Chapter 6

Lenny woke up the next morning eager for his first day of work. As eager as he was, though, he wasn't entirely sure what exactly he would be doing or what kind of payment he would get. But as long as he was helping kids who were in the same position as he was, nothing else mattered. There were only two things he wasn't looking forward to: taking orders from Nathan and embarrassing himself in front of Kylie again. He was convinced no matter how hard he would try, the latter prediction was sure to come true. Recap of yesterday: he bumped heads with her twice, revealed his nerves by rambling, and almost broke his nose when he said goodbye to her. He was sure today would be no different, but at the same time he couldn't wait to see her again. She was, after all, unlike any other girl shark he'd ever met. Beautiful, spunky, and above all a vegetarian. But even though she was all that, Lenny knew he would have to focus on whatever work he would be given. "No distractions," he told himself as he left his room.

He arrived at President Patrick's office at nine o'clock.

"Good morning, Lenny," Patrick said tiredly. He clearly wasn't a morning person. "Welcome to your first day as part of the organization. I trust you slept well?"

"Yes, Sir," said Lenny. "Thank you."

"Glad one of us did," Patrick yawned.

"Is everything alright, Sir?" Lenny asked.

Patrick nodded. "I wish I could say it's been worse. I was up all night worrying about Nathan. He snuck out and went Lord-knows-where. Then he showed up for work today acting like nothing happened. But I'm not buying it. Anyway, that's of no importance. Follow me, I'll take you to your workstation."

Patrick led Lenny down the long hallway. Each door they passed led to a different workstation in the lost and found organization. Lenny was surprised at how many kinds of jobs there were.

The Patrol Squad was one of the main things that made the organization possible. It was their job to patrol the reef and look for children (fish or sharks) who had been separated from their families. They would then try to locate the child's parents using whatever information the child would give them. If the child appeared to be an orphan or their parents were either abroad or simply hard to find, the squad would take them to the shipwreck and provide them with food and shelter until their parents came to reclaim them.

There was also an art department. Lenny couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of a lost and found organization having an art department. Patrick then explained to him that this department was by no means a laughing matter. The people in that department designed flyers on which to put photos of the children whom they were giving shelter. These flyers would then be plastered up all over the reef informing citizens of the found children who were missing their families. If their parents recognized the child in the picture as their own, they would know where to go to claim their lost children. Lenny then understood the importance of the art department.

They passed one more door before proceeding to whatever department Lenny would be working in. And frankly, Lenny was glad they passed this door instead of stopping at it. It led to the organization's infirmary. Lenny didn't need an explanation for that area. It was clear to him that the children in there had acquired disease after separation from their families. Patrick then said that it wasn't just for the sick. Most of the children in the infirmary had been dragged away from their homes because they were abused and neglected by their families. Those were the kids Lenny could most relate to. Even though Lino had never been physically abusive, he'd certainly acted neglectful towards Lenny. Working in an infirmary full of abused, neglected, and possibly dying children would only bring back more unpleasant memories.

"Here we are, Son," Patrick said, coming to a sudden stop.

"What department is this?" Lenny asked.

"I remember in your interview you said your main goal is to help the kids," Patrick explained. "So help the kids, you will."

He pushed the door open and Lenny followed him inside. The two sharks found themselves in a large room that was chalk full of three things: cots, toys, and kids. Lenny was relieved that these kids, of whom there were about thirty, all looked healthy and happy. If he was going to work with kids, he wanted to see them smiling.

"This is where the kids stay until their parents come to claim them," Patrick explained. "Or in a few cases, until a new family comes to adopt them. But whatever the case, we do our best to make them feel as much at home as possible until they leave. And that is exactly what you will be doing."

"Stay in here with the kids all day and make sure they're happy?" Lenny summed up.

"I know it isn't exactly glamorous," Patrick admitted. "But it's where most rookies in this business get started."

Lenny looked around and noticed about ten young adults who were giving the kids toys, reading to them, or giving them snacks. They were attending to the needs of the children and they didn't seem to be happy doing it. If anything, some of them actually looked stressed trying to juggle the needs of thirty kids at once. Their attitudes changed some when they noticed their president's presence. They tried to make it look like they were having the time of their lives when deep down they were worn to a frazzle. Lenny could tell this just by looking at the bags under their eyes.

"Everyone looks so traumatized," he said quietly to Patrick.

"That's another reason why I'm having you work here," Patrick replied. "I can tell you're a very patient and understanding young shark. That's something many rookies I've seen lately don't seem to have. But they have to learn to grow if they ever want to make it to the bigger departments. You can't be a part of the business if you can't be patient with kids. And here are two people who have to learn that the hard way."

A wave of nervousness washed over Lenny when he saw Nathan and Dustin approach them.

"I really hope you two are being good for the kids," Patrick said strictly to the two of them.

"Yes, Dad," Dustin said nervously. "You know we only live to serve the little guys. You can count on us for anything."

"I hope so," said Patrick. "Now then, I'd like you two to give a warm welcome to our newest addition. You remember Lenny. Lenny, you remember the idiots."

Lenny smiled nervously. "Hi."

It was hard to tell if Nathan was giving him a dirtier than usual look or was just being himself. Lenny pretended it was the latter.

"I expect you two to be patient with Lenny," Patrick advised his sons. "If he does something wrong, don't reprimand him. Remember it's his first day and he's bound make at least one mistake. And Nathan, don't screw this up."

Nathan sighed. "Yes, Dad."

Presently, another employee approached the group. If Lenny wasn't nervous upon seeing Nathan and Dustin, he was a train wreck when he saw that it was Kylie. She was holding a five-year-old hammerhead female in her arms.

