Chapter 3 The Conception

An excerpt from The Violet Series Book 1: The Water Nymph’s Tale.

One morning, Frank woke up alone in his bed. He didn’t feel numb on this particular morning as he usually did. In fact, he felt restful. He got up and got himself ready to go back to the mine. As he was combing his hair in the bathroom, he saw water moving towards him on the floor from the bedroom. He didn’t jump when he saw it. He just kept combing his hair. Once he was finished, he straighten his shirt and his pants. The water slowly formed into Melanie, who now smiled at Frank.

“I know I can’t be losing my mind because I didn’t have any booze last night.”

“Glad to hear it. Do you have to go back to the mine today?”

Frank sighed. “Yes, I have to go back to the mine today.”

“You don’t sound as if you want to. Isn’t there anything else you can do instead?”

“Well, I could take my brother up on his offer, but he’s in the next town.”

“Is it another mine?”

“No, it’s his business and I would be working in the office with him.”

Melanie didn’t say anything as she could tell Frank was musing over his possibility.

“I don’t know. I don’t have any direction in my life to follow.” He paused staring in the mirror at his and her reflections. “I better go before I’m late. I know the foreman won’t like it if I am.” He turned to face Melanie. “Well, this is goodbye for now. A mine is no place for a lady water nymph.”

“Okay, I’ll be here when you get back.”

Frank gently grabbed her arms and pulled her close to him. He then kissed her and she kissed him back. Without another word, he stepped out of the bathroom and sat down on the bed to put on his shoes. Then he walked silently out of his hotel room and off to the mine thinking about Melanie the whole time. He thought it was amazing how one woman, a water nymph, could change one’s life in such a short period of time. He shook his head as he reached the mine in time for his shift to start.

He grabbed a pickaxe and went back to the same place as before in the mine. This time however, there was no more water. Frank scratched his head. “That seems odd. Oh, well.” He raised the pick and began chipping. Somehow the work felt empty and boring. Perhaps, Frank thought, he needed to find a vocation. Was there anything more to life than work and booze? Sure there was. There was Melanie. He smiled as he thought of her and tired to get through his shift.

He was surprised about all the thoughts swimming around in his brain. He was aware of the other miners, even though there weren’t many left since the mine was beginning to run dry. He could hear them chipping away at the rock as he was. Frank felt strange to hear all those clicks echoing throughout the mine. He stopped to reconsider his brother’s proposal. At least if he worked in an office, he wouldn’t have to worry about getting so dirty and dusty everyday. That was certainly more appealing especially with Melanie around. She was always so clean. He couldn’t wait for his shift to end.

The echoing clicks were getting on his nerves. He knew he could get his pay, leave, and never return to the mine. He may even have enough to take the train to the next town where his brother was. Once Frank heard the whistle for the end of his shift, he took the axe and marched out of the mine. He set the axe down with the other tools and then walked over the foreman for his pay.

“Sir, I won’t be back tomorrow.”

The foreman handed out pay to the other workers before answering with a long sigh. “Okay, Frank Mineur. I hate to lose one of my best workers, but I know the mine is drying up. Good luck with your new prospects.” The foreman smiled at Frank.

Frank smiled and nodded. Then he turned and walked back to his hotel room.

**********

While Frank worked in the mine, Melanie tried to amuse herself by checking out his belongings. There wasn’t much to look at. So for a while, she was amused trying to figure out what everything was for. Unfortunately, she had to hide when she heard the maid cleaning the rooms around Frank’s. Melanie quickly dissolved into water and slithered under the bed in the dark, hoping the maid wouldn’t see her.

The maid opened the door a few minutes later and failed to see the water under the bed. She quickly picked up Frank’s dirty laundry and threw it into a pile on the floor. Next she grabbed the sheets and tossed them out in the laundry bag attached to her cart. Then she dusted everything in his room and remade the bed with clean sheets. Next, she grabbed his laundry and dropped it on his bed. Then she cleaned the bathroom. Finally she swept the room and left without knowing there was someone else in the room.

