Shark Lovers
Chapter 2: I’m Melanie
Written by Chris Sharkson



It took me almost an hour to get back to my house in Palmdale. It was a fairly decent two-story home; not like those huge, ridiculous McMansions that had been springing up all over the place in the past decade. It may not have been fancy, but it was still a home to me, and I was glad I could afford such a place on a cop's salary.
I pressed the button on my garage door opener, and the steel garage door slowly rumbled open. Parking my car in the garage, I got out of my car and walked out, closing the garage door. The side door of my house was built into the side of the garage; I pulled out my key and slipped it into the lock. The key turned smoothly, unlocking the door. I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped into my kitchen; I could finally get some rest after this rather unusual night.

I flicked the lights on and dropped my keys into a glass dish on the counter. I pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down to take my sneakers off. The cool air that hit my feet as they were pulled free of my shoes was positively heavenly! Running my fingers through my hair, I stood up and trudged across the kitchen, flicking the lights off on my way out. I moved into the hallway and made my way upstairs, knowing that each step I took would bring me closer to a good night's sleep.
Stepping into the bathroom, I closed the door and turned on the ventilation fan. With some effort, I was able to peel my t-shirt off of my back, which was positively soaked in sweat. Then I stripped out of my jeans; it felt good getting them off of my aching legs. I gathered my clothes into a small pile, to which I added my white boxer-briefs.
I slid the glass door of the shower open and stepped inside. Turning the knob, I was greeted by a burst of cool water from the shower's brass head. I swear, it felt so wonderful I could have sighed out loud. After letting the soothing water flow over my body for a few moments, I began to wash with a new appreciation for indoor plumbing.
Once I had finished cleaning myself up, I left the bathroom, leaving my clothes on the floor. I had never a tidy person, and I figured I'd put them in the wash tomorrow. For now, I was tired; dog tired! I shuffled into my bedroom with a towel around my waist. I took the towel off and thoroughly dried myself.



Leaving the towel on the bedroom floor, I pulled a pair of lounge pants made of thin fabric off of my bed and stepped into them. I pulled the drawstrings of the waistband and tied them. I pulled back the thin, silky sheets from my inviting bed and flopped onto the mattress in a fashion quite the opposite of graceful. My body had hardly touched the soft bed before plunging into a deep, restful sleep.

***

I found myself in an empty void; there was nothing around me except for the thin whisps of mist that curled around my ankles. I tried to call out for somebody, but my voice just couldn't leave my throat. I struggled along in the darkness, trying to find a way out.

All at once, my eyes were stabbed by a blinding white light. I shielded myself, not sure of what was happening. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see a silhouette emerging from it. I lifted my hands to defend myself, but I soon found that it wouldn't be necessary.

The light faded, and the female shark morph stood before me. She said nothing, but somehow, I knew what she wanted. It was the same thing that I wanted. Slowly, I approached her, my arms involuntarily reaching out to her. She did the same, and our arms slid past each other as we came together. I wrapped my arms around her body, clasping them just under her dorsal fin. She welcomed the embrace, pushing herself into my chest. I tilted my head, her snout sliding along my left cheek as our lips pressed together into a deep, passionate kiss...

*CRASH*

I awoke with a start, sitting bolt-upright in bed.
“Fuck, was that?” I said.
My sheets were soaked with sweat; at least, I hoped it was sweat. I had just heard a loud noise coming from my backyard. I sat completely still, hardly even breathing, listening intently.
Suddenly, a metallic clattering sound rang out. I jumped, startled by the sudden noise. It sounded like someone, or something, was disturbing my garbage can by the back door. "Probably just raccoons," I said out loud; mostly just to calm myself. I got up anyway, because if there is anything in my ten years as a police officer has taught me, it's to always be ready for the worst.

