The Seahorse Society Ch. 01

Trish never really fit in during her formative years. She was a gawky awkward teen with glasses. The nerdy weird girl that was a science buff and dressed as non-girly as seemed possible. She was shy and quiet and lacked confidence through her early teen years.

She'd gone through some phases of trying to discover herself. The vegan phase, the pink hair phase, the Goth chick phase, plus more than she cared to remember or enumerate. She was studious and did well at school but her only friends were other rejects and nerds. The sort of kids that stimulated her intellect, but not much of anything else.

She was a three on the one to ten scale and she never bothered pushing it when it came to guys that she found attractive or interesting. As she got older and blossomed her body matured and she wound up growing some nice proportions. But she hid herself behind frumpy baggy clothes and her strange quirky personality that had become a defense mechanism to keep others from bothering with her.

Still Trish was lonely and she journaled and wrote and fantasized about finding a guy who was right for her. That special guy who would take the time to see beyond her defenses and oddball behavior. She could almost picture him. But he never really arrived. It was always just a faint shadow from her dreams.

Romance that others were destined for but not her. She grumbled and then laughed out loud when she told herself that she'd probably wind up one of those weird bitter old women with a lot of cats and not much upstairs. But her amusement in a sad way came to her when she remembered that her last cat had literally run away. A rescue cat of all of five days.

Great she thought! I'll be the one old cat lady who won't even have a cat to talk to.

Trish shook her head and continued to live her life and study and read books and magazines to fill the void that romance had left her with. She eventually got a biology degree and even considered teaching for a while.

One day she took a drive to the coast and while standing there she fell in love with the beach and the ocean. She decided to see if she could transfer her job to Florida and after a successful relocation she started spending time at the beach and even sitting on a bench at the Inter Coastal Waterway or ICW where she would read a book or watch boats cruising by with fishermen or vacationers or locals enjoying the water.

It was on such a day that she first saw Todd. He was tall and blond with wavy full hair and a great smile. He was nicely built and seemed very pleasant. He loved to come down to the water and fish a while near the bridge.

The benches and parking spaces where she always sat were about twenty or thirty feet from where he would cast out his fishing pole and where he cast netted for bait before he began fishing.

Todd always smiled and waved to her and she looked at him nervously and tried to smile back. But it was always awkward and she would hide her face back in her book while he returned to fishing and pretended that he had not just embarrassed her.

Trish was studying marine aquariums. She thought that perhaps one day she'd set up a tank of her own. In fact she'd done some looking into it and gone as far as purchasing a thirty-gallon aquarium and a small matching cabinet and filtration system.

Her set up was actually a very nice one and while she was terrified to actually try to set up the tank for fear that she might just kill the fish, the idea still appealed to her and she studied marine aquariums and husbandry more and more. So for now she had an empty aquarium and it's stand sitting in her living room as a continuous reminder of her goal.

Maybe she'd be able to get some sort of small hardy marine fish? Nothing too expensive or fancy. Just a little friend that she could have in her apartment to keep her company. She was reading an aquarium book on the morning that Todd cast his net out and gasped in astonishment as he spoke to the ground where he'd just pulled the net free.

"Well look at you! Aren't you a beauty?" Todd said to something that squirmed in the wet seawater and mud.

Curiosity overcame her shyness and she peeked out from her book and leaned over to have a look.

"What have you got there?" She asked nervously.

Todd was surprised to hear the shy girl speaking to him. He smiled.

"It's a sea horse! Come have a look."

Her eyes widened. A real sea horse? She'd never seen a live one up close before. She stood and walked timidly closer.

Sure enough a sea horse wriggled in the draining saltwater puddle as Todd smiled and grabbed his bucket. He picked it up and placed it into the water quickly.

The small tan and grey creature was rather dull in colour, but had a beautiful form and healthy fins. Todd looked at her smiling as she looked down at the sea horse.

"You're welcome to have a closer look. He won't bite you!"

She raised an eyebrow.

"He might. You don't know me too well."

Todd laughed and shook his head as she crouched down and took a closer look.

The sea horse may have been a dull ugly colour but it was stunningly graceful and swam effortlessly in the bucket. As she studied it Todd smiled again and spoke.

