island the creatures are thick; but to any other person they would seem to be simply other women with broad behinds and thick thighs. They have to hide their fins somewhere. The Jolly Roger is a boat that a set of sisters calls home. It is also a place where they dive to uncover sunken pirate gold from the days when Galveston was a Mexican pirate town and corruption was not confined to the field of politics.