Standing up, I put on a bathrobe and quietly crossed my bedroom to my dresser. Reaching behind it, I pulled out a double-barrel shotgun. Checking to see that it was loaded, I slid open the bottom drawer of my dresser and pulled out a box of shells. I stuffed several extra shells into both pockets of my bathrobe, not knowing what to expect to find at my back door.
Slowly I creped downstairs, fully alert and listening for any more sounds. Reaching the kitchen, I flicked the lights on. I was blinded temporarily, and I had to squint for several seconds. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I walked over to the back door, keeping the barrels of my gun level to my chest, ready for anything.
I carefully and quietly unfastened the metal bar bracing the door shut. Then, I unlatched the heavy glass door and slid it open. I stepped out into the warm summer morning. The air was humid and muggy, and the orange glow of the rising sun flooded the eastern horizon. It was still fairly dark nonetheless.
I scanned my backyard for any sign of an intruder. I noticed that my garbage can was indeed knocked over. Old food and discarded wrappers were strewn all over my lawn. Looking right, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the very same shark morph I had encountered the previous evening, which shot at me, well stole my gun and shot at me to put it bluntly. She was huddled against the white aluminum siding of my house, visibly trembling. All I could do was stand on my patio, stunned. What Christie joked about saying how she will end up on my property or in my own bed was certainly not a joke, in fact I think she was telling the truth or just some out-of-the-blue coincidence.


We exchanged a long, hard stare for what seemed like an eternity. Her solid, brown eyes never broke their focus on mine. I could see the fear coursing through them. Finally, I swallowed hard, and then found my voice. "Y...you are trespassing on private property. What are you doing here?" I aimed at her as I slowly began to approach the female crouching by the wall.
“You’re the one who took my gun and fired shots at me and my partner; you know that’s a serious offence, you can go to jail for that, I have the authority to take you in.”

To my surprise, she spoke. "P-please, mister, don't hurt me. I-I only w-wanted..." She flinched as I came closer, trying to back away from me. She fell back on her rump and covered her face with her arms, continuing to tremble.
I sighed and lowered my gun. She was breaking the law and I knew under police code I should take her in on charges of discharging a firearm at a police officer let alone stealing an officer’s firearm, but yet there was just something that drew me to her. Perhaps it was because I pitied her, perhaps it was because I was fascinated by her. Regardless of the reason, I abandoned protocol and reached out to her. "It's alright," I said to her in as gentle a voice as I could muster, "You don't need to be afraid of me. Here, get up off the ground and tell me what this is all about."
She sat still for a moment, unsure of whether or not to accept the hand I was offering to her. Finally, she slowly leaned forward and took my hand, pulling herself up. Her hand was unusually smooth, softer than my own come to think of it. She stood there, unwilling to look me in the eye. "I...I was...hungry. I haven't had a full meal in...I don't know how long." She wrung her hands nervously.

"Don't you have a place to live?" I asked. She silently shook her head. "What about friends, or relatives?" Again, she only shook her head. I thought for a moment, and then gestured at the door. "Alright, come in. We'll see if we can get this all sorted out." That was another thing I would never have done in normal circumstances. Here I was inviting a complete stranger into my house after finding her rummaging through my garbage for food. A stranger who is therefore a shark, a shark with human appendages, who can talk and speak English. I usually don't show such compassion to the homeless, but there was something driving me; it was out of my logical control now.

***

I led her into my living room and had her sit down on the sofa standing at the center. I sat down a short distance from her in an overstuffed chair. It was at this time that I was able to get a good look at her for the first time. She was most definitely a shark; she was colored a grayish brown; almost like ocean sediment. Starting under her pointed snout, a shade of white ran down the front of her body, concealed by the ratty clothing she was wearing. In the way of figure, I had to admit she was quite attractive. An ample bosom filled her dirty top, and her hips were well-rounded, she wore only one sandal on her right foot, as she took off her left one and heaved it at my face yesterday.

She kept her knees drawn together, and her hands rested in her lap. I noticed that she had small, black claws growing out of the tips of her fingers. Small growths, what had to be evolutionary remnants of pectoral fins, protruded from her forearms. Finding the silence to be rather awkward, I decided to keep up the conversation.
"So...what is your name?" I asked her. By now, she had calmed down and started to relax. She was still a little wary of me though.
After hesitating for a moment, she softly answered me: "Melanie."
"I'm Chris, Chris Lehmann is my name, and it's a pleasure to meet you, or by now from our previous encounter, you should know I’m a cop for the LAPD you probably don’t know what that means so I won’t pester you about it, I usually go by Senior Constable Chris Lehmann, which is when I’m on duty. What kind of shark are you?"