"They use their pectoral fins, the ones on the side, to swim with. The dorsal fin, that's the one on his back, is used like a rudder to steer with."

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with her middle finger. Todd wasn't sure if that was some sort of nerdish slight or just the digit she chose at the moment to get the job done.

"I know what dorsal and pectoral and caudal and ventral fins are! Duh!" She stood with her arms crossed and leaned back away from him for a moment.

"I know you do! Duh!"

Now she was getting nervous again. Was he flirting with her? Playing some sort of game? She had no clue. He looked at her with his bright blue eyes and she looked back at the bucket hoping to change the subject.

"So what are you going to do with him?"

Todd shrugged.

"They make crappy bait, but if I can net up about six or seven more they make excellent crunchy bar-b-Que kabobs! Mmmmmmmmmh Yummy!"

He said to her horror.

She looked at him wide eyed and upset.

"You're going to eat him!?"

Todd laughed. He had no intention of actually eating a sea horse, but the cute girl in glasses didn't need to know this.

"Maybe... maybe not. That depends on you!"

"On me?"

He nodded. "Yep! Totally up to you!"

"How so?"

"Well there are two things that can save him from my grill. Your name, and if you promise to take good care of him in your aquarium!"

"Huh? My name? I can't just tell you my name. You're a, ah... you're a total stranger!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? That's the best you can do? A little melodramatic line and that bit about me being a total stranger is pure bullshit. You see me and I see you down here all the time. Try again or I'll eat that sucker like a nice crispy baby-back rib!"

"You wouldn't!"

He crossed his arms over his chest.

"The hell I won't! What's your name?"

"If I tell you you can't eat him, okay?"

He shrugged.

"You have two ways to spare him. So first tell me your name, then agree to take care of him and I'll let him live a happy healthy life!"

"Fine! My name is Martha! Happy now?"

He shook his head.

"You're lying! I thought you cared about the little sea horse! Oh well. They are mighty tasty and crispity crunchy if you prepare them right!"

"Okay, okay, fine! I'm Trish!" She gasped.

He looked at her and nodded with a smile.

"See that wasn't so hard was it now?"

She shrugged and looked at the sea horse again.

"I'm Todd." He offered extending his hand.

She gingerly took his first two fingers in hers and shook the extended fingers quickly as if he were diseased and she didn't want to touch him.

"Todd? What kind of name is Todd?" She said feeling a bit of disappointment. She had hoped he'd had a fancier name like Michael or William or maybe Daniel. Todd? She ran it through her head phonetically Tawwwd! Kind of crude and simple sounding. Oh well. Todd was his name. It could have been worse she supposed. He was still very cute.

"It's my name!" He said shaking his head.

"You don't get out much do you Trish?"

"Whatever Tawwwd!" She said it with emphasis on each sound like horking out a spitball of phlegm.

"Okay so now you just have to give him a good home in your aquarium and he's all yours."

She frowned.

"What makes you think I have an aquarium?"

"What am I an idiot? I see you reading aquarium books and tropical fish magazines all the time. You always have saltwater aquarium books so it's a natural conclusion. You either have a saltwater tank at home, OR you are going to set one up soon. And now he's going to need a place to live, so this is perfect Trish!"

Her heart raced. This was so awkward.

"I... I have a saltwater tank at the house, but it isn't running yet. I can't take him Todd."

Todd licked his lips as he stared down into the bucket.

"Fine I'll cast net up a few more and have a nice meal tonight! Nice meetin' ya Trish!"

She took a deep breath.

"Wait! Fine. I'll take him home. But if he dies it's your fault. I'll come out here and kick your butt Tawwwwwwwwwwwwwd!"

He laughed.

"I'd better come by and make sure you do it right then Trishhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Now she smiled and looked away from him.

"Fine!"

He nodded.

"Fine. I'll pack up and we can get him to your place while there's still plenty of air in his water!"

She was gob smacked! She couldn't believe it. The guy she liked was actually coming over to her apartment! She began to sweat a little as she thought about it. This was so weird!

As she drove he followed. He had a several buckets in the back bed of his pick up truck. Now they were full of water from the ICW. He'd warned her not to drive too fast. He had to be able to follow her and not slosh out the sea horse or all of the contents of the open containers.

