Chapter 14: Fishing lessons.
The four of us left, just as evening was setting in. Lucy had invited us round for dinner, I happily accepted, I was glad that I would be having something other than an apple. Punchy happily accepted too, any excuse for food. To my surprise, Dotty declined. She made her excuses, by saying that she wanted to try and catch some bugs. It probably wasn't an excuse.
We waved goodbye to her when we reached the wishing well. She headed off to her house whilst we headed to the Town Hall. Lucy had mentioned that the recycling bin was used to get rid of unwanted stuff and anyone could help themselves. I had thought you could only get stuff in moderation, I was wrong. Lucy said you had to be quick, most of the residents checked everyday. In addition to the red sofa, I had found earlier, there had been a wallpaper, carpet and some clothes. When Lucy, Punchy and I arrived back, however, it was a different story.
We peered into the empty bin, slightly dismayed. We only had the few apples and shells to sell. It was better than nothing, but it wouldn't fetch much. I sold all mine for one thousand and seven-hundred Bells. It meant I could buy the shovel, rod and net and I still had two-hundred left over.
"You should start a bank account, Mrmpht!" Punchy suggested, and after dinner, I did exactly that.
It was just turning nine when I headed back up to the Town Hall. We had spent a fair few hours at Lucys', eating banoffee pie and some blue cheese salad. I had never had either before. I didn't think much of the banoffee pie or the blue cheese, but the salad was nice. We also spent much time discussing the other animals who lived in town, Tom Nook, Pelly, some other pelican called Pete, another pelican called Phyllis, Mabel and Sable among them.
"Ugh, a customer…" A purple pelican, obviously Phyllis, was at the counter, instead of Pelly. I guessed they switched for the night shift. Lucy and Punchy had told me, more like warned me, that Phyllis was completely different to Pelly. She was rude, impatient and snippy. She liked to mutter under her breath, probably berating her customers. Her description reminded me of Opal.
Like Opal, Phyllis also wore make up that didn't suit her. The same bright blue eyeshadow was back, looking more in place on Phyllis than on Opal, but still weird. Phyllis also had dark purple blusher on. That, definitely, didn't go with the bright purple colour she was.
"This is the town post office, what do you want?" She sighed, sounding snippy. Already? Jeez…
"I'd like to set up an account." I pulled out the bag of money I had on me.
"You mean savings account?" Of course, what else? I nodded. Phyllis sighed again, as she got things set up for me, the mutterings had started. "Leave me alone already!" She took the money from me. "Your balance is fifty-billion Bells! Just kidding! It's actually two-hundred." She laughed, rather viciously. She sneered at me when I didn't laugh back and, then, adopted an even more poisonous tone to her attitude. "What is it?! What else?! Hurry up already…"
"Erm, nothing."
"Fine, don't let the door hit your tail on the way out! Quit loitering and shoo!" I didn't know if that was a saying, or if she actually thought I had a tail. It didn't matter, I just wanted to get out of the way. I left hurriedly and bumped, literally, into Lobo.
"OOF! WATCH IT!" He growled. "Oh, it's you, Aimee." He looked me up and down, almost scrutinizing me, often muttering something. "You'll do." He said, eventually.
"Excuse me?" I may have been getting used to their rude behaviour, but it didn't mean that I had to like it.
"Dotty told me you wanted to help with the fish exhibit, Ah-rooo. She also told me that you didn't know how to fish. I suppose I'll have to help you." The way he spoke, it was like I had asked for his help, and that I was being a complete burden by asking. Like he was doing me a favour. I didn't want any half-hearted favours, I could manage alone. "Come on then!"
I jumped. I hadn't noticed that Lobo was already walking over to the stream, expecting me to follow. I sighed, irritably, and followed. I felt that I had no choice.
We ended up at the stream by Nook's. Lobo told me to get my rod out ready and look for black shadows. He spotted one before I did and cast his rod into the water, inches away from the black thing. It looked more like a tadpole than a shadow to me.
"Now we wait, Ah-rooo." Lobo uttered, quietly. The tadpole-shadow thing approached Lobo's bobber cautiously and, without warning, rushed straight at it. Lobo didn't react. I felt like shouting at him to pay attention, but, to my amazement, the bobber didn't go under, instead the fish attacked it a few more times, before finally deciding to pull it under. That's when Lobo reacted. He hauled it up instantly and an ugly little, black fish was dangling at the end. I felt sick, my dinner jolting in my stomach. Thankfully, it decided to stay down.
"You have to be patient, if you want to fish." Lobo warned, putting his rod, and the fish, away. "Be careful not to reel the fish in at the first bite. You'll end up scaring it away. There are different types of shadow, indicating different types of fish-tiny, small, medium and large. You can also find fish in the sea. Fish all year round, weather and season changes bring a change of fish too." This sounded like a lecture, I wished I had a notebook. "Got all of that?" I nodded. "Good. Hopefully you will help fill the exhibit up in no time, Ah-rooo."
"How come you don't donate any fish?" As soon as I had asked, I wished I hadn't. The look Lobo gave me was rather murderous. The phrase- 'don't shoot the messenger' sprang to mind.
"What makes you think I don't?!"
"I-it's empty." I stammered. "And Dotty said you keep the fish you catch."
"Hmmm…" His expression softened a little, his eyes stopped glaring. "I suppose I do keep quite a few fishy pets. Alright then…" He dug the fish back out of his pocket and stuffed it in mine. It shocked me, the fact that a live creature was in my pocket and the fact that it could survive. "…Give that fish to the museum from me. Make sure you said I donated it though. I'll make no promises, but I'll try to give more to the museum. I do like to keep fish as pets." He gave a little chuckle, looking a lot more approachable than I had seen him.
I promised him I would donate the fish and say it was from him, and started to set off, to do so. He stopped me before I could get too far. " Donate lots of fish to the museum, Aimee." He said, looking slightly concerned now. He was obviously determined to see it complete, just like the rest. Maybe he hadn't realized how much so. "Do so and you may gain my respect, Ah-rooo."
I hurried to the museum, feeling quite tired. Come tomorrow morning, I would be working again. And I was expected to do some fishing too. And find out about fossils, paintings and catching bugs. So much to do.
"Hello again." Blathers greeted me, as I entered the museum. I pulled out the fish from my pocket, it was slimy, eurgh. "Can I help you?"
"I'd like to donate something, on behalf of Lobo."
"If Lobo wants to donate something, he'll have to come here himself."
"Oh… Ok, I'd like to donate something."
"One can only feverishly wonder what you wish to donate! Woo hoot!" Ok, that was weird, but I handed over the slimy fish, regardless. I'd have to stay out of Lobos' way for a while, but I hoped he'd understand that I had to be the donator. "Ah, a crucian carp, if I'm not utterly mistaken." He examined the fish carefully. "Did you know, crucian carp, unlike normal carp, lack whiskers?" I didn't and I didn't particularly care. Fish didn't appeal to me in any way. " This little fellow will be safe with us, Wot. I assure you we will take very good care of him. We thank you, so much, for your kind donation." He seemed to have perked up a bit. "Is there anything else that you would like to donate?" I shook my head, he thanked me again and I hurried off to my house.
Waiting outside for me was, surprisingly, Kody.