Ships Ahoy!

The Persuader/Debtor

Over the next two years, Oprah's fruit stand grew into a successful little business enterprise. Everyone in town came there to get their quality fruit and fruit juice, bypassing even the general store's cheaper prices. Not least of these customers were O'Donahue and, somewhat reluctantly, Olga. The fact was, O'Donahue's gentle and coaxing recruitment efforts weren't lost on his partner. Especially since the potential recruit had gotten older: now ten years old, the girl was a mere two years younger than O'Donahue, and only one year younger than her. She'd even ditched the bonnet and started putting her hair up in intricate braided buns, which clearly impressed O'Donahue. It didn't take much for Olga to come to the conclusion that there was more going on beneath the surface than just recruitment.

One afternoon in May, just before they stopped by the stand during their patrol of the town, she confronted him about it. "Alright, now tell me the truth. You fancy that girl, don't you?"

O'Donahue skidded to a halt and gawked at her like a deer in the headlights.

"Now don't give me your stupid face! I want an answer. Do you fancy her?"

"Wha—no! Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Everyone?"

"Well...Oprah, her employee Yucks, and now you. But that's it."

"That's it, eh? Then gee, I don't know, why does everyone keep saying that? Maybe it's because I caught you flirting with that new transfer Olesya a few weeks ago—"

"I wasn't flirting!" O'Donahue protested, the tips of his ears bright red. "I was just welcoming her to our squad!"

"You asked her if she liked it when people brought her flowers!" Olga retorted. "I heard you clear as day!"

O'Donahue coughed nervously, but said nothing more.

Olga tossed her braids and brought out the pouty face. "And to think I believed you when you said I was the only one for you. Ha! You little liar, you..."

"Well, I, uh—" Calm down, she's just having one of her moments, he thought. It'll blow over soon. Old Missie says it always does. It's all part of being Olga's partner, that's all.

Sure enough, the pouting soon shifted to the over-the-top pleading. "Oh my dear O'Donahue, I shall never know how I could've possibly chased you away. But the others all mean nothing to you, I can see it now. Tell me there's never been anyone else but me. Tell me, dear."

"Well, I, uh—"

"Wonderful! What did I ever do to deserve you? Now come on," she said briskly. "Let's get over to the fruit stand, like you wanted. I'm in the mood for peaches."

Wordlessly, and still quite shell-shocked, O'Donahue followed her. He still had no idea where Olga had gotten the notion he fancied her and only her, but obviously there wasn't any point in telling her otherwise. It hurt, however, that he wasn't even allowed to be friendly with other agents without risking her wrath. But never mind that. After all, she'd been an Odd Squad agent for a full century now, compared to his mere five years. Not to mention she was the daughter of James Hiller and Sarah Phillips, kid heroes in their own right and the first benefactors for Odd Squad in the New World. It was probably normal for privileged, well-connected veteran agents like her to monitor and control their rookie partners like this. Maybe when he was better established, she'd relax her grip a bit. In the meantime, it was nice having such a well-established agent as a partner. No one ever questioned Olga when she told them how to do something or solved a case, and all O'Donahue had to do was back her up. It certainly made his job easy to have a partner who was always right.