"So Beth tells me you don't like the water." Charlie mentioned during their car ride from the restaurant. "That you can't swim."
"That is true." Alastor said. "Beth on the other hand was probably a fish in another life because as soon as she learned to swim, it was nearly impossible to keep her away from the water. She'd probably choose to live underwater if she could breathe down there."
"How come she loves it so much but you don't?"
"Well my dear let's just say I've never had any good experiences with water. But what about you? Are you as crazy about it as Beth is?"
"Oh yes. Yes I am. In fact you could say that I was born in the water."
"That's great because I really need someone to be with Beth when she goes swimming. If she were to become caught in a current and somebody wasn't able to get her out, I...I just don't want that event to ever come into fruition."
"Beth's a strong swimmer. It probably won't but there is a way that can be prevented without you having to rely on me or anyone else."
"Oh? How?"
"You could learn to swim."
There it was. The suggestion that he had been given for as long as he could remember. "Learn to swim." Now he knew that people who told him that were right and it wasn't unreasonable for that to be expected of him but the problem was his psyche just wouldn't let him learn. Every time he went under water it would trigger terrible flashbacks and visions of terrible moments of his life that had been caused by water. His near drowning experience at the hands of his bastard stepfather and the loss of his beloved biological father who's corpse now lay at the bottom of the Atlantic somewhere. It was like his mind could only focus on that whenever he tried to swim.
"It's best that I don't even bother Charlie. I really don't think me learning to swim is a possibility for me. In fact I'm certain that it's downright impossible."
"I believe that nothing is impossible."
"Oh really?" He chuckled at her belief which he thought to be very naive.
"Yes. Ever since I learned what the people in your world have accomplished, I have no doubt that anything can happen. You create devices that play music and tell stories, ones that produce heat and cooling, even ones that give you the ability to fly. That's something nobody could do where I come from."
"I guess when you put it that way, it can seem that nothing is impossible."
"And I know I've already seen so much today but I wanna see more. I know every wonder that exists here."
"That can be arranged but I'm afraid you'll have to be patient. I have a job to work in the evenings."
"What kind of job?"
"Nothing special. I just perform at a cabaret."
"You perform? Oh I love performances! Especially musical ones!" She was as giddy as a child at all you can eat ice cream buffet. "Is it a musical performance? Music is my favorite but I do enjoy acting and impromptu."
"It's musical but it's not like it's Broadway or anything. It's just me singing a few songs on stage."
"That sounds wonderful. Can I watch you perform? I bet you have a beautiful voice."
The way she looked at him and said those words, it made Alastor blush and feel himself get a little flustered.
"Um...Sure...If you really want to that is. But not tonight. Beth has classes in the morning so bringing her to the cabaret would keep her up too late and I really don't want to leave her alone after dark. Tomorrow perhaps? It's not a school night."
"Great! I can't wait!"
She had such a sweet smile. Probably the sweetest and most genuine he had ever seen. There wasn't anything fake or pretentious about it, she was sincerely happy to be seeing everything around her and she was sincerely excited about seeing her perform. It was drawing him in like a bee to a flower.
Speaking of flowers, the scent of flowers was permeating from her like mad. Her fragrance was like lavender, aster, periwinkle, and holly all in one. Alastor wondered what the source of her scent was. Neither he or Beth had any special scented soap, oils, lotions, or perfumes. He was a male who didn't take an interest in feminine products like Angel and Beth had always been too tomboyish to think about using such items. So how did Charlie obtain that fragrance?
"Pardon my asking, but where did get the perfume?"
"Perfume?"
"Or special soap or lotion or bath oil?"
"I don't understand."
"Please don't take this as perverted but you smell very floral and we don't carry floral scented items at my house so I'm just curious to where you picked them up."
"I didn't pick up anything. I didn't use perfume or special soap, lotion, or bath oil. This is just how I smell I guess."
"You're not serious."
"But I am. Is how I smell a problem?"
"No! No! Not at all! It's just I didn't think it was possible for someone to smell like flowers without using perfume or any other product." He caught sight of her eyes. "Or have eyes that are two different colors...Is that your natural eye color or are you wearing colored contacts?"
"What are colored contacts?"
"Okay that answers my question and now I'm getting a little scared."
"Why? What's the matter?"
"Nothing. It's not you it's just...It's actually a little embarrassing and I Sam not in the mood to tell you about it now. Now we should probably just pick up Beth and go back to the house. I have to be at work in an hour and a half."
"Are you alright? You seem upset."
"Upset? No. I'm not upset. Look at me. I'm fine."
"You know a smile doesn't always mean you're truly happy. I mean your mouth maybe turned upward but your hands are shaking and I think that's sweat on your forehead."
"Well my dear, aren't you the perceptive one." He chuckled nervously. "But really I am fine. I'm just slightly anxious about...my performance tonight. Yes that's it!"
"But Beth says you never get anxious about a performance."
"Well this one is different because...Because...Because the usual musicians won't be here tonight. It's their night off and the replacement band is not used to my tone and rhythm. I'm worried I may not be in sync with them."
"Oh I know how you feel. When I performed a concert with my sisters for the first time I was scared to death that I wouldn't keep up with them but in the end we were the perfect chorus."
"You can sing?"
"Yes it's one of my greatest passions."
Alastor felt his nerves spike even higher.
"How nice." Alastor said. "I'm sure you're very talented at it."
"Would you like to hear me sing?"
"No. Not now. Now's not a good time because I'm driving and I wouldn't want to get distracted."
"Oh right!" Charlie agreed, recalling the siren incident from when they first met earlier. "Where's my head? I almost caused a terrible accident."
"Now I wouldn't say that sweetheart. Your singing may have teased my attention but definitely not to a degree that I would cause a collision or anything."
"That's what you think." Charlie thought anxiously.
Up here she really needed to be careful with her voice. Just the simplest melody from her lips could lead to five disasters in one day. She had already caused Alastor to nearly die by her careless singing once. Next time it wouldn't be a close call.
"I'll be getting off work really late so while I'm gone I would like for all the doors and windows to stay locked." Alastor explained. "You can take Beth down to the beach to go swimming but once it gets dark I want her back in the house. She's not to go anywhere."
"I understand."
"There's plenty of ingredients to make sandwiches for dinner and if you're really hungry, Beth will show you how to make instant fish which if you ask me isn't real cooking but she likes it so I buy it for her."
"Okay."
"I'll call around eight just to make sure everything is going well. Can I expect you to answer my call?"
"Sure."
"Oh one more thing, if a strange man with platinum white hair comes by don't be alarmed, he only has one third of his sanity but he's harmless. Well at the very least harmless to people like you and Beth. You can let him in and he can help himself to anything in the fridge but don't let him find the key to the liquor cabinet. And if he ends up passing out on the couch, you can have my bed."
"Oh…Well that's good to know. I think."
"Really you have nothing to fear from him but I sincerely hope that I'll be there when you meet him for the first time."
"Why?"
"If I tell you, you may never want to meet him and let's leave it at that."
Charlie gave him a skeptic look but did as he requested. Keeping silent up until they picked up Beth from school and drove on back to the beach house.