When they arrived at her place she panicked a bit inside. Had she straightened up this morning or was her living room a mess? Did guys judge that sort of thing? What if they did? What if her place was a mess and he was also messy? Would he not want to hook up with someone who was a bit messy too? Why was she even tormenting herself? She tried to calm down and took a deep breath as she unlocked the front door and let him in.

He was carrying two five-gallon buckets, which were almost full of seawater. He walked in and looked around. "Where do you want these? You have a kitchen floor I can set the buckets down on?"

She pointed to the kitchen doorway and he smiled and headed there to set down the buckets.

"How big is your tank?"

"It's um, thirty gallons. Why?"

"Well, we'll need to replace about half of your water with water from the ICW unless you have the salinity at a similar level."

She nodded nervously.

"So how much water are we replacing was more what I was trying to figure out?"

She pointed to the living room and he walked in and smiled as he looked across the room at the stand and empty aquarium.

"I see that you have air fish in there right now." He joked.

"I just wanted to be sure of what I was doing before I set it up!" She protested.

He held up his hands palms out in a placating gesture.

"Hey Trish, it's a joke. I'm not criticizing. I think it's actually quite smart that you decided to study first before you started a tank going. Most people do the opposite. They get a tank, set it up, cycle it and grab fish and live corals before they know much about what's going on. Then when things go bad or problems pop up they lose a lot of money and kill a lot of marine animals because they were too impulsive and didn't take the time to really learn what they were doing. So this is actually very cool."

She smiled. He was being supportive. That really surprised her in a good way.

"Thanks Todd. I just want my fish to live. Ya know what I mean?"

He nodded.

"Yes I do. Let's have a look at your filter set up."

He opened the cabinet and studied the wet/dry filter and her protein skimmer.

"This is a nice little set up actually! I think your sea horse will love this place once you have it set up properly and decorated with the right stuff."

She smiled.

"How come you know so much about aquariums?"

He winked.

"Oh because I'm a super genius. You probably didn't know that about me. But that's okay. We like to hide out as mild mannered fishermen when we're resting our giant noggins!"

She shook her head.

"You're a nerd?"

"No. Not really. I'm much cooler than a plain old nerd. I'm sort of like a proto-nerd!" He bragged.

"Seriously, how do you know saltwater aquariums?"

"My father is a marine biologist. My mom too. I grew up with aquariums and diving and snorkeling these waters. We've had tanks for years when I was growing up."

"I see. So you know how to help me set this thing up properly?"

He nodded.

"This thing is practically idiot proof! Hell, even YOU could set this up!"

She shook her head and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh very mature! You need to learn about the finger girl! Much more expressive when someone is being an ass."

"You're a real weirdo!"

He nodded.

"Guilty as charged. Shall we get your tank set up?"

She nodded and watched with interest as he gathered the remaining buckets and began to fill up the aquarium and her sump. The tank was still a bit low when he finished and introduced the sea horse to the aquarium. It hid in a corner of the aquarium.

"Your tank is too barren. That will stress him out. Plus I ran out of water since I didn't know you had an empty tank. I'm going to go back and get some decorations for your aquarium. Stuff to help him feel more secure. You can hang out here and wait for the water to clear, or if you like..."

"I'm coming with you!" She interrupted.

He nodded.

"You're a very pushy girl!"

"You're a big dork!"

He laughed.

"Shhhhhhhhh, the little dorks might get jealous if they hear that!"

She smiled and he jingled his truck keys.

"Shall we waste two tanks of gas or have I earned the pleasure of your goofy company?"

She snatched the keys from him.

"You can come with me, but I'm driving. That way there's no funny business."

"Good idea! With your hands full I should be safe from any groping or molesting! Sweet! You drive."

They were almost to his truck when he stopped her.

"Now you do know how to drive an automatic right?"

This time she flipped him off.

He gave her the thumbs up.

"You learn fast! Gotta give ya credit girl!"

They waded in the shallow water with a bucket and a small hand spade to dig up turtle grass and other small plants from the silt and sand beds. They were able to fid a few smaller chunks of live rock with tiny marine hermit crabs and filter feeding crustaceans on them along with polyps and tunicates. He also showed her how to shake some of the loose fragments of red sea weed to release a bunch of copepods into the bucket.

