The Manners of Mutts | Luca & Marrok
Long and arduous terrible days were only that much longer and much more arduous when plagued by the presence of others, any and all others who today in particular seemed to exist for no other purpose than to make his life that much more difficult, for once, the beleaguered sea creature more than willing to simply clock out at the end of his eight hours, call it a day, leave the place behind and head back to his sanctuary in Siniy Square where thankfully he could lock the door. He had at last, thanks to his hawkeyed (and rather smug now that he was thinking about it) supervisor insisting he go home, reached the last of the boxes to unpack, a place for everything and everything in its place, and had done a little bit of grocery shopping after putting the final touches on his Neoclassical Revival and deciding where his personally painted seascapes were to be hung, nothing left on his list of little to-dos but to enjoy his surroundings, perhaps open a bottle of wine, put on some music and cook himself a nice meal. It was not that he was sick of the sushi place in town already or any of the other little cafes and bistros dotting Pidvone Misto’s underwater cityscape, but sometimes there was definitely something to be said for solitude, not having to smile politely at a well meaning hostess who looked at him with pity when she asked ‘dinner for just one?’, not having to worry about the chefs in the kitchen absolutely butchering what was usually a long and complex order, and not having to pretend to be very very interested in his phone or tablet to discourage wanderers from coming to his table to say hello and welcome him to the neighborhood when they did not recognize his face.
Well let’s see what’s on the menu tonight… What did I buy and what am I in the mood for? Crab Cioppino with shrimp and clams sounds lovely and I am in the mood for something Italian, but it’s a bit too warm for a stew, I think and if I spend all that time over the stove, the house is going to be unbearably hot. Hmm. It does take a rather great deal of patience and effort to make the broth for– oh at least eight hours, I don’t have eight hours and I don’t have any pre-made stock that’s been properly seasoned and infused so that’s out, then. That’s a weekend meal when I have all day to do that and bread too, I should pick up some more garlic while I’m thinking about that. If I head into town and pick up some red pepper too that I forgot about entirely, I could make squid pizza with a saffron aioli and then I wouldn’t need to make myself an appetizer, I could use the leftover aioli for vegetable dip and some lemon gelato for dessert would go with that quite nicely and then I don’t have to make that either. Well that settles that then, that’s what I’ll have and a nice Moscato spritzer is very end of summer and the peachy citrus notes won’t clash with the lemon…
So deeply entrenched in his thoughts the entire way to the little gourmet market, the man’s pondering pulling every last bit of his focus that wasn’t currently being used for watching other drivers, pedestrians, dogs, and any other variables that might have been floating about, until at last his vintage Mercedes convertible had pulled itself neatly into the closest available parking space designated for the less able-bodied, the engineer grabbing his cane and slipping out of the driver’s side with his mind very much still occupied and a terribly focused look on his distinguished and handsome features. Red pepper, a little bag of garlic cloves, maybe a few nice shallots if I do decide to make that Cioppino this weekend. Thankfully, that only required a stop to one particular area, the produce department, before he was ready to leave and let himself unwind and relax with a well-deserved culinary adventure in his own lovely home, about to head inside and make haste with getting in, getting what he needed and getting back out again when a sneering voice caught the merman’s attention and caused him to turn around with a stonefaced expression that offered no friendliness in his normally warm eyes.
Could you walk any slower?
“As a matter of fact, yes I could,” Luca smiled a bit tensely with those dark mahogany orbs of his narrowing in their lids and not in a generally pleasant sort of gesture that accompanied one of his more genuine expressions of happiness either, his gaze taking stock of the sight of the stranger in an entirely unhurried manner as if he was sizing him up and appraising him, that irritated closed-mouth turning up of his lips melting into a sarcastic smirk as a scoff sounded from somewhere in the back of his throat. Bloody teenagers and their angsty faux-rebellious natures, the whole group of them should have been shipped out to the wilderness to become feral if that’s how they were going to act, practically half there already with their loud music and destructive habits, not to mention their complete and utter lack of self-awareness and that hideous odor he had come to find out was called Axe, whatever that was. “I’m sorry to be keeping one of our fine local youth from returning home to his middle-school science project in a timely fashion, but the world doesn’t revolve around you, Sport and you should have done it earlier instead of waiting until the night before your due date, your laziness is none of my concern. If you cannot be patient, you might want to consider leaving the house earlier, I’m sure your mother that is waiting for you in the parking lot in her van would be appalled at how brashly you speak to your elders. Perhaps I should take up even more of your valuable time once I have finished errands of my own, and go over to give her a few pointers regarding how you might be better raised. Impetuous sniveling brat. Well go ahead–” the sea creature rolled his eyes as he stood aside to hold the door open, tapping his foot impatiently against the sidewalk.
“– You first, I insist, since you’re apparently in some dire need of Elmer’s paste and craft glitter in the supply section and the world simply cannot get in your way lest you throw a tantrum. Perhaps it would better improve your situation by me leading by example so you can learn how a gentleman behaves.” Drumming his fingers against the cushioned grip of the cane he walked with, Luca very slowly counted to five and exhaled deeply in a flurry of tiny saltwater bubbles coming from his gills, taking the moment to remind himself that work was… well it was somewhere back there, he had left it behind, had the rest of the night off and there was no need to bite someone’s head off in a random happenstance encounter that would be over soon enough once he had gotten his items and went on his merry way. It was going to be a two-spritzer night it seemed before he put the television on in his office and sat down with his drafts and his formulas and drawings, the water-dweller hoping for some David Attenborough ocean wildlife documentary on one of the educational channels that provided relaxing enough visuals without the distraction of too much noise.
“Hurry it along, malcontent. I have it on good authority that you do not have all night.”
