“Well, if I can get equipment, it will certainly be an interesting project for the summer. I will start a plan and make a list to give you.” Lucy answered.
Captain Brown nodded at Lucy, then at Tom, “You were back on thin ice for a short while back then Tom, but you have made your point. Things may not be as simple as we thought.” He turned and walked over to the gathered fisherdogs, barking orders. He now directed the recovery of Thomas’s boat. The boat at the end of its trip was now approaching the beach, with the retired captain Bob, the human father and son on board.
“So Lucy, what do you think? Can we?”
“It depends on what is actually in that box. Luckily it looks to be a waterproof sealed unit, so it should remain uncontaminated. But I don’t want to open it until I have the right equipment.”
Tom handed Lucy the yellow box, then they both walked up the beach to join Sarah, Kitty and the two other kittens. The six of them chatted, but mainly they all wanted to hear Tom’s story of rescuing the mermaid.
That evening the pub was the busiest Tom had ever seen in any pub. You could barely move in the small pub, with people spilling out onto the front garden with the slightly warmer evening. Thomas came in early with his many girlfriends and his dad, the retired captain Bob. Captain Bob brought Tom a beer, saying it had been a lot of fun to get back out on the boat to entertain rather than work. The human father had paid handsomely for the few hours work and Bob admitted that it was worth it, just for enjoying a few hours back with his son on his old boat. He even asked to be considered if any more guests at Kitty’s B&B asked, so long as it was not every day.
Sarah and her kittens were sat at a table in the lounge, trying to encourage Tom to sit and join them for a meal, rather than work. Soon Sarah had to join him in clearing tables and serving as they were so busy.
The human family were over the moon with their day, and seeing merpeople for the first time, and thanked Tom for arranging everything. Even the mother cracked a smile, listening to her overexcited son retell his adventure for the umpteenth time that evening. The daughter, no longer wearing lipstick, kept smiling knowingly at him, glancing down to his crotch whenever their eyes met.
As more and more fisherdogs arrived for the evening, Tom was brought more and more beer and congratulated for his heroism. Kitty excused him from working, although Tom kept clearing empty glasses and serving in between talking to the fisherdogs. Tom struggled to keep up with the lengthening line of glasses of beer that had been brought for him.
“Hi Tom, I’m Peter,” A timid-looking dog introduced himself to Tom, shaking his hand.
“Hi Peter, I saw you here last night. Thanks but please I can’t drink anymore beer, I am trying to pace myself as it is.”
“No, haha, er, I wanted to ask, just how do you do it?”
“Sorry?”
“I watched you last night and now tonight, you are so calm when talking to females. Whether human, cat or dog, how do you do it?” Peter asked whilst glancing at Lucy in the lounge.
“Oh, you fancy Lucy?”
“NO, no. I was on the same course as her at college and whilst she was top of the class, I struggled. Even though often lab partners, I struggled to ask her for help, even with simple problems.”
Phew, well that is simple, try not to put her on a pedestal. She is friendly and wouldn’t bite your head off. Why not just go up now and ask something like, what were her plans for the holidays? If you keep it neutral and try not to overthink it.”
“Oh, thanks. Well, what about females you like?” Peter whispered in embarrassment. He did glance at the kitchen hatch to the kitchen where only Brenda and Becky were working. Well, now it was obvious he would not be thinking of Brenda.
“Ah well, that’s a whole new ball game. It’s tough. The key here is not to think of her as Captain Brown’s daughter. You must be already friends, which is half the battle. Say something positive to show you have noticed something about her. It is a bit corny but start with small things, I don’t know her well but she seems to like fashion. Say something nice along the lines of, you like the smell of her perfume, or how nice her dress or new hair cut looks. Something that isn’t too out of the ordinary, but shows you noticed her or her feelings.” Tom hated these types of conversations; it is easy to give advice but hard to follow yourself.
“Oh thanks, I’ll try later.” Peter tried to put a brave face on but didn’t look confident.
“No time like the present. The bonus tonight is that it is busy, so no one will notice if you crash and burn,” Tom said and realised that he had just undone his pep talk.
Tom moved back to see if Brenda or Becky needed a hand, but they almost shooed him out of the kitchen, saying they were too busy to have him under their feet. Tom was pleased to see that not only was the hatch clear, but Becky was furiously washing up.
Tom saw Lucy on her own in the lounge, with Sarah working and the other two kittens chatting with some dogs in the bar.
“Lucy, I have a brief question to ask before we meet up tomorrow?”
