Double Vision

How rearranging one's life can influence the future.

Pus was an octopus, and a bored one. He needed some action in his life. Em and Matt had shortened his name, almost adopted him. It never happened. Same old, same old swimming around in his tank. The two marine biologists were fun to watch. They eyed each other as much as they did any work. It got in the way of getting much done.

“You’re moving things again?” Matt asked.

“We got some new piranha. Some fool aide put them in with the goldfish. I had to put them in a separate tank. I think it made them mad at me.” Em waved at Pus. Pus waved back. She didn't notice. Her eyes had strayed. She was watching Matt.

Matt was polishing windows. There are a lot of windows on aquarium tanks. It took a lot of elbow action. Pus studied the operation. The way those two looked at each other was like he watched Lucy. She would flirt then ignore him. Female octopuses sometimes eat their male paramours during that process. Pus had to be careful courting her at night. At least it wasn't boring.

Lucy had actually followed him last night from tank to tank when he'd come to visit. He’d barely gotten away. What if he moved the stuff in the tanks around? It was a good idea. Pus was proud of himself. He’d know the easiest pathway of escape in case he needed it. He might even trap Lucy in a maze of mixed up pathways.

That night, when Em and Matt were gone, Pus tested his idea. It worked. He’d gotten close enough to Lucy for a quick hug. Boy, had he been brave. He could tell it impressed Lucy, but she chased him anyway. That’s what female octopuses do when they want a snack. She’d given up half way through the maze he’d created. Now Lucy knew he was smart, too. Too bad she didn't like the goldfish snack he'd offered.

In the morning when Em and Matt showed up for work, all hell broke loose. “Geez, Em. Sneaking in at night to confuse me? I don’t even know which tank is which by looking at them. Why'd you stick castles upside down? Why's the seaweed stuck inside them?”

“You’re making fun of me. You know I didn’t do this. Why did you come in and destroy the perfection I’d made the day before?”

They were fighting instead of ogling each other. Matt’s jaw dropped to the floor. “Hey. We can’t fight like this. We’ll both lose our jobs.”

Em studied Matt. “Did you just say our?” He had included her. Matt was thinking of her future as well as his own. When had that started? She thought about his seeming obsession with cleaning tank windows when she was around. Did Matt secretly care for her?

Making up was the easiest thing Em had ever done. She’d been about to bite Matt’s head off. He’d been so sorry for impulsively assuming she’d been rearranging things in the tanks that her heart went out to him. She found herself apologizing for getting mad at him. It strangely felt like some kind of courtship dance as he gently kissed her on the lips after making up. “Thanks for understanding.”

Pus looked on, studying and learning. Touching Lucy on the shoulder wasn’t very romantic. He had to do better. He’d been watching Lucy a lot, too. Hey, wasn’t she always rearranging things in her tank?

Pus had thought it was a way to keep him off balance, make it harder for him to get to her to do his mating dance. Now, he realized that wasn’t it at all. Lucy liked seeing her home decorated in new ways.

That night was a busy night for Pus. He left every tank alone but his own. That one, he rearranged to look just like Lucy’s. When the female octopus chased him back, she was stunned.

Pus didn’t tap her on the top of the head. He enfolded her in his arms just long enough for a kiss. He could tell that she liked the surprise look of seeing her home away from home. It was all the magic required to spend the night together getting to know each other as only new lovers can.

In the morning, Matt thought he was having double vision problems. “I thought I just cleaned your tank,” he told Lucy. Pus came out and waved while floating next to her, safe as a bank deposit in a locked vault.

“Come here and look,” Matt urged Em as she came through the aquarium door.

Em came over, gawked, and she pressed her nose right up against the side of the tank. "Pus did all this?"

“Looks like we need only one tank for octopuses,” Em said, rubbing her nose. "Let's clean up this mess later."

“You’ve got a smudge. Let me help.” Matt tripped over some of the stuff Pus had thrown out his tank the previous night. He landed right on the nose of Em. Their lips met and lingered.

“You have good taste,” Em chuckled, lips still pressed against his. The kiss became a tender embrace. Wedding bells rang in Em's head.

Pus looked on, thinking the couple did pretty good, having only two arms apiece. He watched as Matt put a ‘Closed For Repair’ sign on the outside window of the aquarium door. Monday’s were the slowest day of the week. Em needed help arranging furniture in her new apartment she was moving into, and the windows needed washing.

Lucy waved at Pus with a come hither look. Pus gave her a hug and eyeballed his escape route.

Contest Prompt

A bored octopus starts rearranging the decor of the other nearby tanks in the aquarium at night when the aquarium is closed — and unintentionally creates a love connection between the two marine biologists assigned to figure out what is going on.