Dramatis Personæ

These are the major & minor characters of the Tails from Colony Island series. At the moment, some but not all of the characters are listed on this page. I hope to expand the list and increase the amount of information regarding each character. Eventually, there will be one page for central characters and one for minor characters. If your favourite character is not listed, go to the contact form and send me a note.


Penelope Anne Tench – First child of George & Ilene Tench. Appearance: Brown hair, brown eyes. Pretty but in a “girl next door” kind of way. Around a size 6. Age: 25-ish.

Hates the name “Penelope”. Wants people to call her “Anne” but almost no one does. Her mother calls her “Penny”, just about the only one allowed to do so. Her father calls her “Fishy Face” or “Princess Fishy Face” because she used to make faces at the fish as a child when they went for family swims together. Everyone else calls her “Pen” which is better than “Penelope”.

Born at sea like most residents of Colony Island. Attended the non-public school for island kids known as The Colony Academy or “The Academy”. Favourite childhood toy was a stuffed dolphin named Mr Splashy. Liked to play “Tag” & “Hide & Seek” with Anthony (a.k.a. Tony) Fishburn out on the reef.

Does not like to be at sea for more than 3 days. (Equivalent to a week-end camping trip.) Oddly enough, she loves sleeping/napping under water. By the time she’s 25, it will be the only thing that she likes about being a mermaid.

Hates sushi. Will eat & enjoy some seafood but otherwise, it’s an effort to get her to eat any.


Peter Tobias Macpherson –  Youngest son of James and Martha Macpherson. Age – 25-1sh. Has one sibling – James (Jim) – who works as a writer in Seattle, WA. (Jim will appear in the series as the Best Man at Peter’s wedding.)

Lived in Western Tidewater, VA. until his parents died.  Father passed away when Peter was 16 after a long illness. The family moved to that house so that it would be easier for him to get around. His mother lived long enough to see Peter graduate from college and then passed away shortly thereafter.

Martha never really got over her husband’s death. Cause of death was reported as “Natural Causes” but the general consensus – Peter included – was that his mother died of a broken heart.

Peter is good-looking but in an average sort of way. He is no “Pretty Boy’ but then, Penelope doesn’t particularly care for pretty boys.

Peter graduated with a BS in computer science from a small college in eastern N.C.  His roommate for 4 years was William (Billy) King, a music major.


Ilene Merman Tench – Mate to George Marcus Tench & mother of Penelope Ann Tench. Ilene is a very warm and motherly type of person. One might even go as far to say that she was born to be a mother.

She is more favourably disposed towards humans than most of the residents of Colony Island. Her friends half-jokingly accused her of trying to act like a human when she attended Penelope’s choral concerts in High School. Her willingness to let Penelope attend university sealed that accusation.

She has worked as a volunteer at the county library on and off for years and has been good friends with the library ladies for some time. She was once invited to the wedding of one of the ladies’ daughters and returns the favour when she invites all of the ladies to Penelope’s wedding. The ladies will be amongst the guests invited to the reception.

Ilene is just about the only person allowed to call Penelope “Penny”. She is around 5’ 8” and looks like a slightly older version of Penelope with a trim figure and brown hair. Has a sister, Grace, who is married to James Tench, brother of George.


George Marcus Tench – Mate of Ilene Tench and father to Penelope Anne Tench. Works from his office at home as a private investor. He also manages the town’s investments and the part of Ed Waterman’s portfolio not directly tied to his business.

George has an AA from the local Community College as well as countless investment classes & seminars under his belt. He drives a black Hummer – he liked the way it looked -but does not worry about the mileage as it is used mainly on the Island and for trips to Royston, the county seat.

While not fabulously wealthy, he is quite well off. Although he can be quite stoic, he dotes on his daughter.

His mannerisms and reaction to things is reminiscent of William Powell’s character in “Life With Father”, moustache included. Can be gruff sometimes but loves his family deeply.

He’s approx. 6’ tall, medium build with black hair. He is the grandson of the merman who – along with Ed Waterman’s grandfather – dove down to free a snagged fishing net and discovered the wreck of the Spanish ship that has funded the town for years. He has an older brother (James) whose 2nd child, Lindsey Tench, is one of Penelope’s closet friends.


Carl Fisher (a.k.a. Carl, the pizza guy) – Carl is probably the most laid-back merman on Colony Island. His sentences are punctuated with “man” and “dude”. Carl is in his late 20’s.

Education: High School & some community college.

The third child of Abe and Rebecca Fisher, he feels abandoned and adrift but still manages to soldier on with a smile and a friendly attitude. Widely regarded as the unofficial mayor of Colony Island, he manages two pizza joints: North End and South End Pizza. While the shops are owned by the real mayor, the work provides Carl with a decent living and an escape from loneliness.

Though Carl was loved by his parents, he always harboured feelings that he was more the customary third child rather than Carl, their son. This was brought home to him when he arrived at his parent’s house one evening after bunking with a buddy for a couple of weeks. He found the house locked & empty. A note for him said that mom & dad were retiring* and going to sea for a year or two. His belongings were waiting for him at his sister’s and the rest of their possessions had either been given away or were in storage awaiting their return. He later discovered that his siblings had one or two items from their parents’ house but there was nothing for him.

Carl lives in a small apartment complex usually reserved for young couples waiting to move into their first real home or for older merfolk waiting for a bungalow to come open. He is currently seeing a feral mermaid but things will not end well.


Mrs Garr – an Older next-door neighbour of Ilene and George Tench. Mrs. Garr’s mate disappeared at sea over 25 years ago and she has declined to choose another. She secretly keeps a candle burning in the window of her heart, hoping for his eventual return.


Ed Waterman – Former neighbour of George & Ilene. Ed turns over his house to Peter & Penelope when he relocates to California. President & CEO of an advertising & marketing firm founded by his father. It has offices all over the US and he spends much of his time visiting them. The most successful merman on Colony Island. Thoroughly at ease in the human world.


Gail Waterman – Late wife of Ed Waterman. A convert, she was originally his secretary. Killed in a fiery road crash on her way to meet Ed’s incoming flight from St. Louis.


Maureen Roe – Editor of the Colony Chronicle. Roughly Ilene Tench’s age. They are old fries who don’t see each other as often as they would like.


Amy Elisabeth Seagull — VBFF of Penelope. Daughter of Lorraine & Phrastôr. Works at Edna’s Home & Bath.

Father is feral as was her maternal grandmother. Coming from a close feral lineage, the family didn’t really have a last name. Seagull was chosen at random in order to fit in.

Because of her father’s absence, Amy is shy & insecure around males. Will fall in love with Billy King, choose him as her mate and will have the 2nd wedding on Colony Island.

Has an older brother who went to sea as soon as he graduated high school. Amy has only seen him a couple of times and those occasions took place when she was small.


Lindsey Tench — Penelope’s first cousin who attended the University of Nebraska where she was a cheerleader. Living inland didn’t bother her much at all and she took a job with an insurance company immediately upon graduation.


Cindy Waters — Nurse and future mate of Mike Beach. BFF & Bridesmaid in Penelope’s wedding.

A bit of a loudmouth and a notorious flirt but a sweet girl underneath it all. Will study to become a Nurse Practitioner at the University of Miami.

In Penelope’s circle of BFFs, Lindsey & Cindy are closer friends while Penelope & Amy are very close. Nonetheless, they are all very good friends. Amy, Lindsey and Cindy will be Penelope’s bridesmaids.

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