Fish out of Water by Natalie Whipple

Author:Natalie Whipple
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471404313
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Published: 2015-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

“You’re going to hell and you’ll burn forever!” Betty screams over and over. I almost want to go back to Shades of Bombay, but I can’t leave Joel hanging. He probably has another person to care for in the afternoons, and he shouldn’t have to deal with more of this than he has to.

“Now, Betty. That’s not a very nice thing to say to someone.” I have to hand it to Joel, he sounds completely unfazed by the outburst.

“I don’t care! You’re going to hell!”

I reluctantly round the corner. Joel smiles like this is totally normal and gives me a hug. “She’s been an angry one today. I tried to calm her down, but she finally caught on to my orientation.”

I wince. “I’m so sorry.”

He waves it off. “Patients lose social rules quickly. Women who used to be prim and proper start swearing like sailors. Those who had few reservations to begin with let it all hang out, you know?”

“Oh, yes, I know. How do you keep it from bothering you?”

He shrugs. “Mostly I feel sorry for them.”

Finally, Betty notices I’m in the room. Her eyes go wide and she pulls at my arm. “Get away from him, Mika!”

I pull back. “Why?”

“Because!” She points accusingly. “He’s … he’s a homo-sapien!”

Joel and I bust up laughing, to the point that I have to lean on the wall to keep from falling over. Joel wipes at tears as he continues to giggle. Betty’s indignant glare only makes it more priceless.

“I hate to break it to you,” I say. “But we’re all homo-sapiens, Betty.”

Her jaw drops. “I am not!”

“You are. Homo-sapien means human.”

She frowns, thinking about it for a second. “That’s really what it means?”

I nod.

“Oh.” She glances at Joel, seeming apologetic, but then goes to the couch to watch her usual afternoon blitz of talk shows. I stare at her in wonder—she can go from a moment of complete crazy to totally normal in seconds. Every day with her is like sticking a quarter in a slot machine. Sometimes you hit the jackpot, others you lose money.

Joel is still laughing. “Can’t wait to tell that one at the dinner table.”

I snort. “Me, too.”

He sighs, for once showing some of his fatigue. “She’ll probably be a beast for the rest of the day, maybe longer than that. From nostalgia last week to cranky this week, it seems.”

“I think I prefer nostalgia.” At least that way I could learn about her past. Now that I’ve decided to be better to her, I’d like to understand why she is the way she is before she forgets everything.

“Yes, me too. At least when they’re happy memories.”

“Can I ask you something?”

He raises his eyebrows. “Of course.”

I hesitate because it will show how my attitude has changed, but I’m curious. “It just seems like this job would be hard to do all the time, watching people go through this over and over again. Why do you do it?”

“So you’re starting to get it.” He smiles at Betty, a surprising amount of love in his gaze.

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