Wrote this with help from my daughter Rachel.

Once upon a time there, was Lea, a mermaid princess who lived in a big beautiful palace with her father and mother, the King and Queen, and her 18 sisters and 14 brothers. She was watching Coral Vision (the local TV station) when an advertisement came on about the latest Krusty Flipper concert, which was coming to her lagoon next week.

 Lea started flipping out about the concert, and swam to her daddy to ask him if she could go. But, he said “No, you are too young and irresponsible to go. I am always tripping over your seashells, and your room looks like a seaweed swamp.”

 Lea drifted toward her room, crying. Her mom heard her crying and came to help her. “My dear, what is wrong?”

 “Daddy won’t let me go to the Krusty Flipper concert. He says I’m too young and irresponsible.”

 “Well,” mom said. “I guess you’ll just have to convince him otherwise.”

 “What do you mean, mom?”

 “If you show him you are responsible then he’ll have to let you go.”

 “How do I do that?” she asked.

 “Find out what chores you can do, and then do them.”

Lea hugged her mom, “Thanks mama. I’ll do that.”

So Lea went to the King and asked him what she could do to earn his trust, and convince him she was responsible.

He said, “Sweep the floors, wash the dishes, clean rooms and pickup toys. If you can do these things in the next two days, then I will let you go.”

“YAAAAAY!” Lea celebrated.

She went right to work, but after cleaning the kitchen she heard a loud crash. She quickly poked her head back into the room, only to find Brando, her annoying little brother, tossing pots and pans on the floor, and throwing food on the walls.

Lea put her hands to her cheeks. “BRANDO! What are you doing? I just cleaned in here.”

He just laughed. “I’m having fun!”

“You need to stop that. I am trying to clean the house so I can go to the Krusty Flipper concert.”

He stuck his tongue out. “I don’t care, nyaaaaah.” Lea almost cried, and floated back out into the hallway. Some of her older sisters swam by, and noticed she was upset. They asked what was wrong, and Lea told them about Brando.

“Leave him to us,” they said. “We’ll take care of little weirdo boy.” Laughing, they darted into the kitchen. Shrieks and screams came from it. Lea looked inside to see her sisters kissing Brando, as he tried to fend them off.

“Leave me alone!” he yelled. But the sisters persisted, and Brando swam out of the room with the sisters chasing him.

With Brando otherwise occupied, Lea cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned, picked up toys and put away sea shells, until nightfall. Exhausted, she finished, and slept very soundly that night.

 In the morning, she went to her father. “I’m finished with my chores.”

 “Did you do it all by yourself?”

 “Yes, well, sort of, ” she said.

 “What do you mean?” her dad asked. “Did you do the chores or not?”

 “Yes, I did the chores, but my sisters had to keep Brando out-of-the-way because he was creating messes where I had cleaned.”

 “Excellent work my dear, and good problem solving in regards to Brando,” he said. Then he gave her a big hug and said, “Thank you for being a responsible girl. You may go to the Krusty Flipper concert with your sisters, because they helped you out.”

 The King called for Brando, who slunk into the room looking very sullen. “Guess what. I have something for you.”

 Brando’s face lit up. “Oh boy, what it? Cookies!”

 “Not quite,” the King replied. He handed Brando a long list of chores to do. “Have this done by the end of the day, or you will have to clean Lea’s room every day for a month.”

 “NOOOOOOOOOO!” Brando screamed. His daddy looked at him sternly. Brando froze, and said very quietly, “Sorry dad.” He grabbed the list. “I will get right on it.”

 “Good boy,” the King said.

 With her sisters, Lea went to the Krusty Flipper concert and they all had a great time!

THE END