"The sea horse will need you to come down here every two or three days to get more copepods and micro shrimp for it to eat!" He said.

She nodded and stared in fascination as he rattled off the names of all sorts of tiny organisms and living creatures that they had gathered. They returned to the tank and filled it the rest of the way with water and decorations from the ICW.

She watched in fascination as the tank water cleared and the light showcased her lone sea horse as he moved through the aquarium.

She was stunned to hear the tiny popping sound as it sucked up nearby copepods.

"This is really amazing Todd!"

He nodded.

"In time with your filters running he may change colour. They often turn brighter as time goes by."

She smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you. I'm so glad I met you."

He nodded.

"Yeah, I get that a lot!"

She shook her head and stepped back.

"You're very full of yourself aren't you?"

He shrugged with a stupid grin on his face.

"I get THAT a lot too!"

"Anyway, I do appreciate you showing me how to set this up and how to take care of the sea horse."

He nodded.

"If this is the part where you kiss me in gratitude I have to say, I don't do that sort of thing on a first aquarium set up! Just so you know! I have social standards."

"I wasn't gonna kiss you Tawwwd!" She emphasized his name phonetically once more.

"Oh good! That's a big relief. I can respect that you just like me for my super genius intellect and not my body."

They both laughed.

"I do want something from you though."

She looked at him suspiciously.

"What?"

"I want to be able to come over now and then to check on the sea horse?"

She laughed.

"I might let you do that."

He shook his head.

"No, Barney specifically asked for me to check up on him. He whispered it to me in sea horse. A language, which only I can understand!"

"I am sooooooooo not calling him Barney! You're a really weird guy!"

"Thank you! And Barney told me you would say that!"

"What? That you're a really weird guy?"

"No. That you were going to try to change his name."

She punched him very lightly in the shoulder.

"I'm not calling him Barney ya dork!"

He nodded and walked to her door. Then turned and winked.

"As Arnold always says in his movies, I'll be back!"

She giggled.

"Thanks. I'd like that."

He cupped a hand to his ear feigning being hard of hearing.

"Huh? What was that?"

She flipped him off again.

"You better go!"

He stuck out his hand and she shook it feeling a strong urge to kiss him. This was so strange. She never had encounters like this. As he shook her hand he suddenly pulled her close and kissed her. It was a long passionate kiss that stunned her and she closed her eyes in amazement as he did this.

When they broke apart she opened her eyes slowly and looked at him biting her lower lip in sudden nervousness. Her heart was pounding in her chest. This was so great and also so terrifying.

"Wh-why'd you do that?"

"Just to make sure you didn't do it to me first. That would have been so awkward for you, and I didn't want to put you through anything awkward like that!"

She nodded absently feeling butterflies in her stomach and a sense of excited wonder in her heart.

"Uhhh thanks..." Her voice was soft and obviously a bit surprised.

He loosened his hold around her waist and took a deep breath.

"Okay. Well this was interesting!" Then he leaned his head sideways to look past her into the living room and spoke in a louder tone of voice.

"Barney don't worry bud! I'll check in on you and make sure our little aquarium keeper is feeding you and taking care of you!"

She pushed him lightly in the chest!

"Stop calling him Barney!" She snapped with a weird grin on her face.

"Oh you know you like that name! He's not a Frank so don't even try it!"

"I'm closing the door now Todd!"

He laughed and turned then headed for his truck and drove off.

Trish closed the door and took a deep breath. Her heart was still racing and she was sweaty and nervous. He'd kissed her! That was so strange and romantic, she thought. Then she walked back into the living room and pulled a chair up in front of the aquarium to study and watch her new sea horse friend.

"You're not a Barney! I'm going to have to figure out a better name for you than that! Something dignified. Maybe something from classical literature. Like Poseidon or Neptune, I dunno? Something better anyway!"

She paused. "I just got kissed by Todd and I'm talking to a sea horse. How weird is my life?"

The sea horse silently swam among the planted sea grasses and hunted for crustaceans as it clung to the leaves by its long tail. It was quite a remarkable sight. In fact this had been quite a remarkable day! Thoughts of everything that had happened were played back over and over in her mind and she mulled and pondered and thought about the significance of what had taken place.