Balls

24

"I found this old receipt at the behaviour reports shelf. It looks important," Iqball said to Mrs Jogh that evening the moment she walked into the lab to do her daily rounds.

"Oh?" she asked, surprised.

The professor took the envelope and saw the receipt. After giving it the once over, she laughed.

"I must have dropped this yesterday. I was going through loads of receipts and accounts for last year. It's audit season you know. Speaking of which, I have good news! I'll be raising your allowances!" she announced like a deejay at a rave party, hands in the air and one finger pointing to the sky.

Left with no choice, he played along.

"Woohoo! Yo, Ballqis did you hear that?" he cheered.

Ballqis left Tank 6 where she tried playing hoops with the fish, without success, to join in the commotion.

"You're not kidding, right Mrs Jogh? Thank you, thank you! I can't wait to tell Agamemnon!" she cried.

Mrs Jogh nodded, reverberating her students' excitement.

"Or, you can wait till I round up everyone tomorrow night at my quarters, I plan to celebrate with a pizza party. We got new funding from our last outing, and in the next one I will get an introduction to another benefactor. A Chinese frozen food brand will see us present on Anzac weekend and I may be able to secure a commercial deal!" she noted in a breath.

Iqball and Ballqis trot along as Mrs Jogh began her awkward dance.

"Oh, Ballqis. Do you think Agamemnon would like to join us on that outing? I have to bring Tank A and Tank B as well this time," she said.

Ballqis quickly nodded.

"He'd be thrilled."

"But Mrs Jogh, Tank A and B are massive. It would not fit your van, right?" Iqball queried.

Tank A and B are only accessible to Mrs Jogh and a handful of her permanent lab staff. They are located in a separate part of the lab and rumoured to host the parent species. Minions such as Iqball, Ballqis, Aga and even Micah could only see one side of those tanks from outside, much like standing outside a seafood restaurant. But the kept species in those tanks rarely show up near that side of their habitat.

Mrs Jogh smiled.

"That's why I was trying to get my accounts lined up. I just made an extravagant purchase. You're going to see it tomorrow night. My quarters, 7.30pm onwards!" she reminded. Then with her signature exaggerated moves, she sauntered into the lab and went straight to her work area.

Iqball and Ballqis pretended to talk about the next outing. They even called up Aga to share the good news.

Mrs Jogh came out right after printing a notice, which she pinned with a couple of thumb tacks on the lab's announcement board.

It was a short one to remind the entire lab's workforce to come to the party at her quarters tomorrow.

"Tell your lab buddies!" she trilled as she left the room and headed towards the section where Tank A and B were located.

The duo watched her sailed away sadly.

"That didn't go well," Iqball finally admitted.

"I assumed you wanted to get her talking about Aaronmail?" Ballqis asked.

The young man nodded.

"I thought of asking her how many Aarons does it take to send a mail or something stupid like that, but she beat that topic out with a homerun. Allowance increase, of all things!" he berated himself.

Ballqis would have laughed if he was a didn't look so pathetic. Instead, she gestured for them to pack up and leave. Their shift ended minutes ago anyway.

As they walked out of the building Ballqis said she was glad they didn't get around to asking about Aaronmail.

"I don't think she'd tell much anyway. You've seen how evasive she gets. In fact, I suspect she wanted to tell us about the allowance tomorrow but had to drop the bomb prematurely because she needed to sidetrack you with something," Ballqis mused.

Iqball agreed. "That much is clear."

They decided to swing by Agamemnon's place before heading home.

Molly was there, tutoring him as usual. Aga was having an especially bad brain day but Molly was very patient. She only slapped his wrist with her ruler a couple of times because Aga was taking too long to attempt a question.

"Aga, there's going to be a party at Mrs Jogh's quarters tomorrow night. She's also going to offer you a spot on her travel-support team!" Ballqis said as soon as Molly announced they are done.

Aga nearly dropped the pack of instant noodles he had just dug out from his small larder.

"You're joking!" he exclaimed.

"Nope, she told Ballqis and I she needed more help for the next trip," Iqball corroborated.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Aga celebrated.

Molly was happy for Aga but it soon downed on her that she'd left alone during Anzac weekend.

"It's not fair that only people from your faculty get to join the lab. Actuarial Science faculty is so boring!" she complained.

"You know that even if you're in Bio Fac you still can't get the gig, right? They only let students who are in need of financial help do part-time jobs... And you're not exactly from that category," said Aga slowly.

Molly's father owned a chain of restaurants and even has a share in the seafood spot Molly took them to recently.

"We still have that theatre trip Mr Evil had set for us to look forward to, remember?" Ballqis reminded her.

"Yeah... But overnight trips are a lot more fun!" Molly insisted.

"Mr Evil has yet to fully plan the trip. Who knows, maybe he'll be generous," Iqball daydreamed on Molly's behalf.

Molly grinned. She suddenly thought of something that erased the grin. Her face became a little serious and a tad embarrassed.

"Ballqis, may I ask a possibly sensitive question and you'll forgive me no matter what? You can opt to just ignore it too," she asked.

Ballqis nodded readily.

"Why are you doing a part-time job? Aga said your dad is a businessman and your mom is a doctor with her own practice?" Molly asked.

Iqball, who was already helping Aga making instant noodle perked.

Aga looked guilty. He quickly poured the boiling water into the bowl in which the contents of four packets of Korean instant noodles had been placed.

"That's true. But my dad's business went under several years ago. So these days he is just a struggling handyman," Ballqis said.

"But what about your mom?" Molly, the ever inquisitive genius prodded.

Ballqis smiled. Molly could not tell what that smile meant.

"I'll tell you about her some other time. I smell kimchi flavoured noodles!" Ballqis diverted.

Iqball and Aga exchanged looks. Molly and Ballqis came to get their share of the piping hot noodle.

Soon the quartet were fighting over who gets chopsticks and who'd be left with forks and spoons.

Iqball tried not to look but somehow he caught a couple of sad, sad stars crying in Ballqis' eyes.

Note to self, don't ask about her mom, Iqball told himself.

Now Iqball knows how poor I am. He's going to pity me, Ballqis sighed.