Apricity

Waterspout (Short Chapter)

Robert White's  P.O.V

I put the bags in the back trunk of the car. I sincerely hope I didn't come too late. This job is stressful enough as it is. If I get disciplined again, I might just quit. I got into the car and turned the car on. The little lady was sitting right next to me.

Her eyes were focused on a big notebook that she was drawing in. She had a brown skin tone, and her hair was a really light brown.

Her eyes were a nice hazel brown as well. She had short curly hair that sat a little lower than her chin, but was still very short. Messy as well. She wore short blue jeans with a white T-shirt and a picture in the middle that I couldn't make out. Her sneakers were black, and her nails were painted.

Is she really Mr. Hale's niece? I heard rumors from the staff that she's actually his illegitimate child, but that can't be right. Mr. Hale isn't like that. I'd bet that it's his brother and his sister more than anything, with the illegitimate children.

My father used to work here, and he always spoke of such good things about Mr.Hale. He was always so close to the family, but when he died, I had to take his place. My dad was pretty close with the Hale children, but I'm honestly wondering how. I could barely speak to any of them, and some of them are just plain rude. How can I get close to people like that? But I know for a fact that their father isn't the kind of person to just abandon his own child.

The girl started flipping pages. I could barely see anything about them, but they all looked like animals. I'm pretty sure one of them was a goldfish. We weren't even half-way towards the mansion so it wouldn't hurt to indulge in conversation while we're at it, right?

She finally stopped turning the page and landed on a weird fish. It was small, but the drawing was absolutely magnificent. The colors of white, pink, yellow, and blue left the outline of the fish, giving it a wistful feeling to it. Did she use water color for it? I doubt the style was realistic since the fish had a rather odd shape, and was a bit dramatized. But it was beautiful. It was full of color, too.

"Nice drawing," I said, keeping my eyes on the road. Her eyes were still focused on the drawing, not bothering to look at me even once.

"Thanks. It's a symphysodon discus. I finished it a couple of days ago."

I never heard of a fish like that, but nodded anyway. She turned to a blank page and started using some kind of weird pencil and was drawing something.

"What are you drawing now?"

"A pufferfish."

Now I've heard about those. Pride builds inside of me to know some of my fish.

"That's the big fish with spikes, right?"

"Yep. Do you want to know a fun fact about them?"

"Sure. Give me three if you can," I joked.

She looked at me, her eyes sparkling, and nodded. For a second, I thought I saw a smile.

"They're very poisonous. They belong in the Tetraodontidae Family, which comprises fish that can inflate their bodies by ingesting water. One of that fun facts about them is that most of them can't actually swim well! Their terrible swimmers, despite them being aquatic animals. Oh- and not all of them have spikes. Just a few does. Some of them are very colorful to warn other predators of their toxicity, while others with not so vibrant colors can blend into their surroundings easily. Almost all of them produce this toxin called tetrodotoxin, which is really deadly. It makes them taste terrible for predators in case they eat them, their absolutely repugnant. For fish, that is."

I looked at her with only a question in my mind after hearing that bunch of information.

"Are they edible?"

She stared at me for a second and slowly nodded.

".....The Japanese calls the dish fugu."

It's almost like we could've read each other's minds at that moment. The thought of eating something dangerous excited me for a bit, and I'm pretty sure we were both thinking about how it tasted. I spoke in a serious voice.

"How poisonous is it? If I got stung, or perhaps just ate a bite of the wrong part. What are my chances of survival?"

"You'd have better luck with cyanide."

"Ah."

Well, I guess no matter how good the food is, dying is a bit of an extreme consequence for me.

"So why are you drawing it?"

"I met someone just like one."

".....A poisonous fish? You met someone like that?"

She nodded. I didn't ask questions after that, still a bit perplexed on a how a person can act like a fish. We were almost halfway there. I think about thirty minutes left? Or perhaps forty?

"Can you tell me about the Hale family?" She asked, surprising me for a bit.

"The family? Don't worry, they're pretty nice. I think you'll get along with the brothers just fine."

"Brothers? How many?"

Didn't she know?

"Mr. Hale has about eight sons."

Her mouth went wide open and turned away from me slowly. Just sitting there in shock. I guess I would be too. That's a lot of children to be taken care of. Not to mention some of them are literal assholes, but I can't tell her that. It might scare her.

"And you're like their butler?"

"At their beck and call. You too."

A small chuckle escaped her.

"That's pretty cool."

In the end, we both talked to each other until we had reached the house. I know for a fact that the rest of the family doesn't like me all that much, but at least I won over one.