Chapter 9: Fish Stick and Blueberry

One cool first Saturday of November 2018, I met my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri at their apartment in Shadyside. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. "We have a surprise for you," James told me. "What is it?" I asked. "Let's eat breakfast first and I will tell you afterwards," James told us. Breakfast was waffles. "Mmm, I love these waffles!" Henri exclaimed, taking a stack and gobbling them down. "I guess Henri is especially excited to see the surprise," I stated. James then brought in a towel with something underneath. He slipped off the towel. "Ta-da!" he exclaimed. The surprise was a tank with two fish in them. "Oooh, fish!" Henri exclaimed. "The fish are so pretty, James," Sarah remarked. "What are their names?" I asked. "The orange fish is named Fish Stick and the blue fish is named Blueberry," James told us. "We are going to draw a picture of these guys using a drawing utensil of our choice." Sarah and I drew with colored pencils, James drew with Sharpie markers, and Henri drew with crayons. "This kind of reminds me of the game Go-Fish," Henri stated. "You know, one of the games that we played together when you baby-sat me." "Sarah, do you think that if we had fish as pets back in the day, you would have been able to take care of them along with Angel and Henri?" James asked. "Well, Henri just said that we played Go-Fish, so that may be the case," Sarah agreed. "What about Uno?" I asked. "That's not really a card game dealing with fish, Angel," Sarah pointed out, "but yes, we did play that game!" "Would the fish have loved the house party you threw when you came back, James?" Henri asked. "Probably," James replied. We finished drawing our pictures. "How this job works for us is that we submit the pictures to the Union Project in Highland Park for approval, and if our bosses like it, we submit them to the Toonseum in downtown Pittsburgh, and that is where we get paid," James explained. "Taking care of fish is also a big responsibility," Sarah pointed out. "You have to feed them every day and make sure their fish tank is clean." "Do you think that we could get a job taking care of animals?" Henri asked. "Well, we did do some volunteer work at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium earlier this fall," James pointed out, "so it's a possibility." "I think these art classes would be easier to teach if we had some friends with us," Sarah admitted. "When do Carly and her parents start coming?" "They will be here the weekend after next," I replied. "Thanks," Sarah replied. "That's all I needed to know!" "Those two fish would have loved your party, James," I told my male friend. "Speaking of parties, don't we still have something going on next weekend at the Moser-Mifflins' apartment in Point Breeze?" James asked. "Yes, we do," I replied. "We are going to help Jenna with the recipes, crafts, and decorations." "Oh, right," Sarah remembered. "That should be a lot of fun!" Pretty soon, it was time for me to leave. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Bye, guys!" "Bye!"