“Tom, I have a lot of questions too, mum told us. Your secret is safe with us. I am looking forward to setting up in the other cottage. All I would need is a blood sample from you and I could discover all kinds of things.”
“Our priority is the box, remember? Which is why I want to talk now? Do you need any help? Peter said he was on your course at college, would he be suitable to help?” Tom glanced up, but Peter was nowhere to be seen.
“Peter would be a real big help. He is a better engineer than a scientist. We worked well together as lab partners at college because of that. I am not good with setting up test equipment, but Peter could build us what we need, out of what we can buy. We can talk further in the morning.”
“That is good to know. We can enrol him into the team but don’t tell Captain Brown unless we have to. This will help protect the team.”
“You are bordering on paranoia. But this Brock sounds nasty if he is willing to kill Pisces.”
Tom drained his beer and left, as her two kitten sisters returned with dog friends to talk with Lucy. The fisherdogs acknowledged Tom as they passed. Tom went to *********** his next beer from his long queue of waiting beers.
“Hi, well done today.” Thomas appeared out of the crowd at Tom’s shoulder. “We were lucky you noticed that Buoy, a few of us are embarrassed that we missed it. Especially with you being a landlubber, so to speak,” he smiled.
“You’re not to blame. I am sure you were all busy. Has Captain Brown explained the full story?”
“Yes, and I know what you are, but don’t worry, I think you are one of us now. Welcome to the village.” Thomas patted him on the shoulder. Tom felt proud to have been accepted by the potential future top dog of the village.
“Thomas, I don’t think the Captain and Balthazar fully appreciate the brevity of the situation. Between you and me, that is. This badger Brock is dangerous. His willingness to kill a mermaid proves it. You and the fisherdogs must keep an eye out for any strangers asking questions.”
“To be honest, I and the other lads were already thinking the same. No disrespect to the Captain but we’re with you, Tom. Oh, Dad was so pleased to be back on the boat today. The human father even gave him a tip! The stories he told were all such fairy tales. Anytime anyone else asks, just let me know. Dad will jump at the chance,” Thomas beamed.
“Tom, can I ask you a favour?”
“Of course, what can I do for you?”
“Can you put in a kind word to Becky for me? We almost grew up together, but in the last few years she has changed.”
“But you are the most eligible bachelor in the village? You have girls hanging off you, listening to your every word you speak.”
“I know.” Then he lowered his voice to a whisper in the loud bar. “But she was my first love, growing up together with Captain Brown treating me like a son. Then she realised she was not getting the attention and changed. She has barely spoken in months, always jealousies and trying to stir things up with the other girls in the village. Today she spoke to me for the first time in ages and nothing spiteful either. She asked how dad was and how the boat trip went with the humans. You seemed to have affected her.”
“Okay, but I don’t know what I can do, we’ve barely spoken ourselves. If I get the opportunity I will try,” Tom lied. Thomas would not have been aware of his tryst with Becky in the kitchen or Captain Brown’s task for Tom to take Becky’s already lost virginity.
“Thanks.” The conversation brought to a close as Thomas was grabbed by one of the village’s female dogs and pulled back into a group of giggling admirers.
Through the crowd, Becky walked across the room with an older lady that Tom thought he should know. “Tom, this is my mum, Margaret Brown.” Tom now realised she was the woman on the cliff waving to them that morning.
“Pleased to meet you,” Tom held out his hand to shake.
Margaret lightly held his hand and shook it.
“Well, this is a first for me. But a pleasure, as it seems we have a lot to thank you for, not just Pisces, but also Becky and I. If Edgar had seen that buoy he would have tried to swim down to save her. I don’t think he would have made it back. He may not appreciate it, but I do, so thank you, Tom.”
Seeing Becky had returned to the kitchen, she continued in a sneaky whisper, “Edgar said that you’ve agreed to bed Becky? Don’t be shy Tom, we bitches like a bit of rough. You should have seen me and Edgar when we were courting, there’s a tree in the woods we use to meet at. My mother was worse as you could hear her howling at the moon some nights. Be brave, make my daughter a good bitch.” She smiled coyly, leaving Tom glowing beetroot red with embarrassment as she went on to the captain’s table to talk with all the captains.
Another evening flew by. Tom still helped with clearing and tidying up, despite his semi-drunken state, having to leave a lot of his beer untouched rather than regret it later. Soon the pub was empty again, the kittens had gone. Sarah and Kitty had gone up to Kitty’s room as soon as the pub had cleared of clientele, hinting that they wanted to be alone.
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