I Never Told You But
--
Simone gasped after her brother led her out and told her to open her eyes. “Trevor, it’s beautiful. Look how the water runs atop the mermaids and spills out from one lily pad to another. Hey, wait a minute. I don’t see a big pond. Where’s the water coming from? The water’s just running onto the ground.”
Trevor chuckled. “I never told you, but this is something Boss always wanted — a disappearing fountain. He hired some fountain architects to build the underground pond, then cover it with stones. First, the superstructure gets put into place. Then the bronze statue is placed, followed by a series of small stones to cover everything. The design allows the water to spill out, run into the in-ground pond, and then get pumped over and over. Pretty neat, huh?”
Nodding in amazement Simone’s face glowed with excitement. “We need to name them. They’re mermaids. They need pretty names, Trev.”
Simone rapped her knuckles on the closest mermaid’s backside and listened to the tone generated. “They’re hollow. I sure hope they don’t fall over in the wind. I wonder how much they weigh. Is that why the extra rocks on the lily pads, Trev?”
Trevor smiled and patted his sister’s shoulder. “No, the rocks and abalone shells help direct the water to spill out in several places, not just one. The statue casting is heavy, even though it sounds hollow. It took four men and a small boy to unload it, then set it in place. I know ’cause I was the small boy. The two installers centered it onto the superstructure. Boy, did they struggle to move it just five feet. Boss and I helped. Boss said it weighed 1,500 pounds which is like fifteen of me. The antique dealer he negotiated with for the fountain gave him a discount when he promised not to return it. The dealer had taken it back twice before.”
Trevor pulled Simone around to the other side for a different view. “Boss gave them names when he bought the statues, Daphne and Chloe. Since the statue is bronze, made in Thailand, they don’t rust. See the little bench seat? Boss will move it so we can sit and watch the water spill. It’s relaxing.”
Simone cautiously walked around and over the small rocks getting close enough to have some water splash her face. She squealed. “Wow, that’s like when Boss took us to the Dallas Arboretum where they had…