Melanie stayed under the bed and waited the rest of the day for Frank to come back. She wasn’t sure if anyone else was going to walk into the room and when they would do so. In the liquid state, it didn’t matter how much time would pass or who passed by. It was as if time didn’t exist and all there was were mere thoughts. She thought of him and how much she wanted to stay with him. The other water nymphs thought she was crazy and needed help, but she wouldn’t listen to them. The others didn’t know what it was like to have their sighs answered back with more sighs from someone else. Just because the other miners wouldn’t even pay attention doesn’t mean Melanie had to leave with the other nymphs. Water nymphs usually get bored when they couldn’t get enough attention. They just moved on to another place and to see what would happen.

This time, Melanie didn’t go with them, but with Frank and she wanted to remain with him. After following those thoughts for some time, she wondered when he would be back from the mine. It wasn’t long before she heard the door open and someone enter the room. Soon it was clear from the trod of the boots and from the sighing that it was he and he alone. So, she edged out from under the bed and formed into herself once again.

Frank smiled at her. “Well, I’m not going back to the mine ever again.”

Melanie flew at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “That’s wonderful. Now what?”

“Now, I need to pack my things and get a train ticket to the neighboring town to see my brother about his job proposal to me.”

She released him and stepped back. “Is this goodbye?”

“No. I want you to come with me, but I was thinking you’d probably tag along like you did yesterday.”

“Oh, yes, that would be good. I’ll go with you. What’s a train?”

“It’s a way to get to the next town. There will be other passengers, but it shouldn’t take too long to get there, but I don’t know the train schedule.” Frank held out his arms to her and she walked back into them. “I can go find out after I shower and get something to eat. Do you want anything?”

“Just you.”

“You have me. I meant food wise.”

“Oh, I guess just bring whatever you were going to eat to the room and I’ll eat with you.”

So, he took his shower and then went to the dining room to order some food to take to his room. When he came back to the room, Melanie was waiting for him on the bed. He closed the door and set the food on the table.

“I hope you like fish— I brought plenty of it.”

“Sounds good. What’s in that bottle?”

“Oh, it’s some wine. You’re welcome to have some with me.”

Melanie strolled over to the table and sat down next to Frank. She waited for him to serve both of them before she started eating. They ate fish, some rice, and vegetables with the wine. Before long, they had eaten all of the food and drank all of the wine. Afterwards, he cleared the table and put the trash in the waste basket.

“Well, I should go to the train station and get a ticket. Do you want to tag along or just wait here for me?”

“I’ll just wait here until you return.”

He smiled and turned to leave out of the room. Once at the train station, he didn’t waste any time checking the schedule and getting a ticket for himself. Since it would only be a few hours to the next town, he just paid for seat. Next, he went to the hotel lobby and used a phone screen to call his brother. He swiped his card and then punched in the number.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Clyde, it’s me Frank.”

“I was beginning to wonder about you. Are you still working in the mine or have you reconsidered my offer?”

“I’ve reconsidered your offer and I want to take you up on it.”

“Great. How soon can you get here?”

“I’ll be coming in tomorrow afternoon on the train. Should I just meet you at your office?”

“No, I’ll meet you at the station. You can stay at the house so you don’t need another hotel room.”

“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Frank hung up the phone screen by pressing the end button and then went back to his room. He opened the door to see Melanie was lying on the bed. “Well, it’s all set. We leave tomorrow early and we should arrive where my brother is in the afternoon.”

“Sounds great. Do you need to pack now?”

“Yeah, I should do that.” He walked over to the dresser and grabbed his suitcase that was next to the dresser against the wall. He opened the suitcase and then pulled the clean clothes out of the dresser and set them in the suitcase. He packed his toiletry items. He had a few dirty clothes that were also torn. He picked them up and put them in the trash. It didn’t take him long and he was glad. He wanted to enjoy Melanie’s company before they had to catch the train in the morning.

She had been patiently waiting for him and now she couldn’t control herself much longer. Frank sat down on the bed next to her and she shot up and wrapped her arms around him. They started kissing and then laid down on the bed.

