Shadowed Scales

Chapter 15: Voices Babbled into Incoherent Gulps

_CHAPTER FIFTEEN_

Voices Babbled into Incoherent Gulps

"So that is why we have venom," Sameer explained to Naia, the female leopard seal and Maccus the hammerhead shark. It was the final month of summer camp and Sameer wanted to make as many memories as possible. He was swimming with the two aquatic animals in the lake.

"Oh, but nothing's coming out of you, yet!" Naia pointed out. "I remembered your wrassling with the bull with the weird-eyed bat. If he were a marine animal, he'd be a Greenland shark! Right, Maccus?"

Maccus only made a non-committal 'hmm'. Despite the shark being his cabin mate, Sameer never knew what Maccus does or said. Before camp, he had caught a glimpse of the hammerhead shark swimming through the underwater passage with other marine animals.

It never occurred to him that Maccus might not be the talkative type. Most schools of fish he had seen talked to each other in their own language. For marine animals that were a blend of land and sea such as seals and penguins, they had no trouble switching languages due to their dual nature.

Suddenly, the three of them heard rumbling and instinctively turned their heads upwards. The sky was dark, and the clouds were swirling like cotton covered in soot. Immediately, most of the marine animals retreated underwater while the rest of the campers seek shelter.

The rain was heavy today, to the point it was hard to see what was outside except the grey storm and silhouette of trees being pushed by the strong wind. All of the campers and counsellors seek shelter inside the art cabin.

...

In the art cabin, there were various stationaries from crayons, watercolour paints, colour pencils, clays and canvases. It was nice of the campers to join in the activities to distract everyone from the thunderstorm.

However, Sameer noticed Arthur was feeling the canvas he was given. Some of the paints that were close to him were opened but not used. Sameer watched some of the campers finger paint, using pencils to draw sketches and some flicked their paintbrushes with paint onto the canvas.

"Arthur," Sameer tapped the Honduran white bat on the shoulder. His fur fluffed up before turning into the cobra's direction. "Aren't you going to draw something?"

Arthur laughed, covering his mouth with a wing. "I would but I think it the drawing will be rubbish. All the paints feel the same: cold and wet. I think painting should be for those who can see."

Sameer almost smacked himself in the face. He forgot that Arthur was blind with his cloudy blue eyes. Then again, Arthur responded to sounds and voices directly. At a standpoint, Arthur looked like any other bat minus the film across both of his eyes.

"Hello children is there something wrong?" a voice asked with curiosity. It was one of the counsellors, a king cobra. Something about this counsellor made Sameer experienced sailor knots in his stomach while his heart was beating rapidly. He coiled himself, eyes averting away from the counsellor's golden ones. But Arthur only blinked, his fur bristling beside him.

"I-I don't think I can paint," said Arthur glumly. "The paints feel the same. I don't know if I can do it..."

The king cobra patted Arthur on the head with his tail. "Don't worry! I'm sure there's other ways for you to enjoy art without sight."

Instead of offering Arthur something to do, the king cobra counsellor slithered away. Sameer was shocked by the serpent's action. How could someone walk away from a problem instead of solving them?

He sighed. Who was he to judge when he had done the same thing to avoid confrontations with his parents? It hit him that he may not be so different from his father.