Afternoon Swim
"You want me to swim with you?" Vivian asked, her voice muffled from her crouched position in the corner. She set a screw driver down on the cold floor beside her box of tools and turned to glance back into the room.
To say Professor Bruttenholm's office was impressive would be an understatement. Bookshelves towered far over her head and seemed to fill every bare wall, with a staircase that led to a second floor of books and the opening the tank that she had been working on. The lights shining into the office through the water always gave the room a soft blue glow, and Vivian often thought that if there was a comfortable chair she could fall asleep reading there everyday.
Pacing around the room was the man who lived in the tank; tall and slender, a combination of fish-like features with some that were more human-like. Vivian had grown used to the interesting people that worked and lived here through the years, but Abe had become her favorite after she had taken over the maintenance of his home.
Abe looked a little flustered and she smiled wider, grabbing another tool from her box and returning to her task. He had been pacing beside his tank since she arrived, occasionally asking questions and making small talk as she worked. This had become their norm whenever she worked around him and today was no different. He would ask about her day, she would ask about his, and they would find something interesting to chat about until she was sure the job was done.
"You had mentioned earlier that you missed your day at the pool when you got called in today. I feel that you shouldn't have had to give that up because the parts for my tank came in the mail today." His tone was as formal as ever.
A few of the smaller controls had worn down after years of constant use and were in need of replacing. They were fairly easy to work on, most of the people - including the fish-like man who was pacing the room behind her - could have replaced them, she thought. But lately she had been called in more and more to work on Abe's tank and the gear that kept him alive on dry land.
Vivian had her suspicions that he had started to request her more, but she would feel foolish if she asked him and was wrong. It was just as likely that the other workers weren't comfortable dealing with the sometimes dangerous combination of electricity and water.
"I really don't mind," Vivian said when she had finished removing a piece. She set it on the floor with a heavy clank and used a key to open the box with the new part. "It's not really for exercise in particular, it's just fun sometimes. Mom said I was always swimming when I was a kid, either in the kiddy pool in the backyard or the lake."
She had a nagging feeling that they had talked about this before, in fact she was sure of it, but she didn't mind at all. Vivian shook the new piece out of its box and the cardboard and bubble wrap fell into a messy heap beside her. This one was a lot newer, shinier, and had a display screen to show the exact salinity of the water in the tank. It was definitely an upgrade from the old part and was worth the wait.
"Even more reason then," Abe said when she went to work screwing the new part into place.
"More reason?" Vivian asked, using the back of her hand to push her hair out of her eyes.
"More reason for you to swim here. If you swim for exercise then missing a day is often not a big deal, but if you swim for enjoyment you should never miss that." She could hear the pat of his feet as he moved around the room. "You spend so much time making sure my tank is perfect. You should be able to enjoy it as well."
She sat back on the floor and crossed her legs, getting comfortable for the longer task of reconnecting the pipes and wires.
"You know, that actually sounds pretty good," Vivian said after a minute. The heat from the controls for such a large tank had been rolling over her for a good twenty minutes now and she had never explored his tank...she couldn't deny that the cool water was calling her name.
She looked back into the room where Abe was standing in front of the window to his tank. His webbed fingers kept brushing over the gills on his neck and she wondered whether he was uncomfortable being out of the water for so long while she worked.
"Almost done," she said, quickly connecting the older wires to the new part and putting her tools back into the toolbox. "Should be good to go."
Abe climbed the stairs and out of her view while she cleaned up the mess of boxes and bubble wrap, and locked the panels that hid her work. Instead of the complex wall of controls and pipes and wires of different colors there was just a wooden slab that blended right into the room.
There was the familiar sound of a light splash and Vivian locked her toolbox, set her keys on top and found herself wandering over to the window of the tank. It reached well above her head up to the second floor of the office where she knew there was a small door to enter the tank.
Abe glided in circles effortlessly around the tank and she watched in fascination. The slightest flick of his wrist and he was doing a corkscrew spin...a kick of his foot and he turned and spun in a flip, coming to a stop next to the window in front of her.
He held up his hand in a silent wave and she held up hers.
"Everything feeling alright?" Vivian asked, crossing her arms and watching as he suddenly kicked his feet forward, sending his body flying towards the back of the tank and out of her view. He took another few laps before stopping at the window again.
"It does so far." His voice always sounded different when he was in the water but she could hear him easily enough. "Would you still like to swim?"