*****************

The next morning, Frank got up early and checked to make sure he had everything he needed. He hated to leave anything behind. Once that was done. He went to the dining room to get breakfast for the two of them. Bacon and eggs and some orange juice. He took it back to the room and set it on the table. Then he walked over to the bed and woke her up. “Wake up, honey. It’s time for breakfast and then we have to go catch our train.”

She opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Okay.” She rose up and walked over to the table and sat down. Frank followed her and both began eating. Once done, he threw away the trash and stacked the dishes on the table. “Are you ready? It’s about time and I have to check out before we go to the station.”

“Okay.”

He watched her turn into water and slither inside his suitcase. Once all the water was gone, he picked up the suitcase and walked downstairs to the lobby. He checked out and paid up his bill. Then he strolled to the train station and sat down on the bench to wait for the train.

As he waited, he wondered what Melanie was doing and how it felt to be water in the suitcase. She was very aware of his breathing and didn’t care where they were going just as long as she was with him. Soon, they both could hear the train coming long before he could see it. Once the train approached and finally stopped at the station, he pulled out his ticket and grabbed his suitcase. He then walked up to the porter and showed his ticket. Next, he was ushered to an open seat and he sat down with his suitcase in front of him.

Before long the train took off and plunged ahead to the next town. Melanie could feel the train moving and she could no longer hear Frank’s breathing. She hoped that the loudness from the train was the thing preventing her from hearing him. For several hours, he stared out the window at the moving scenery. There weren’t many plants because it was a desert. Watching the sparse vegetation go by made him happy that he no longer had to work in the mine. He figured he’d be okay with the office job his brother had offered him, especially with Melanie. So the hours passed and finally they had arrived in the next town.

He grabbed his suitcase and walked off the train and onto the platform. He looked around and saw people moving everywhere. He took a few steps away from the train and looked around. Soon his eyes found Clyde who was waving at him. Frank strolled over to his brother and they greeted each other.

“It’s good to see you again, Frank. I was just going to lunch. Care to join me?”

“Sounds good. Can I drop my suitcase off at the house first?”

“Certainly, it’s right this way.” Clyde lead the way to the Main Street of the town to where his office was located. Then he opened the door and walked up the stairs to his place. Frank followed closely and was shown to the spare bedroom. “I hope your old room will be okay for you.”

“It will be fine,” Frank answered as he looked around to see the bed with a nightstand next to it. He set the suitcase down on the bed and walked out with his brother to get some lunch.

After the brothers left, water moved out of the suitcase and onto the bed. Then the water rose up and formed into Melanie. She surveyed the room and found it to her liking.

***************

Clyde took Frank out to lunch at a local restaurant. Once they sat down, a server came out immediately and took the order Clyde offered. After the server left to return to the kitchen, Clyde turned to his brother. “Well, Frank, I hope you’re ready to see the office today… I would like to introduce you to Bonnie so it will be easier for you to come to work tomorrow.”

“Sure that will be fine. So what exactly will I be doing in your office?”

“Oh, well, I was hoping you would check on requests for new transportation services and let me know where the new places are. Do you think you could do that?”

“Sure, I don’t think that would be problem. Do I have to supervise the route construction?”

“Yeah, that would help. I doubt it would be too hard to do.”

The server arrived with their food and both began to eat. Clyde had been having trouble finding someone who could keep up with the new requests and wasn’t happy that he had to do it with all the other work he had to do since the robot stopped working. So, he was glad his brother accepted the job without too much indifference. Clyde did promise their mother on her deathbed that he would look after his only brother.

Frank, as he was eating, was thinking he would like not getting dirty all day at work and the requests for routes didn’t sound too bad as far as work went. Besides, he hoped Melanie would like it as well and be proud of him for the new job.

After lunch was over and Clyde had paid for the meal, the brothers walked back to the office, where Clyde introduced his brother to Bonnie, who was the person who greeted anyone who walked in, and answered the phones then directed the calls to the right people. Clyde managed the current routes and all the people who drove the trains and shuttles and all the virtual paperwork.

Frank felt a little nervous, at least he was clean with clean clothes on, but still he muttered quietly in response to Bonnie’s hello. Clyde showed him around the office, which wasn’t very big. There was the reception area where Bonnie worked that was the main part of the office and there was a little hallway that lead to the stairs in the middle, and off to the right was Clyde’s office and an empty office, which was to become Frank’s.

