THE TALKING FISH

This short story has been linked up to the SHORT STORY PROMPT LINK PARTY 10.

Ready? Here’s the prompt:
The fish in the aquarium looked as if they…

Now, here’s my version:
THE TALKING FISH

The fish in the aquarium looked as if they were talking to each other. As I sat in the uncomfortable chair next to the aquarium at my doctor’s office, the two fish were entertaining me enough that I wasn’t overly upset that my appointment time had come and gone.

As I continued to watch, they seemed to be gabbing away about something. I just couldn’t take my eyes off of them. They seemed oblivious to the other fish in the tank.

My phone rang, jolting me from my fascination with the fish. As I got up from the uncomfortable chair to go outside the waiting room to take the call, I noticed a little boy, probably around the age of four or five, sitting next to an older woman who was crocheting, maybe his grandmother. He was staring at the aquarium.

After finishing the phone conversation, I went back into the waiting room eager to gaze some more at the fish. I seemed to had forgotten that I was there for an appointment with my doctor.

As soon as I entered the waiting room area, I noticed my uncomfortable chair was now occupied by the little boy. Upon seeing me, he got up from the chair and offered it back to me. I thanked him as I reclaimed my seat.

I asked him if he liked the fish and he answered yes then added that he had an aquarium at his house.

I asked what kind of fish did he have and he answered goldfish.

I glanced over at the woman he had been sitting with, busy with her crocheting, she didn’t seem aware that he and I were talking.

He then looked over at the woman then at me. He lowered his voice and said, “They’re talking to each other.”

I smiled at him and he said, “No really, they’re talking.”

“Of course they are,” I said as I smiled at him again.

“You think I’m joking, don’t you?”

“Not at all.”

“Yes you do,” he said to me as he frowned.

“Justin, come and take your seat here beside of me,” the woman said as she looked up from her crocheting.

“Yes ma’am,” he said as he turned and walked to his chair beside of the woman.

The nurse called my name just as he sat down. I got up from the uncomfortable chair and glanced at him before following the nurse down the hallway. He was looking at me, the frown still on his face.

The boy and the woman weren’t in the waiting room after I was finished with my doctor appointment.

I didn’t know it then but I would see the child again.

The end.

PART 2

*This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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