The Mermaid of Santa Monica

Chapter 3

Over at the Sea Life Institute, Terry was treating a very ill coral cat shark. After using some medication, she had the cat shark hauled off to be monitored for any changes in the creature's health.

"Excuse me, Dr. Fishbach," a male voice spoke.

Terry turned to see a man approach her. He was approximately in his late 30's, early 40's, short, black hair and brown eyes. He wore a white dress shirt with a loose red necktie, brown slacks with a black belt and black shoes, a white Sea Life Institute lab coat. Finally, he had thick-framed glasses.

"Hi, there," the man spoke, "My name is Freddie. I'm an assistant to Dr. Mongrell. It's such an honor to meet you."

"Ah, nice to meet you, too, Freddie," replied Terry, "I can already tell you're much nicer than the man you're assisting."

"Yeah, it can be difficult to serve as an assistant to such a narcissistic codger. He's always putting me down every chance he gets. Saying things like..."

He immediately changed his voice to imitate Mongrell's voice.

"'Freddie, you should count yourself lucky you're working with a genius like myself. Work as hard as you want, but you'll never be on my level!'"

Terry giggled at Freddie's imitation, only to be interrupted by a gruff clearing of the throat. She and Freddie turned to see Dr. Mongrell approaching them.

"Freddie, you have some serious nerve mocking me. How very unprofessional of you."

"Unprofessional?" snarked Terry incredulously, "Hello? Pot meets kettle!"

"Oh, I get it. You two enjoying punching down at those with a superior intellect because you're jealous."

"Jealous? We're not jealous. We're just tired of you being such an-"

"What is going on in here?"

The three turned to see Dr. Laguna walk into the room.

"Oh, Dr. Laguna!" exclaimed Freddie, reverting to his normal voice, "I was just introducing myself to our new vet, Dr. Fishbach."

"Indeed," Terry nodded in agreement, "Freddie is much kinder and more humble than Dr. Mongrell, who had just arrived to accuse us of being unprofessional."

"Well, it WAS unprofessional," Mongrell protested, "They were making fun of me!"

"To be fair, Dr. Mongrell," Dr. Laguna began, "If you bothered to keep your ego in check and showed more respect to your colleagues, they probably wouldn't be making fun of you."

"Unbelievable! One day, I'll show you all! You'll be sorry you ever made fun of me!"

Dr. Mongrell walked off in a huff. With him out of the room completely, Dr. Laguna turned her attention to Terry and Freddie.

"As much as I like to harp on Dr. Mongrell for his arrogance, I would like to politely urge you to refrain from making fun of him within earshot of him. I do wish to keep this work environment a professional one."

"Understood," Freddie nodded, "We apologize for our lapse in professionalism."

"All is forgiven."

"Dr. Laguna," chimed in Terry, "Before you go, would it be possible for Freddie to be transferred to be my unit? I feel he would be much more comfortable assisting someone who respects his contributions."

"Yes, please," exclaimed Freddie, "I'd much rather work for Dr. Fishbach than Mongrell."

"Very well," replied Laguna, "I will have you reassigned to serve as Dr. Fishbach's assistant. Your new post will go into effect tomorrow."