"I'm a Caribbean Reef Shark. At least, that's what I've been told." she shifted in her seat, turning to make eye contact with me.
"Who told you this?"
She didn't answer me. Instead she looked down into her lap. Realizing that I must have crossed a line, I quickly back-tracked and changed the subject. "Sorry police officer force of habit. Can I get you anything? Something to drink, perhaps?"
She looked back up at me, brightening up a little. "I guess so. What do you have? Be patient with me, though, I have lived a rather...isolated life. You'll need to explain what things are."
"Very naice!" I said in a mock Slavic accent with a chuckle. After seeing her vacant expression I smiled and stood up. "It's from a movie. I'll tell you about it later. Come on, I'll show you the kitchen."
She followed me down the hall into the kitchen, her tail swishing behind her as she walked. I smiled back at her as we entered. The corners of her mouth twitched; she seemed hesitant to smile back. "Well," I said, going over to the fridge, "let's pick something out for you."

She came over and leaned forward as I opened the door to the fridge. She jumped a little when the light inside came on. I had to smile a little; she must have been isolated most her life. I let her take a look inside, and she quickly reached in to examine its contents. "I think I can recognize some of the things in here," she said after rummaging for some time, "but I'm not sure what this is," she took out a half-filled cup with the Starbucks logo on it.

"Oh, you wouldn't want that," I said, taking it from her and putting it back, "that's black coffee, it has caffeine in it."
"Caffeine?"
"It keeps people awake. I'm sort of dependent on it, unfortunately. You wouldn't like the taste, anyway." I thought for a moment, and then pulled out a large plastic jug. "Here, do you like chocolate milk?"
"I don't know, do I?"
"Here, I'll give you a little." I took a small glass out of the cupboard and set it on the table. After pouring some chocolate milk into it, I handed it to her. She sniffed at it intently before taking a sip. I could only marvel at her behavior. She reminded me of those stories about feral children and the culture shock they experienced when they entered the civilized world. She looked back up from her cup and gave me another odd half-smile. "I like it. It's very...very..."

"Chocolaty? Yeah, I know." I put the jug back and closed the fridge. "I need to be getting to bed; I have to work again tonight. Once you finish that, I'll show you where the guest bedroom is. You can stay here for tonight." I blinked after I said this; was I nuts? Sure, there was an extraordinary creature standing before me, but shouldn't I be turning her over to the proper authorities? Wait, I AM the proper authorities, I’m a cop, I should be taking her to the station in handcuffs. Yet, I couldn't help but feel responsible for her somehow.
She put the glass back down on the table and tilted her head in curiosity. "You have a place for guests to stay?"

"Of course, follow me." I led her back into the hallway and up the stairs. I opened the door to my guest room and showed her in. She looked around her in awe. It was amusing to see her marvel over a room that I never believed to be quite impressive. It was well-kept, but it certainly wasn't a hotel suite. "I don't know whether or not you're tired, but to be quite honest, I'm bushed. I hate to ask this of you, but I'm going to have to lock you in for while I sleep. I just want to be careful, you know? I can't have you making off with all my stuff, though I'm sure you wouldn't, plus after that ordeal we had in that house in San Marino...”
"Yes, I understand," Melanie nodded slowly, "It's just for a little while, right?"
"Right. Do you need to use the bathroom or anything before I shut the door?"
"Bathroom?"

"I mean, do you need to expel any bodily wastes." I cringed at how formal that sounded.
"No, that's already been taken care of." She walked over to the bed and sat down. She felt the mattress for a moment, surprised by its flexibility. I smiled at her and closed the door, pulling the knob free. I had been meaning to get it fixed, but now it was really coming in handy. I walked to the end of the upstairs hallway and shut my door. I walked to the side of my bed and set my alarm on my phone that was charging on my bed-side dresser. I slipped out of my bathrobe and crawled into my bed, almost falling asleep before my head touched the pillow.


***


BEEP..... BEEP.....BEEP, I groaned and reached a hand over to silence the ever so annoying alarm on my iPhone 7, I took a look at the time, 4:40AM, I mumbled, “Hmf I can have a bit more sleep.” I said as I shifted positions and closed my eyes. 
BEEP.... BEEP.....BEEP, I slowly opened my eyes, as I knew if I don’t switch off my alarm it will just sound again.
I groaned. I pushed the covers off of me, yawned and stretched my abs and physically fit body. 
I reached over and lazily picked up the TV remote and switched on the TV, Good Morning America was on and seemed to go on with their political hush, hush.