Clyde showed Frank Clyde’s office first, and then Frank’s. Frank smiled when he saw his office with the sparse furnishings. There was a desk with the chair behind it and two chairs in front of the desk for other people who were visiting. There was a computer built into the desk itself.

“So, Frank, what do you think of all of this?”

“I think it’s wonderful, Clyde. So this route stuff shouldn’t be too hard to learn, right?”

“No, it’s pretty easy once you learn and I will teach you. How about we start tomorrow morning around 9 a.m. to get you started? Today, just unpack and get settled in. I’ll bring dinner for both of us this evening.”

“Sounds good. See you later.” Frank walked out of his office and up the stairs back to the room where Melanie was waiting for him. “Well, hello there. What did you think about the train trip here?”

“It was loud and bumpy, but I’m glad you put your suitcase in front of you. And I do like this room your brother gave us. Do you think I should meet him?”

“Well, I suppose that’s up to you. I don’t mind. But I don’t know how he’ll react to you.”

“Oh, well, when do you start your new job?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Then you have some time for me this evening?”

“Of course, but Clyde will be back later with some food for us.”

She grabbed him to pull him closer to her. “Well, until then…”

*********************

It didn’t take Frank long to learn his job or to get used to the requests. It was somewhat time consuming and Frank could see why his brother needed someone else to do this job. The bookwork took about as long as Frank had to submit reports to his brother to help that task along.

Being away from the mine didn’t stop Frank from drinking, in fact he was drinking even more. Melanie didn’t really like the stuff too well and eventually didn’t drink anymore. She drank mostly water and that was good enough for her, but she noticed that Frank was changing and wasn’t sure if the changes were good. His energy level decreased and his speech was often slurred. He was also becoming klutzy and she wondered why. Still she didn’t say anything and still she hadn’t met his brother either. She just stayed in Frank’s room and kept herself amused by thinking of the other water nymphs and wondered where they were and what they were up to.

Then one day, it was over. Frank didn’t wake up. Melanie was lying next to him and didn’t know what was wrong. She rolled over and sat up. Still he didn’t respond. She shook him and still he didn’t respond. The sun was up, so she thought she better risk her exposure to Clyde to see what was wrong with Frank. She threw back the covers and slowly rose up out of bed and walked to Clyde’s room.

The door was closed, so Melanie turned the handle and walked through to find Clyde asleep in his bed. She carefully walked to the side of his bed and tapped him. Clyde awoke with a jerk. “Who’s there?” He sat up and looked straight at Melanie. “Uh, who are you?”

“My name is Melanie and I’m not sure what’s wrong with Frank. Will you come with me and find out?”

“Sure.” Clyde jumped out of bed and followed Melanie, thinking he had no idea who this good looking blue skinned red haired woman was and how she got into the house. They both made it to find Frank fairly stiff in bed.

“Oh, no,” said Clyde as he ran over to this brother. Clyde tried to listen for Frank’s breath, but there wasn’t any. Finally, Clyde put his head down on Frank’s chest and cried. Melanie understood and cried, too. Her affair with Frank was over and there was no replacement… After a little while, Clyde rose up and said, “I have to call the undertaker. In the meantime, you stay here and we’ll talk later.”

He left the room and went downstairs to make his phone call. She stayed with Frank and sat down on the bed next to him thinking where she could go now. She didn’t want to impose on Clyde, but she wanted to talk with him. So, she just waited.

When Clyde came back, he had the undertaker with him. Melanie was no longer blue skinned, but still red haired, but instead looked rather human. Clyde didn’t say anything, but his eyes widened when he saw her. Then he let the undertaker take the body to leave Clyde alone with Melanie.

“I thought you had blue skin,” said Clyde breaking the silence.

“It was. I’m not sure what happened, but I don’t feel well either.”

“How do you feel?”

“I feel like I could throw up if I try to eat anything.”

“Then don’t eat for awhile.”

Neither spoke for a few minutes.