"Good morning, Kylie," Patrick greeted her.

"Morning, Uncle Patrick," Kylie replied. "Morning Dustin, Jerk-face." Nathan continued to look upset. "And good morning to you, Lenny."

Lenny sucked up whatever nerves he was feeling and said, "Hey, Kylie. That's a cute kid you got there."

Kylie laughed. "This is Madison. She gets to go home today, lucky girl. Her mom's waiting for her in the lobby as we speak so I better not keep her waiting. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, I'll… see ya," said Lenny. He kept his eyes on Kylie until she left the room with Madison in tow.

"Hey, Half-pint," Nathan snapped. "If I were you, I'd focus less on my cousin and more on my work."

"Then why don't you?" Patrick asked him. "Get on with your work, both of you."

Nathan and Dustin obeyed and continued with aiding the children.

"What does Kylie do anyway?" Lenny asked Patrick.

"She keeps track of the names of all the kids," said Patrick. "So by the end of each day, we know which ones have been taken home and which ones still need to be taken home. Anyway, that's pretty much everything you need to know about the organization. Be good for the kids and, unless it's completely stupid, listen to whatever the idiots have to say. If they give you a hard time, you know where to find me. And you can take your twenty-minute lunch break whenever you desire. All that said, enjoy your first day."

For the next few hours, Lenny paced the room slowly with the other employees giving whatever comfort he could to the children. Some of the needs were pretty basic, like picking up toys for the kids on cots or getting them a tissue if they had a runny nose. But quite a few of them were especially difficult to cooperate with. One or two of them never said a word and the others would scream and cry until the employees would get a headache. Lenny could tell these were the ones who had just recently been placed in the organization's care. Regardless of how loud or silent, Lenny would help the kids with their problems the minute he would sense they needed help.

It had been about three hours when Lenny's patience was put to the test. A four-year-old leopard shark began screaming and crying so randomly that every single employee and even a few of the other kids jumped in surprise. To Lenny, it seemed like a full-on emergency because the other employees all rushed to the toddler's side in an instant. Lenny lifted his head, trying to see past the crowd. He could just barely make out the little pup, but he could see enough to know that none of the employees knew what was bothering him. They each held up a toy to him or made a funny face, but he just kept crying.

At last Nathan, who was standing a few yards away from the chaos, felt it was time to take action. "What the halibut is wrong with him?" he snapped at the other employees.

Dustin was not pleased with his brother's choice of words. "Oh sure, as if he's not miserable enough! You have to go and make things worse with your trash talk!"

"I'm gonna trash your face if you don't find out what's wrong with this kid!"

"Can you not see we're trying?" Dustin hollered. "In case you haven't noticed, he's been here for two days and other than his name, he's never said a word to any of us! What makes you think he's gonna tell us what's bothering him?"

It was clear to Lenny that they wouldn't get anywhere screaming at each other. So he decided to take this matter into his own fins. Even though he knew what was upsetting the leopard shark pup about as much as Nathan and Dustin did, anything was better than letting him continue to scream. So while Nathan and Dustin were at each other's throats and the other employees were trying to calm the kid down, Lenny tried to seek out the problem himself.

"Alright," he said to himself. "What could've happened that made him start crying so randomly?" He'd always heard that the best thing to do in a situation like this was to retrace his steps. So he searched his memory trying to remember what the kid had been doing in the three hours since the workday started. Whenever Lenny had seen him, he was sitting on his cot playing by himself. "That's a start," Lenny thought. "Now what was he playing with?" He retraced his steps once more and remembered the kid was playing with a tiny red rubber ball. That must've been why he started crying. He must've dropped it on the floor. "Well, mystery number one's solved. Now for mystery number two: Where'd the ball go after he dropped it?" That was a really tricky question seeing as a tiny rubber ball that can both roll and bounce super high could be anywhere. Lenny got down on the floor and started looking under each of the cots. After about thirteen tries, he finally saw a red spherical object under a cot about twenty feet away from the chaos the other employees were creating. He picked it up and smiled at his accomplishment. Then he approached the other employees (just in time too, Nathan was about to give his brother a broken jaw) and raised his voice to get their attention.

"Hey, guys!" Everyone looked up at him. "I think I found the problem!"

"Oh do you?" Nathan asked, less than impressed.

"Nathan, just give the kid a chance," said Dustin, who Lenny was starting to feel better about. "Go ahead, Lenny."

Lenny swam up to the leopard shark pup and held out the rubber ball. "Hey, little guy. Is this what you wanted?"

The boy smiled and took the ball from Lenny's fin. "Thanks a lot, Mister!"

Lenny chuckled. "Don't mention it."

The other employees were stunned. They must've not expected a new guy as young as Lenny to be so good with kids.

Nathan, who was no less impressed, clapped his fins once and said, "Alright, people. Kid's happy. The show's over. Back to work." Once the others had returned to aiding the other children, Nathan and Dustin approached Lenny and Nathan said, "Okay, I have to admit even I'm impressed."

"Yeah," said Dustin. "Not only did you know what he wanted, but you got him to say four words in a row. I couldn't even get him to say one."

"Well thanks," said Lenny.

"Seriously, though," said Nathan. "How'd you know what he wanted?"

Lenny smiled in a know-it-all fashion. "You tell me, you're the big brother." Then he swam away, leaving Nathan with a dumb-founded look on his face.

"You know, he's got a point," Dustin said to his older brother. "How come you never gave me toys?"

Nathan's mood went from fluster to anger. He looked Dustin straight in the eye and said, "Oh, you want toys? Okay. How does a prosthetic fin sound?"

End of chapter