Vivian thought about it for a minute. She didn't have her swimsuit with her, but maybe her tank top would work just the same. The bottoms were a bit more of a problem since the cargo work pants she had worn in were covered in dust and grease, two things she wasn't keen on putting into the water Abe breathed.
"If it makes you uncomfortable for me to be in here too, I can get out-"
"No, no," she said quickly and he tilted his head to the side questioningly. Vivian kicked off her shoes, deciding that if she thought about it much more she would think herself right out of a refreshing swim. In a flash Abe disappeared back into the water, the occasional shimmer of blues giving away where he was and Vivian went up the stairs. There weren't any windows along the wall on the second floor but she knew this tank inside and out, and went to the far corner of the tank where a small metal box sat lonely on the wall.
7-1-4-4-6.
Vivian pushed the numbers on the box and after a soft click sounded, the empty panel on the wall slid to the side and opened up to the tank. From this view the tank looked a lot bigger, and the familiar blue shimmer in the water glided in and out of sight.
Before she lost her nerve, Vivian pulled her jacket over her head and unbuttoned her work pants, letting them fall to the floor and kicking them into a pile by the wall. She slipped her socks off and stepped closer to the open panel, sitting on the floor and scooting closer so her feet dangled off the edge.
The small movements in the tank disturbed the cool water just enough to cause it to raise and fall, coming up just enough to touch her feet. Abe floated somewhere below her but the lights shining off the water made it hard to see where he was.
Vivian had worked in the facility for years, worked on this tank for a long time, and never thought she would be jumping into the water. Just as the doubts started to run through her mind - she was at work after all, this tank wasn't meant for her - Vivian took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pushed herself into the water.
It was colder than she was expecting and the shock of it surrounding her forced the air from her lungs in a rush of bubbles. She kicked to the surface quickly and took some deep breaths, brushing the wet hair out of her eyes and letting her body adjust to the cold.
When Vivian rubbed her eyes again Abe came up to the surface, his head bobbing just above the water.
"Wasn't expecting it to be this cold," Vivian said with a chuckle, waiting until she her breathing calmed down and her heart stopped racing to take a deep breath and dip under the surface again.
This time she opened her eyes. Everything was a little blurry at first but she blinked a few times until her vision cleared up.
Abe sank lower into the water and kicked off to the side, doing another effortless lap around the tank with a few twists and spirals.
Show off.
Vivian kicked to the surface again and took some deep breaths. She moved around in the water a little more confidently now, kicking away from the door back to the office and into the middle of the tank. Spinning around, Vivian could see the window into the office several feet under the surface. It looked darker from this side and she took a deep breath, diving down to the top of the window and peering around the room.
It was a new perspective she hadn't seen before, and she had to continue to kick down to keep herself from floating back up to the top. The darker office wavered as the water moved around her, but she could still see the books on the pedestals that were propped open and her shoes on the ground beside them. Her hair shifted in a wave in front of her face and she swept it back.
Before she could look at much more Vivian felt the burning in her chest and stopped kicking, letting her body float back up until her head broke the surface.
"What do you think?" Abe asked as Vivian caught her breath and wiped her eyes.
"It doesn't look as deep from the outside," she said. She knew all the specifications of this tank, the amount of gallons, the salinity, the width, the depth...but numbers on paper were quite different than diving in and seeing it herself.
"Make yourself at home," Abe said, dipping is head forward towards her before diving down quickly, his feet kicking at the surface and sending water splashing all around her.
Vivian watched him do another lap before deciding to see how far down she could dive. From the surface of the water to the very bottom should be twenty-five feet and would take her just below the floors of the office. She kicked hard but didn't get anywhere close before the familiar burning in the her chest brought her back up to the surface.
Vivian tried a few more times, getting a little bit closer to the bottom but always being drawn right back up to gasp for air.
Maybe I should add diving straight down to my swim routine, she thought. Vivian floated on her back and let her arms and legs go limp in the water, slightly sore the screaming of children getting their swimming lessons, the shriek of a whistle, or splashing from the swim teams, it was actually relaxing to just let herself float. The water lapped at the edges of the tank and if she really listened she could hear the hum of the machines that she worked on. But then she let her head fall back so water rushed over her ears and even those sounds went away.
"Are you okay?" Abe's voice was muffled through the water, even more-so than when he was in the tank and she would stand in the office.
"Yeah, just floating," Vivian said, spinning over to right herself. "Takes a lot more energy than I thought to swim straight down."
