Bob's Life: Global Warming

Chapter 15: Drifting Clouds

"Er, Ms. Khadija?"

"Hi there, Richard." she said, turning to face him. "And Sally. Hi."

The pair shuffled their feet awkwardly, averting their gazes. They weren't nearly as boisterous as their friends, Jack and Lily, and they're not as socially inept as Moonfishy. However, they were both shy, and had trouble communicating their own opinions. Khadija's guess was that they weren't here to deliver a message from someone else, they were probably going to make a request of their own.

"I know we're supposed to handle the broccoli cannons, but we were thinking, well, maybe..." Sally bit her lip, looking down at the ground nervously.

"Maybe we could be medics instead?" Richard finished quietly.

"You'll have to ask Min." Khadija pointed out. "Not me. But I'm sure that he'll agree, and I heard Sophie say that she wants a trainee to teach."

Richard looked slightly disappointed as he said, "Um, okay. Thanks. Bye?"

"Bye!"

They would be well suited to being medics, though. Sally was focused and compassionate, and Richard was intuitive and caring. Both of them were quick learners, from what she had seen, and that would serve them well if they actually were to start training as medics. They would need to learn at an impossibly quick pace if they were going to help anyone.

And Khadija was pretty sure that Richard and Sally weren't the only ones switching roles.

After cleaning her equipment for the third time, she set out to find Min. He had to be somewhere around their hideouts, right? It's not like he leaves often. So she walked around the hideout, peering into every single room that wasn't locked. The search for Min seemed pointless, and she considered just going back to organizing equipment.

That is, until she heard his muffled voice.

"Moonfishy, I shall teach you how teenagers communicate."

Wait. What?

"So, um, this is an action all the cool kids do." There was a pause, and Moonfishy gave an exclamation of confusion that Khadija could not make out. "Oh, and to be cool, there's a certain word you need to say after every two sentences. I think it's yob, or yod, or yor..."

Khadija had already found their room, and was waiting for Min to turn around. Min and Moonfishy were seated at a rather rickety old table, and Min was struggling to find a 'cool' word.

Well, Khadija thought he was just muttering nonsense.

"Ahem." she coughed, trying to draw attention to herself.

"Oh! I got it!" Min burst out. "Yog! It sounds a lot like yogourt, and yogourt tastes good, so that's why kids these days say 'yog' a lot!"

"Cool!" Moonfishy breathed. Then immediately, she added, "Yog."

Min beamed. "See? You're already good at this!"

Moonfishy smiled as she got up and practically bounced towards the door, then screeched as soon as she saw Khadija. Min seemed shocked, but Khadija was used to people being surprised when they saw her. She hardly ever left her work, for one, and she was very good at going unnoticed. But sometimes she thought that she may have practiced too much, since she tends to accidentally hide in the shadows a lot.

"Well, hello Khadija." said Min. Moonfishy quickly and awkwardly left the room, not before she gave a salute, only it was with two hands instead of one. "I was just teaching Moonfishy how communication works."

"Kids don't say 'yog.'" she scoffed.

"Of course they do!" Min shot back.

"Alright, alright, that's not the point. I have something to discuss with you."