Poisson d’Avril

Well it would not have been her first choice for a rendezvous.

They had been messaging back and forth for a while now and it had been an long drawn out process, if somewhat intriguing. They had discussed their lives now, their pasts and their stuff-ups and had probably broken all the rules about what you should talk about, particularly without meeting face to face. Finally…. the suggestion to meet had been made.

It was where that was the puzzle.

She’d just gone along with it, well because it was quirky she supposed. And to be honest, it could provide an interesting backdrop and a great excuse to tune out and cover up any awkwardness.

So here she was standing outside Melbourne Aquarium. There were shoals of school children, never mind fish surging to and fro, and the ambient noise was anything but conducive to an intimate conversation.

She was not sure she would definitely recognise him although she had a rather blurry photo and a description of what he’d be wearing.

She wandered into the wide foyer which was surrounded by beautifully lit tanks. A tiny shark shimmied past the bright fronds in one, in the next the undulations of a magnificent stingray seemed to hover above her head.

“Joyce?”

She spun round at the sound of her name.

She found herself at eye level with a very interesting yet somewhat reptilian little man. Well, when she thought “little” she was forgetting that she was nearly 6’ and it was she that was more of a rarity. Why the first thing she thought of when eyeballing Martin, was it? ( it was something like that Martin Mark maybe) well anyway the first thing was Gekko.

Why? He didn’t really look like an actual gekko but there was something about his presence that made her have the irrational thought that he was going to flick out an extensive tongue.

She shook her head as If to dispel the ridiculousness. “Hi, um Martin, what an interesting place you’ve chosen to meet… but beautiful too, she added hastily lest she appear too critical.

“Have you been here before?” Martin inquired. ( it WAS Martin thank God she got that right.)

“ Well I have, yes” ( in year 4 in primary school, she omitted to add.)

“I felt that it would be perfect for you”

Joyce wrinkled up her nose in puzzlement raising her eyebrows to indicate she was waiting to hear the because ….

“You keep fish, don’t you? You told me you did.”

Joyce allowed herself a smile even as she suppressed a laugh. Oggy and Boo, her black moor goldfish had been mentioned in passing, but she would never have expected them to inspire a first date meeting place!

“Look at that one”. Joyce cooed, having decided she may as well make the best of the situation. There were so many sparking examples of beautiful sea life all around them.

As they began to walk along the corridors they relaxed a little in each other’s company. However Joyce couldn’t get a niggling discomfort out of her head.

Unknown to her but sensed by her at some deep level Martin was feeling a similar level of disquiet. The reasons for his uncertainty were not the same however. He thought Joyce was very beautiful. His programming told him that. He thought her intelligent that too, he could detect.

But the prevailing sense was one of coldness and really she wouldn’t do.

His senses had judged this to be the perfect place for a meeting. She had kept referring to the ocean, her fish and “her love of water” when they had had their chats.

How could she be Ill at ease?

He really didn’t yet understand humans, his programming was complex, the most advanced they had on his planet.

It seemed however more work was needed. He thought his body was adequate but here was a human female that was as tall as him.

He was sure he could have entranced her and prepared her to go with him.

As he watched her ooh and aah at the eels and octopus, rather than engage with him. He knew she would not be the first human to visit his planet.