"You want to swim to the bottom?"
"Maybe for a second," she said. "I can in the dive pool but that's fifteen feet. This is a bit deeper."
"I'll pull you down if you'd like, and you can squeeze my hand when you want me to let go so you can come back up when you need air." Vivian reached a hand out and waited until he swam towards her and grabbed it.
She took a deep breath and nodded, water rushing passed her as he pulled her straight down to the bottom of the tank faster than she was expecting. She brushed her hair out of her face when they finally stopped, feeling her body start to float back up until Abe's grip pulled her down further until she could rest her feet on the bottom and look up towards the top of the tank.
It looked so much farther away than she knew it was and now she was peering through the window to the office, her head floating barely above the floor. Abe stood in the water a head taller than her, his feet on the ground as if it was nothing at all to just stand and hold her under. She wanted to keep looking around but she couldn't hold her breath much longer, so she squeezed Abe's hand.
He let go right away and Vivian let herself float back up, sputtering when she broke the surface and gasped.
"That was awesome," she said, grinning as Abe followed her back up to the top. "Is it hard to pull me down?"
"Not at all. I've been told a decent swimmer." She snorted at his joke. "Can you do any tricks underwater?"
"Tricks? I can do that flip-turn thing, you know, the kind lap swimmers do," she added when he tilted his head. "Not great or anything."
He glided to the side of the tank and swept his arm to the side. "Let's see."
Vivian found the wall she would swim towards and started towards it, tucking her chin to her chest before she swam straight into it and letting her body follow, flipping over until her feet hit the wall and she could kick off. She came to the surface in the middle of the tank to Abe clapping his hands, so she gave a tiny bow.
"That is pretty much the extent of my tricks," Vivian said, letting her feet float up until she was floating on her back. "Now if there was a diving board I could show you an A+ cannonball."
Abe chuckled and she thought that must have been the first time she had actually heard him laugh.
"What about you?" she asked and he dipped under the water. She held her breath and ducked her head under to watch him spin around. He kicked around lazily for a second, then quickly did a series of flips and turns around the bottom of the tank before headed straight for the same wall and doing the same flip-turn that Vivian had done...quite a bit faster and smoother.
Abe came back up to the surface and she clapped.
He did the same small bow that she had done and kicked around lazily. "I can show you how to do them."
"I don't think I can swim that fast. Or hold my breath that long. Or turn that fast," she said with a chuckle. "I can maybe do a flip."
"I'll help," he said, gliding forward and stopping right in front of her. "Same as before. Squeeze my hands when you want me to let go."
Vivian took a few slow deep breaths and grabbed his hands, taking one final breath before nodding. He pulled her straight down again, this time in front of her instead of to the side, and pulled her across the tank. Water rushed passed them as he swam faster, pulling her into a few small spins until she squeezed his hands and he let her float back up.
She watching as he sped off into more flips and a flash of red against the dark office caught her eye. Through the window there was a large figure. Vivian took a deep breath when she got to the surface and dipped her head back into the water to see Hellboy standing with his arms crossed.
"Sorry to interrupt but we've gotta go, Blue!" he shouted, his deep voice clear even through the water in her ears.
Abe swam closer to the window and when she dipped her head back under again Hellboy was walking away and Abe was gliding back up to the top of the tank.
"I have to go help him with something but you can stay and swim more if you'd like."
"I should probably head home anyway."Vivian kicked to the edge of the tank where metal ladder rings lead back up to the door. "Thanks-"
"Come on!" Hellboy's sudden yell made her jump and Vivian moved to the side, motioning for Abe to go up the ladder first.
"Thanks for letting me swim with you." Water splashed back on her as Abe climbed back into the office and she followed, goosebumps on her arms and legs when she stepped onto the carpeted floor.
"I had fun. You're welcome to join me again."
Vivian squeezed as much water out of her hair and top as she could before slipping back into her work pants and jacket. Abe pressed the numbers onto the metal box and the door to his tank slid shut.
"Hurry up!" Vivian followed Abe quickly down the stairs and she waved awkwardly at Hellboy, not sure if he was about to tease her to keep yelling. "Get your gear on, we've gotta leave now."
"I'll see you tomorrow," Abe said, trailing behind his friend who looked like he was about to throw the fish-man over his shoulder any second now.
"See you later," Vivian said and the door to the office closed behind them with a click. She slipped her socks and shoes back on before grabbing her keys and toolbox to head home.