The Pearl Fisher
A modern fable
Marla, or ‘mute’ Marla, had grown up in her small town and never left. Everyone in the town knew she could only speak in whispers, but not that it was due to a mysterious accident she’d had as a child. As a result of swallowing a fragment of oyster shell, her throat had been scratched and had never recovered. As she grew up the pain from the laceration had grown worse, until she stopped feeling it altogether, living her life in a numb quietness, watching the world around her move along while she slowly retracted and gave up trying to be heard amongst the busy noisy people that surrounded her. The people of the town grew to believe she had been cursed.
One summer a visitor arrived among the hordes of tourists that came to enjoy the beaches and restaurants dotted along the coast nearby. Allek was an engineer, and had come to the town to assess the harbour walls and structures for the County Infrastructure Board. While out surveying in the early evening, he had come across Marla near the harbour’s edge, shucking Oysters for her father’s restaurant. He’d been captured by her beauty, and had gone to talk to her, but she had seemed so reluctant to talk that he’d let her be, and gone on with his work.
This happened two more times over the following days, and when it had come to the end of his inspections Allek had left the little town with his head filled with intrigue and excitement, and disappointment, over his short encounters with this pretty young girl.
The following year Allek had made sure to volunteer for the inspections, which was heartily embraced by his city-based colleagues. On arrival, Allek had made enquiries about the girl, and by the end of his first evening in town he had heard the story of how she had been cursed to be mute from childhood, and how no amount of encouragement or patience could bring her to talk normally to anyone.
The following day, Allek had sought out Marla, determined to give this wonderful looking girl the opportunity to speak, if she could find her voice.
Instead of returning to his work when she rebuffed his attention, he set himself down beside her in silence, listening to and watching her prying open the oyster shells and deftly loosening the flaccid creatures from their protective shield. With every two-dozen she rose and carried them into the restaurant kitchen, then returned with a fresh platter and continued her work. He watched the way she moved and was entranced by her form. Long slender legs clad just in plimsolls and a pair of denim shorts, a tiny apron covering a t-shirt over her barely developed chest. He had heard in the town that she was in her early twenties, but her look was more of one in their mid-late teens. He guessed her affliction had not just affected her confidence and her voice, but her physical growth too. Her quiet, pretty face was adorned with freckles and her light brown hair was flecked with blonde streaks from the summer sunshine. He had felt a pang every time she stood to deliver the next plate, and he had felt awkward sitting watching her while she worked.
After many minutes had passed, and her basket of oysters was heavily depleted, she had looked at him with a quizzical look and mouthed the question ‘what are you doing?’ to him.
He’d told her he was in no rush, and when she’s finished work he’d like to spend some time with her. The sun was beginning to set and the crowds around the harbour were at their busiest, people moving between bars and the beach and congregating in the street, talking loudly and enjoying the warm summer evening together. Allek had told Marla that he’d like to take her for a walk and get to know her a little. Marla’s eyes had lit up when he had said this, but had quickly dropped again when she thought why he wanted to be with her. She had mouthed to him ‘I’m not a freak’, and had set to finishing her last oysters.
Allek had been able to convince her that he didn’t think she was a freak, and had gone so far as to tell her honestly how sitting with her and watching her had made his heart flutter and his chest ache in a way that he’d never experienced before.
And so the pair had set off for a walk after dark, Marla leading the way while Allek spoke about what he’d heard and how he’d made sure he was able to come back this summer to find her again. Marla had felt safe and relaxed, and allowed herself to whisper to Allek in the quiet of the darkness away from the crowds.
She had felt alive, and noticed, for the first time in years, and enjoyed speaking quietly with Allek. His warmth and charm had made her feel comfortable, and she’d even allowed herself to kiss him back when he leant his face towards hers and pressed his lips to her cheek. Her first kiss had sent sparks through her body, and over the next couple of nights the couple had met again, each time exploring and enjoying each other a little more. Marla had felt she was being heard for the first time in her life, loud and clear, Allek’s hands and lips listened to the words her body spoke, responded and gave her feelings she had only dreamed of for so long. Her tears had been from joy, not from pain, and she had begun to believe that Allek might be her one, the first and only person able to see her for herself and to accept and love her as such.
Allek had returned to the city again but had got in to the habit of making regular trips to the coast to see his love. Marla looked forward to every visit, and gradually their relationship grew more intimate and they began to make love together in the quiet places beyond the town, where the noise and bustle couldn’t be heard, and where Marla’s soft whispers sounded to Allek like cries of joy. Their bodies had been entwined like ribbons in the wind, and when they reached climax together it had been like a wild storm in the sea, wracked by powerful waves to a point of near drowning, so intense had it been.
As time passed, Allek and Marla experimented with each other, and became so close and tight together that Marla was able to bring herself to tell Allek the story of how she had come to have nearly no voice. She explained how the laceration had made her throat so sore that it had caused her not to speak, and how she had learned to avoid the crowds of people so that she didn’t have to face explaining her affliction. She told Allek how since she had met him she had felt a lump in her throat, and that it was growing, like a ball, and that she felt that the closer they got the larger the ball was, and how she felt it was a sign of their love.
Allek looked into Marla’s throat and was able to see something shining from deep down inside. He felt her neck and was able to make out the shape of a ball, smooth and hard, the size of an olive.
Allek got excited, and told Marla that he would get it out for her, that he would help her to find her voice by removing the obstacle that was growing inside her, making her mute.
Allek set upon a plan, and despite Marla’s protestations, one night he set upon her, tying her down to her bed, and he began masturbating. He looked at her beautiful body restrained beneath him and it made him feel powerful. He rubbed his shaft until he was close to his climax, then positioned himself over her and brought himself to orgasm, pointing his glans towards Marla’s mouth, sending his thick creamy cum past her lips and down her throat. As she swallowed she whispered the word ‘no’, and stared at him with a terrified look in her eyes.
He placed his hand on her neck beneath the ball, and massaged it firmly, using his cum as lubricant to work the ball upwards towards Marla’s mouth. He got more and more excited as the ball rose up, Marla gurgled and wrestled as she felt it rising in her body. Soon Allek could see a glistening pearl appearing at the back of Marla’s mouth. She had given up struggling and he pinched and kneaded her throat until the irridescent ball popped out past her lips and into his open palm.
Allek was overjoyed, he’d recovered a beautiful pearl, and at the same time rescued his love from her lifelong affliction. He turned to her to celebrate, hoping to hear her first words spoken in full. Instead he looked on her face and saw there was no light in her eyes. Her body lay limp and her lips were dry. Her skin had taken on a pale grey pallour. He looked on her, checking for vital signs, dropping the pearl on the floor as he became frantic. ‘Marla! Marla!’ He called, shaking her shoulders, but with no response.
Tears formed in his eyes as hope drained from his heart. He knelt over her bare corpse, and he felt numb. He looked at the beautiful, sparkling pearl on the floor and realised what he’d done. He sobbed, in silence.