Chapter 3-December 20
The next morning as Mrs. Ketchum let herself in she heard a strange noise coming from upstairs. She tiptoed up to the second floor and became very curious when she realized the sound was coming from the bathroom and cracked the door open. She had to cover her mouth to keep from giggling. Professor Oak was singing in the shower and she almost died laughing when he hit a few off-key notes.
You don't know how you met me
You don't know why
You can't turn around and say goodbye
All you know is when I'm with you
I make you free
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea
I'm singing
Follow me everything is all right
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you wanna leave
I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me.
!ELDERSHIPPING!
Professor Oak limped out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, toweling his unruly gray hair. Delia was hunched over on the couch reading the notes they had taken the day before. She looked over her back.
"Do you ever go home?"
He whipped the towel from his head. "When did you get here?"
She glanced at the clock on the wall. "About ten minutes ago. Did you know that your bathroom has wonderful acoustics?"
He turned beet-red. He quickly put his shirt on in hopes of covering his embarrassment. "You, ah, heard me singing?"
"Mm-hmm."
He plopped down next to her, his face in his hands. "How embarrassing."
"Actually, you're not too bad. Not necessarily too good, but, altogether, not bad. Now lets see that leg." She reached down and grabbed his leg, dropping it on her lap.
"Huh? Ack!"
"Oh, hush." She ran her fingers over the strange…well, rash was the only thing she could think to call it, but that wasn't right. It now covered his whole foot and was half way up his thigh.
"You're quite fast, Mrs. Ketchum."
"I've had to live with Ash."
"Point taken."
"What were you singing?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Something I heard on the radio last night. It kind of got stuck in my head. I think it's by someone called Uncle Biscuit…Cracker…something like that."
"I see…Oh, dear. It seems to have gotten worse."
She didn't get a reply back because when she ran her hand up and over his thigh, he went cross-eyed and speechless. Oh yeah, it's confirmed Samuel, you're old but definitely not dead.
He quickly drew his leg back. "So, what's for breakfast?"
"Whatever you decide to make."
He looked pointedly at her. She just laughed.
"I'm just kidding."
"You wouldn't think it was so funny if you tasted my cooking."
"I'm sure. By the way, nice six-pack." She patted his stomach as she stood up.
Delia covered her mouth as she turned around. I can't believe I just said that. To tell the truth, that was an understatement. Wow was more like it, especially for a guy his age. Double wow!
Professor Oak wasn't really sure what to do and sat there with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds. He then decided to just smile at the complement.
!ELDERSHIPPING!
Later that day Mrs. Ketchum was bent over another microscope with another slide of Kabuto oil on it and a notebook next to it. Professor Oak sat nearby with his 'affected' leg propped up as he copied the notes they had taken yesterday on to his laptop. They were so engrossed in their work that they didn't hear the phone ring at first.
Poké-poké, ring-ring-ring, poké-poké.
"What the…"Professor Oak didn't even look up from his laptop as he pointed in the general direction of the stairs. "Phone."
"Oh." It took her a second to find the phone since it was under a pile of papers.
"Hello, Professor Oak's lab."
"Mime-mime."
"Oh, hello, Mimie."
"Mime-mime, my-mime."
"Okay, thank you Mimie. I'll make sure and do that."
She hung up the phone and looked around the lab. "Professor Oak, where do you keep your transistor radio?"
"It's…uh. Oh, dear. It seems I forgot where I put it." He looked around with a slightly confused expression on his face.
Delia poked around the lab and spied it on the shelf above his head. "Never mind, I found it."
She reached up and flipped it on. When she realized the batteries were dead she slipped a new set in and flipped it on again. Static, darn.
She twiddled the dials and found the local station.
There's gonna be a heartache tonight, a heartache tonight I know. Oh, I know.
That was The Eagles with Heartache Tonight and you're listening to PPKM you're home for the best music anywhere. Up next is PPKM news with Augusta.
Thanks Izzy. This is Augusta with your PPKM news and weather. Christmas is only a few days away and our weather center is sending out a blizzard warning. It seems the worst snowstorm of the season is blowing in from the west. They're saying it should be here by about midnight so I'd suggest you folks out there stock up and be at ready. In news today…
"Oh, my."
"Maybe you should go home Mrs. Ketchum. It would be horrible for Mimie to be stuck at home in a blizzard all alone."
She sighed. "You're right. I should head home."
She grabbed the keys off the table by the door as she hopped around trying to put her boots on.
"Bye, Professor."
"Um…bye."
He turned back to his computer as she headed out the door. That was a dumb thing to do Samuel, now who's going to help you with your problem?
He clapped a hand to his forehead. "I can be so stupid!"!ELDERSHIPPING!
Delia hurried to her house and was about to open the door when a voice behind her caught her attention.
"Hello, Mrs. Ketchum."
She glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, hello Mrs. Greene. How are you?"
"Not bad. I'd be better if Tom were home from that silly outing with all of Professor Oak's other assistants. Say, didn't Ash go with them too?"
Delia had to think for a moment and then she remembered that Tom Greene was one of Professor Oak's assistants studying grass pokémon.
"Yes, he and Misty decided to tag along with their friend Tracy."
Mrs. Greene followed Delia into the house. "So, where have you been the last couple of days?"
"I've been over at Professor Oak's lab."
"Doing what?"
"Well, you see, he…"
She was about to spill Professor Oak's problem to the town's biggest gossip and figured that it wouldn't go over well with the Professor.
"He…sprained his ankle and I've been over there helping him to take care of all those pokémon that his grandson and my Ash sent him. There're nearly four hundred, you know, and he needed some help. Since I wasn't busy I volunteered."
"Is there anything I can do."
"No! I mean…not really. The two of us seem to be enough to take care of the pokémon."
"Have you heard on the news about the blizzard coming through?"
"That's why I'm home. I've decided to take Mimie and a few of my things over to the lab. Professor Oak won't be able to move around much for a while so I figured I might as well wait out the storm at his lab. It's better suited for waiting out a blizzard."
In more ways than one. She blushed at the thought. Luckily her cheeks were already pink from the biting wind and Mrs. Greene didn't notice.
"How about I help you carry some of your things."
"Thank you, I'd really appreciate it."
A few minutes later Professor Oak heard the door open. "Hello, who's there?"
Mrs. Ketchum's head peeked around the armload of clothes she carried. "It's just me, Professor."
Mrs. Greene walked in the door with Mimie not far behind. "Hello, Professor."
"Mrs. Greene! What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm just helping Mrs. Ketchum move a few of her things here."
"Ah, I see."
"By the way, how's your ankle?"
"My ankle?"
Delia gave him a look from behind Mrs. Greene that obviously said 'play along.'
"Oh, yes…my ankle. It's been better."
"Well, I hope it heals soon. See you all later."
Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum watched silently as Mrs. Greene pranced out into the swirling snow.
"What was that all about?"
Delia sighed with relief. "I didn't think you appreciate me telling the town gossip about your little 'problem,' so I made up some story about you spraining your ankle."
"Thank you. You were right, I do appreciate you lying for me. Wait, that doesn't sound right, but thanks all the same."
She criticized the piles in front of her. "Now, what'll I do with all this?"
Samuel's eyebrows shot up. "You're staying?"