I picked my phone up and looked at it the back ground image was of me dressed in my police dress uniform with me standing beside Christie, Mac and Dave with our hands on each other’s shoulders Mac is making a funny face and Dave is making a faked shocked face and pointing at me and Christie, three best friends and colleagues, I squinted as the brightness of the screen hurt my eyes, and the time read 5:00AM.
“Well, better get ready for work.” I said.
I stood up from my bed and headed for the shower. Casually flicking on the heat lamps and the ventilation fan.
I turned the taps and let the warm water flow over me to wake me up. I stepped out of my shower and dried myself off.
I brushed my teeth in the process of drying myself off.
I walked out of my bathroom, switching the heat lamps and ventilation fan off as I walked out.

I grabbed my jeans that were neatly hanging on my bed side dresser, slid them on and grabbed my belt slid it around my jeans, did up the buckle. I gave a yawn as I grabbed a nice t-shirt from my dresser and slid it on.
I sat on my bed to put my shoes on, just a nice pair of men’s business shoes that I always had.
I sprayed on some cologne to make myself smell nice and presentable, as I was about to strap on my watch, a thought clicked in my head. I stopped mid strapping the links of my watch.
I looked straight up at the nearby wall in shock and gave a shocked sigh. “Fuck, I had a guest.” I said as I totally forgot about last night’s ‘unexpected surprise’, living alone in my two story house has made me so used to well living alone, I rarely have guests stay at my house.
Melanie, the Caribbean reef shark morph was asleep in my guest room, as I allowed her to stay the night as I felt sorry for her and I felt I had the duty of responsibility to look after her.
 
I quickly strapped the links on my watch. I opened the door to my bedroom, I stopped and grabbed the TV remote, switching the TV off and throwing the remote onto the bed. I walked out quietly into the upstairs hallway, quietly closing my bedroom door behind me.
I walked down the hall towards the guest room’s door. “Oh shit.” I said, I quickly strolled back to my bedroom, flung open the door and snatched the door knob off of my desk to the guest room door.

I walked back out closing my door behind me, throwing the door knob in the air and catching it whistling as I made my way to the door. I quietly slid the door knob onto its spindle and quietly turned it opening the door gently.
I poked my head around the door and I saw her sleeping under the sheets, peacefully. The bed sheets were all over the place on the bed, she must have shifted positions during the night.
I smiled knowing a beautiful shark creature is sleeping in my guest room and I had to look after her on and off duty as a cop.
I quietly closed the door but left the door knob on so she could get out.
I walked down the stairs to my dining room area and then into the kitchen to make myself a coffee, I quickly glanced at the time on my clock hanging on the wall, it read: 5:30AM, I had to be at the station by 7 so I had plenty of time.
I switched on my espresso machine and let it warm up, I looked out the window of my kitchen, nice day it was turning out to be, hot as usual even for this time of morning.
I decided to make some toast just to settle my empty stomach; I brewed my coffee and let it dribble into my cup, I added vanilla coffee mate to it and milk and sugar, I sipped it.
I nodded appreciatively.
I walked into the lounge room, coffee in hand, snatching up the TV remote in a swift move and switched on my wide screen LED TV, fancy but yet useful.
I plonked myself on one of my plush leather recliners; I watched the morning shows see what news is happening around the nation and internationally.

