Page 6 of Hooked on the Otter Doctor
“He helped Helli get back to the boat,” I hastily added and watched Pabbi’s mouth snap shut. “Rescued her guitar, too. I don’t know why he sent the fish into the net, but he said he hoped it helped. It didn’t happen because of anythingwedid,” I said while staring at Mamma.
“Well, thank goodness for him.” Mamma waved the check but also looked down the hall the way Helli had gone.
Pabbi pointed a finger at me. “That’s the last time you mention the aliens. You were trawling the harbor. Period.”
“Pabbi…”
“No! We don’t know if what he did was legal, so he wasn’t there.”
“Two other boats might’ve seen everything.”
“Nobody can see what happens on the seafloor. Not even in the harbor. If anyone mentions a thing about the alien, he was there to save Helli. That’s the end of it.”
He stomped out of the room. I heaved a sigh and let him go. I didn’t have the energy to follow after him.
“What kind of alien was he?” Mamma asked as she came back in and got a sweater on.
“Oh, um, he looked like a big otter.”
She smiled and laughed a little. “That sounds adorable.”
I could feel my cheeks heating.
“I’m going to deposit this check at the bank, and then pick up some things for dinner.” She rolled her eyes. “You know he’ll invite some folks over.”
Yeah, I’d known he would.
“Oh, by the way,” she said from halfway out the door. “The college called. I told them you wouldn’t return until late, but now you can call them back. They have a full class of people wanting to learn to speak Icelandic.”
Relief washed through me. “Thank fuck.”
“Tobias, language.”
“Sorry, Mamma.”
I watched her go out and get in the car before sighing. I taught a few language classes at the local college whenever they had enough people. Those who wanted to learn Icelandic tended to be people moving here from other countries and wanting to fit in better. I also taught English to kids who were struggling to learn it with their peers in school. Sometimes I even did one-on-one sessions with adult English learners who wanted more practice in a less stressful setting.
That there were some fifteen or more people ready to learn Icelandic made me wonder why. The cities saw that kind of an influx of foreigners, not tiny Kleifar. We used to get people moving here to fish back when our zoning stretched farther south than any other nation. Not now, though.
Who would move to Kleifar now?
The Norlons.
Oh shit! I could absolutely see my entire classroom being filled with Norlons. They seemed like the sort to want to absorb everything they could. To improve, to advise, they’d learn all thatwas available, right? It made sense to me based on what I knew about them.
Would the one I’d met today be there?
I quickly got my phone and searched for the number of the language department at the college. I needed to know who would be in my class ahead of when I showed up. Before I could find the number, my phone showed an incoming call from Svein.
I answered and, before I could say a word, he asked, “A sea otter in a Speedo?”
I chuckled. “Helli told you everything, huh?”
“She did. Before we talk about that, though, I suggest tying her to a mast in the future. That’s the… What? Fifth time she’s fallen overboard? No one falls in that many times.”
“She’s only fallen in the once this year.” I tried to defend her, but yeah, she was kind of a klutz when it came to staying out of the sea. It wasn’t really a laughing matter, but we still joked that we only had life preservers for her.
“Uh-huh. Whatever. Was he hot?”
