Balls

21

"Was Micah lying when he said none of the fish ever gets eaten?" Ballqis mulled as she sat next to Iqbal at the back of the van.

They were ready to return to campus, all the stuff they brought had been packed back for the 30 minutes journey.

Sans one fish, though.

"That was cruel," Iqball enthused. He still could not get the 'video playback' of Mrs Jogh ripping T2's gills out of his head.

"She has been eating their scales. And, if Mirna's word is any good, other bits too. Why wouldn't she eat them ..." Ballqis too was trying to process her shock.

"What she did was just ..."

"Brutish," Ballqis supplied.

Iqball heaved a deep sigh.

"And T7 is refusing to talk," Ballqis whispered worriedly.

"We should get him to  ..."

"Shhh!" Ballqis quickly held his suggestion as she spied Mr Evans coming towards the van with Micah.

Once again, Iqball felt a gust of wind knocking his insides. His hand felt warm. Ballqis was holding the same hand she had held in the auditorium hours ago.

"Our celebrity professor is getting interviewed by TV people," announced Mr Evans.

"Ballqis, you did prep the solar kit for the battery chargers, right?" Micah quickly asked.

Both Ballqis and Iqball nodded. They usually do that whenever there is a chance to load up the batteries.

"The battery packs are being charged as we speak," announced Iqball.

Micah clapped his back in appreciation. The senior student tied the chargers on the roof of the van and propped the fans. Mr Evans closed the front doors and locked them manually. The old van did not have a centralised locking system.

"Take whatever you need from the van, we're getting dinner here," said Mr Evans.

The young pair grabbed their backpacks and stepped away from the vehicles.

"You're right about these two, Micah. They do tend to move like a pair of figure skaters. Always in sync. No wonder you call them 'Balls'," Mr Evans laughed. It sounded a little cynical, reminding them why he was called Mr Evil by many.

"Yep! Plus, that word is part of their names! Maybe their parents were friends when they had them. I bet there's a private joke somewhere," Micah said with a guffaw.

"Excuse me. I was named after my grandmother. They used two Ls so that I appear as a unique link on their digital family tree register," Ballqis huffed.

Mr Evans and Micah burst into laughter.

"What about you, Iqball?" Micah asked.

"My parents were freak fans of that stupid TV show called My Name Is Earl. The series had a guy by the same name. He kinda saved Earl because he pointed out that Earl was the one who had bought the winning scratch card. They claimed his character was so funny."

Even Ballqis was laughing after that. Iqball was still sore about T2, but seeing Ballqis laugh made him forget his own little sorrow.

***

"More grant from fish feed guy, Jogh?" asked Mr Evans on the way back.

"Affirmitive!" Mrs Jogh replied and proceeded to sing the chorus from Beatles' tune called She Loves You . 

Her four companions climbed into her beat up Volkswagen Kombi as she yelled out, "Yeah, yeah. yeah."

She's ruining my favourite song.