I brought my wrist up and looked at my watch.
“6:00am, not bad little over an hour to go.” I said.
I heard the guest door open up stairs with a squeak of its hinges. I heard Melanie slowly walk down the stairs into the main dining area of my house, her bare feet softly tapping against my tiled floor.
“Chris? Chris is that you?” she quietly spoke sounding nervous and weary.
“In the lounge room, Melanie.” I softly said.
She walked slowly and cautiously into the lounge room where I had her sit last night. She must have slept in her outfit, plus she wasn’t wearing her right sandal, she must have taken it off in her bedroom when she went to sleep, I have her left one in my car still, I will have to give it back to her.
She stood nervously in front of the same couch she sat in last night.
“You can sit down, there’s no need to be weary of me, I won’t bite or harm you.” I assured her.
She obliged and slowly sat down on the sofa. “I’m just nervous because of what you are.” She said.
“As in me being human?” I replied.
“Well that too, but not that, the other thing, what you were like when you encountered me in that house.”
“Oh you mean my job? I’m a police officer.” I said.
She nodded. “Yeah, that.” She replied.
I smiled. “There’s no need to be afraid or nervous just because I’m a police officer, I’m trained to handle tough situations, plus we police officers protect the community and everyone in it, we keep everyone safe, if anyone needs us, we’ll be there to help them or even save them from a life  and death situation.”
“So you’re a protector of life?” she asked.
“More or less, you can say that, I’m more of a guardian angel upholding the law.” I replied.
She smiled lightly. “But why are you dressed like this?” she said waving her hand at me.
I looked down at my outfit, a Nike t-shirt that read the words: REAL DEAL FLEX APEAL and blue jeans.
“I’m in my civilian clothes, I wear these when I’m off duty, once I put that uniform on you saw me in, I’m on duty but I don’t put that on until I get to the station.”

She nodded lightly. “I sort of understand it.” She said.
“It’s okay, this all must be new for you, you will get used to it and you will eventually learn more about it as time goes on.” I said.
“It is all new for me, almost too new. How will I learn more about it?” she asked.
“Hang around me enough, which should do it. There are certain things I can’t tell you because it’s classified under law but there are things I can tell you.” I said.
“Such as?”
“Well, what things I do, what an officer’s general duties are, you know the basic things.” I replied.
She nodded yet still a bit nervous.
“I would love to know more about your job sometime.” She said after a brief pause. “I’m happy to explain it to you but when I’m not working of course and when I have time.”
She looked at the TV.
“What’s that?” she said pointing at the TV.
 I glanced at the TV as I got a bit of a shock, she must have been isolated so bad to not know what a television is or today’s technology
“It is called a television, we humans use it for entertainment purposes, you can watch movies, tv shows, basically anything nowadays, it being a smart tv, you can surf the web on it.” I replied.
“Movies? Tv shows? Web? What are they?” she asked.
“I will tell you later, it’ll take a while to go into detail with those subjects.” I said.
“I’m sorry for not knowing what things are.” She said apologetically.
“Hey, no need to apologize Melanie, you’re new to all this, you’re new to the human way of life. It’s not your fault, so don’t feel sorry or ashamed because of it.”
She nodded nervously.
“Sleep well?” I asked her.
She looked into my eyes with her beautiful brown shark eyes, thinking on what to reply with.
“It was the best night’s sleep I have gotten,” She replied.
“How so?”
“I haven’t slept that well for… a very long time.” She said nervously.
“Sleeping problems?”
She paused. “Yeah... you could say that.” She eventually said.

I could tell she was lying, we police officers are trained to detect if someone is lying to us with special techniques we learnt at the academy, ten years on the force and I instantly know when someone is lying to me, it’s sorta like a sixth sense.

But I didn’t want to dwell and pry on her past as it might invade her privacy or she will get upset with me, plus I don’t want her to know that I can detect when people are lying to me, in her case, she lied to me, plus I just took her into my home, the last thing I want to do is make her angry at me, she’s a shark after all, I’m sure she could kill me in a split second without me thinking twice if she wanted to.
I glanced back at the TV.

I heard her sniffle a bit, I glanced back at her and I saw a few tears run down her cheek and glisten in the light of day shinning through my lounge room window.
“Hey, what’s the matter? There’s no need to be upset, I took you in and I’m taking care of you as we speak, you have everything you need, you’re safe with me.” I softly said.
“It’s not that, Chris, it’s that I feel ashamed and angry at myself for taking your weapon thingy and firing it at you, and in this case I only learn today that you’re a protector of life.” She said looking down at the floor, clearly upset with herself.
I thought to myself, (She is hating herself for what she did to me, plus she is regretting what she did to me because I had encountered her again rummaging through my trash can for food and I took her in for a place to live and I would accept responsibility to look and care for her)

