The Poison Polar's Tale: The Springtime Friend

"It's Springtime, Grammie!" Thagom yelled out as he sped between the newly-growing plant life. Behind him lagged an older polar Aqrion, carrying a basket of driftwood over one of her tusks.

 

"I'm well aware, my lovely, I've seen them many times, you know."

 

"What's wrong, Grammie?"

 

"Nothing's wrong, Thagom. I just... enjoy watching you be a child, still."

 

"I'm gonna grow up someday! I'll be the biggest and bestest Aqrion ever and I'm going to make you proud! I'm gonna do better than my da!"

 

Reese stopped in her tracks. "Thagom, come here."

 

The young green polar swam up to her side, stopping in from of her. She lifted a front flipper to touch it gently to his chin, looking into his eyes. "I want you to listen to me and remember everything I am about to tell you, yes?"

 

"Yes, Grammie."

 

"Your father made a mistake. He had you when he wasn't ready to be a father. You could have been in a very bad position if I had not taken you in and let him take care of you."

 

"I know, Grammie, that's why I-"

 

"Ah-ah-ah. I said listen to me, I'm not finished yet. I took you in because I love you and I want the best for you. But I also did it because I love him. Your father gets mixed up in all sorts of messes, and if he had taken you, he would have gotten you mixed up in them as well. And he would have hated himself for that. I should know, I raised him just like I raised you and the pair of you are very much alike. I hope I've spared  you both a great deal of hurt."

 

"We're... alike?"

 

Reese dropped her flipper and chuckled gently. "Oh yes. You both seem to think not with your brain, but with your heart. That can be a bad thing when it upsets other people, like that girl at the market. What was her name?"

 

"Grimr."

 

"Yes, that was it. Now what you did wasn't very nice, she wanted to be left alone and you didn't do that. It's that sort of behaviour that gets your father into trouble."

 

"I'm sorry, Grammie..." Thagom said, lowering his head. He remembered how cross Reese had been with him when he told her about what had happened at the market, and he felt guilty every time she brought it up.

 

"You made a mistake. But that's okay because you are still a child. That's the best time to make mistakes - when you still have me here to help you fix them. And no matter what mistakes you make, I will help you, because I love you."

 

"I love you too, Grammie."

 

"Good." She looked over at the fields of growing greenery. "Go on, off you go. Springtime is a time for playing. You know, sometimes Aqrion hide painted rocks amongst the plants for children to find. I need to sell this driftwood at the market. If you can find me two different-coloured painted stones, I might buy you a treat."

 

"Okay!" Thagom said, and without another word, turned and sped off back through the greenery. 

 

"Painted stones, painted stones, painted stones..." He mumbled to himself as he searched through the kelp. They must have been small stones, he thought to himself, and hidden well, because he couldn't see any of them. "Grammie?" He called out, seeking to ask her for a hint, but she had already swum away to the market. He would have to find the stones alone.

 

Just as he was wondering if he should pick up two plain stones from the seabed and see if he could convince his grandmother they were, in fact, just painted with two different shades of brown, he came across a tiny hovel in the ground, and inside were two rocks - one blue and one a gradient of white to green. Excitedly, he scooped them both up to dash of for the market, without stopped to wonder why one of the rocks was so fluffy.

 

"Grammie! Grammie, I found the rocks!" He called out as he came to a stop in front of her where she was selling her wood.

 

"Hold on a minute, my lovely," she said as she finished with the customer. When she was done, she turned to him and he held up his findings. "Thagom..." she said, a hint of exasperation in her voice. He shrunk back a little. "Have you actually checked that you found rocks?"

 

"What?" He asked, looking down at the objects in his flippers. The blue one was, indeed, a rock, but the white-green one was moving around, and now that he stopped to look, had two little ears and was certainly not a rock. "Oh no..."

 

"This poor little sluggie probably had a heart attack getting scooped up and dashed off like that. This is what I was telling you about, sometimes you need to stop and use your brain. Go and put them back where you found them."

 

Thagom looked down, wondering how he should admit that he was in such a rush, he didn't remember how to get back to where he had found the slug. Then, an idea popped into his head.

 

"No, no! I know how to fix this mistake!"

 

Reese gave him a quizzical look. "Go on..."

 

"I'm gonna look after the sluggie! Just like you looked after me! And I'll be the best grandma, just like you are!"

 

Reese stared at him for a moment, trying to look stern, before breaking out into a gentle smile. "Oh, alright, sure, you can keep them."

 

Thagom dropped the blue rock by the base of a stall. "I'll put it here for someone else to find."

 

"That's very good of you. Come on then, I'm all finished here, let's go home."

 

"Okay, Grammie!" He lifted his sluggie onto his head, who seemed more than happy to sit up there quite comfortably, clearly not as traumatized by the happenings as Reese said they might be. In fact, they rather seemed to like Thagom.

 

Instead of speeding off as he would normally do, Reese noticed as they left, he was going slower and kept checking up on his little friend. Maybe he would be alright when he grew up, after all, she thought.