I came to my senses, “Melanie, look at me.” I softly said to her. She slowly glanced up at me from looking at the floor, her beautiful brown shark eyes looking directly into my own, watery with tears.
“Yes, what you did was wrong and not to mention highly illegal, I should have arrested you, placed you in handcuffs and taken you to the station, but I didn’t, you want to know why?” I asked her.
She softly nodded without saying a word.
“Because I gave you a second chance, I think all people deserve a second chance, but you, out of my whole ten years on the police force, you made me think twice over my decision as a cop, because you’re a beautiful shark creature, that we the human race have never encountered before, you’re a stranger in a strange land, you don’t know our ways of life, that’s why I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself, I also felt sorry for you and I want to take care of you.” I said.
She looked directly into my eyes thinking on what to say. She was pretty speechless; I don’t think she had time to even think of a reply.
“You...you really think that of me?” she softly replied.
“Of course Melanie, you’re the most interesting thing to happen in my life, the ten years on the force was just the same thing over and over again, until I encountered you in that house trespassing, something just clicked, I still don’t have an answer to connect to it, but that answer will soon be there.” I said.
A few more tears left her eyes. She looked at the TV then to me. “Chris, I’m...so thankful of you taking me in and looking after me, I don’t know what I would do without you, I probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer on the streets.”
The real sadness and burden of the situation was starting to get to me, even I was starting to tear up, I pushed back the tears. (Pull yourself together, Chris) I thought to myself.
“Is that why you’re upset? Because you almost killed me?”
She softly nodded, “That’s why I mouthed the words ‘I’m Sorry’ to you as I jumped the fence.”
“I was curious as to why you said that.” I commented.

“Well, you chose the right backyard to sneak into and rummage through the garbage can.” I said.
She smiled a bit, revealing her sharp serrated teeth. “I guess I did.” She said softly.
I got up out of my recliner chair and stood up. I looked at my watch it read: 6:30.
“Well, Melanie, I have to head to work soon, as you said to be ‘protector of life’, or in my case to do my duty as a police officer and serve the community.” I said.
She nodded. “Protect life as much as you can.” She said. I gave her a smile, “Will do.” 
“Would you like the TV on or off?” I asked her.
She glanced at the TV then me.
“I would like it still on, please.” She said.
“Sure, of course.” I replied.
“Do you know how to work it?” I asked her. She shook her head side-to-side. I grabbed the remote off the coffee table.
I stood in front of her. “This is the remote that controls the TV, these two buttons you see here,” I pointed to the channel buttons, “control what channels you want to flick through, these two here are the volume buttons, on how loud or soft you want the TV, this red button is to turn it on and off.” I said holing the remote out to her.
She slowly reached up and took hold of it.
“You’ll get the hang of it.” I said.
She nodded slowly and nervously. I grabbed my car keys from the dish that was positioned on my counter in the kitchen.

“Oh, Melanie, I have something for you.” I said holding a finger up. She perked up, “What is it?” She asked. “It’s in my car, wait a sec I will go get it,” I said opening the door that connects to my garage, walking out into the garage, hitting the unlock button on my central locking remote and unlocking the car, I opened the passenger door reached in and took hold of her left sandal which was sitting on my front seat.
I shut the passenger door and made my way to the door that leads into my house from the garage and walked in, closing it behind me.

I walked out of the entrance way into the lounge room, she was looking at the TV, she noticed me walk up to her.
“I believe this belongs to you.” I said and held out her left sandal to her.
She reached up and took it. “Thank you, Chris, I appreciate it.” She said softly.
“I went back to the house you were in and I thought you wouldn’t want to forget it, so I picked it up for you.” I said.
She smiled at me.
She casually sat it on the ground, “I’ll put it with my other one later.” She said.
I nodded, I made my way to the front door, I stopped in my tracks and thought long and hard, I pulled out my mobile phone out of my pocket and eyed it carefully. I turned around. “Melanie?” I said.

She looked up at me. I walked over to her.
“Yes?”
“I’m going to give you my mobile phone, in case of an emergency or if you need me.” I said holding it out to her..
She slowly took it from my hands and overlooked it.
“It’s a funny looking thing.” She said turning it around in her fingers. “It’s so thin and weird; it also has an apple on the back, why would there be an apple?”
“The apple is the logo and brand of the phone. You use it to make calls to people or text them or surf the internet, we use them for many things, but I will teach you about that another time.” I said.
“See that arrow thing pointing up on the screen.” I said. She nodded “Use your finger and slide it up.”
She did and it unlocked the phone. It startled her, “What did I do? Did I break it?” she said shocked looking at me with fear.
I smiled, “Of course not, you unlocked it now you can properly use its functions, see that phone icon there, tap it with your finger,” she did “, that’s my contacts list, use your finger to scroll down.” She scrolled down the list.
“Stop at the one that says Station.” I said.
She scrolled through the list and she slowly slid it down until it stopped at Station on the contacts list.
“If you want to get hold of me, push that Station contact, it will call the station, a different officer will pick up, when that happens ask for Senior Constable Lehmann, if you’re in a real emergency dial this number,” I said grabbing a note pad off the coffee table, picked up a pen and jotted down 911, I gave her the note pad, “911, that’s the emergency number, but use it only in an emergency, ambulance, fire department and the police will come straight here.” I said.
She took the notepad from my hand. “I....I didn’t know that was possible.” She said.

“This day and age, anything’s possible, look how it’s possible that I encountered a shark anthro on duty, I thought no such being would ever exist.” I said.
She looked over at me with a different kind of look. “You humans thought that creatures like me would never exist?” she asked.
“Melanie, most of us humans have a big grip on reality, most of us don’t believe that other intelligent beings exist. That’s why when you were in that neighbourhood, a lot of people were scared, frightened, they panicked, because we humans have grown up to always thinking that sharks are just animals that live in the ocean and are the top predator, that they could never venture out onto land, have arms, legs and feet, walk and talk up right like a human, to many of us that’s science fiction, but when people see it for real, they get scared and frightened, does that sort of make sense to you?” I said.
She nodded slowly.  “Yes, yes it does.”
I looked at my watch, I had to go. “Melanie I have to go to work, I will be back at about eleven, which is about seventeen hours from now, will you be alright?” I asked her.
“Yes, Chris I will be fine.” She said giving me a light smile.
“Remember if you need me, call the station and ask for me.” I said.
“I will be sure to.” She said looking at the TV then at me.
“Food is in the refrigerator and pantry if you get hungry, bathroom is the second door on the right down the hall.” I said opening the front door.
“Thank you, Chris,” she said.
I smiled at her and nodded.
I was about to walk out the front door, “Chris,” she called out, “Yes,” I said standing half way in the door way.
She began to tear up.
“Melanie, what’s wrong? You’re safe here in my house, no one will hurt you or do anything to you, no one knows that you are here.” I said.
“Chris it’s not that, I....I....I’m sorry for throwing my sandal at you when I first saw you, I hope I didn’t injure you or hurt you.” She said between sobs.
“You’re upset about that?” I asked.
She slowly nodded her head. “Melanie, it did hurt but that was only for the first couple of minutes, it did leave a nasty mark on my face but I’m better now, I overcome it,” I said assuring her.
“Are you sure?” she said.
“I’m one hundred and ten percent sure; hey it’s not every day a shark anthro morph throws her sandal at my face for distraction purposes.” I said giving her a smile.
She laughed a bit and gave a smile. “There’s that beautiful smile, that smile better be still there when I get home.” I said giving her a grin.
She smiled, “Thank you for everything, Chris.” She said.
“It’s the best I can do.” I said. “See you in the later hours, Melanie.” I said, slowly closing the front door.
“Byyyyyyyye, Chris.” She said in a kid’s kind of tone when their parents keep telling them the same thing over and over again.

I walked to my garage door, typed in my code on the security key-pad and the garage door started opening slowly.
I walked around the side of my car, unlocked it and got in, inserting the key into the ignition and starting the engine, I reversed out of my driveway out onto my street, I hit the button on my garage door opener as I drove off down the street, my garage door closing behind me, as I headed to the station for work, as my hands were on the steering wheel, my own reflection looking at me in my rear-view mirror, I glance at my rear-view mirror wondering to myself what the next set of events will be that I have this very attractive anthro shark morph living with me in my house, things could get worse or better, but my mind thinks otherwise.