A Gator Tale

The beautiful blue skies of the day were magical, making one comfortable with the slight yet warm breeze of the day. There were no clouds with the soft gold rays of sunlight beaming down on the people in Clairvoyant Cove. There was hardly any trouble or drama that took place in the small town where barely anything happened. At least, that's how Delphine remembered her hometown. Her dark pink, full lips were trembling upon eyeing the sun over the perfectly sculpted view of the waterfront.

She was sitting at an oak-brown, round table waiting for her companions to join her. She had just returned to her hometown of Clairvoyant Cove in need of reassurance that she hadn't just wasted the last two years of her life. She was slouched over the table, toying with the glass of water that she had been served, glad that the day wasn’t as bad as it seemed in her mind. She didn’t believe anything could change or ruin her decent mood. She got fired from her job of being a singer-songwriter, yearning not to dwell on the past few hours.

Her candy-apple-green eyes began to gloss over about to lose herself in her mind when a smiling Mackenzie Rivers popped up in front of her. Her best friend was also twenty-five, being more of a risk-taker than Delphine herself. "Why are you grinning like that, Kenz?"

"Didn't you hear, Del? I'm a bit loco. According to Jean Sherman—that little twit." Mackenzie beams, sending her best friend a wink, flinging her wavy, lavender hair over her bronze shoulder. She knew like the rest of the people in Clairvoyant Cove that you wouldn’t risk sweating to death so it was best to wear tank top and shorts.

"A bit loco? Kenzie, you are more than a bit crazy. Try a lot. Why would Jean call you crazy? Isn't he the one who was adopted?" Delphine snorts just as her friend plops down across from her. Her skin complexion was a sun-kissed shade compared to the bronze skin of her best friend.

"You and I both know that just because you were adopted, does not make you crazy. I honestly believe the guy has a crush on me which is ashame." Mackenzie scoffs, rolling her navy gray eyes to the ceiling of the restaurant she joined Delphine at. Her face was heart-shaped while Delphine maintained a plump face with a petite waistline. She was toothpick thin herself, making everyone crazy over her.

The Winchester was a well-known, infamous, seafood-imbedded restaurant bringing in a plethora of customers. The place was over the water by a bridge, putting the place at sea-level. There was a booth, pressing into a dark brown wall with dark brown wooden flooring, oval-shaped, cream-colored rugs. A chandelier hangs overhead, giving the open dining space light when it is needed, closer to dark. Most days, The Winchester was packed, teeming with customers who couldn’t wait to try their food, but as of late, the excitement for the quaint, cozy restaurant had begun to die down.

Delphine clears her throat to remove herself from her thoughts of The Winchester, quirking a dark chestnut brown eyebrow at her best friend. Her hair was a dark chestnut brown with thick curls that frizzed when a storm was somewhere over the horizon. "Why is it a shame? Jean seems your type."

"When we were in school, maybe, but somewhere between then and now, I changed. Mean guys like Jean just don’t tickle my fancy," Mackenzie softly explains, pursing her soft pink, full lips with a smug smirk hidden beneath her carefree attitude. She wasn't being entirely upfront with her best friend like she should be.

"Kenzie, what aren’t you telling me?" Delphine gently asks, seeing alarm rise in the navy gray eyes of her best friend. Her best friend clams up, beginning to shake her head in order to shake off whatever was going on with Mackenzie.

"I'm just worried. Why are you back in Clairvoyant Cove?" Mackenzie inquired, raising her dark eyebrows which didn't match the lavender waves of the twenty-five-year-old.

"I want to discuss that with you when Evelyn turns up. She was supposed to meet me and you," Delphine says, perking up at the thought of the nearing ninety-year-old woman who was like a grandmother to both women.

"Evelyn Cromwell?" Mackenzie questions as her eyes light up with fondness at the memory of the elderly woman. She thought of the woman as more than just a grandmother, but also a mother figure, since she barely knew the woman who gave birth to her. "She’s like a grandmother and mother to me."

"She’s just like a grandmother to me. My older sister was always more like a mother to me given...never mind." Delphine mumbles, before realizing where she was going with her words. She didn’t fancy bringing down the mood, not yearning to kick herself while she was down in the slumps.

"I cannot wait to see Eve." Mackenzie beams, grinning from ear to ear with a smile that genuinely reached her eyes. She didn’t smile often, much like Delphine, since they both led semi-hard lives.

"My, my, my! Would you look at the two of you?" Evelyn Cromwell quipped, suddenly appearing at the end of the table. Her pink glossed, cracked lips were pursed with a smile in her light blue eyes. Her short, pixie-white hair tracked, as did her pale, wrinkled complexion to match her tracksuit. Her hands rested upon her hips, taking in both of the young women, chuckling out loud to herself.

"Grandma Eve!" Mackenzie exclaims, bouncing from her spot at the table to embrace the elderly woman who was inching closer to the hundreds each year. Her hug was returned by Evelyn, who finally cleared her throat in order to get the lavender-haired woman to pull back.

"Miss Delphine, do tell us what returns you to Clairvoyant Cove?" Evelyn softly inquires, taking a seat across from Delphine just as Mackenzie rejoins her best friend. She catches the tidal wave of embarrassment wash over Delphine.

Where to begin telling the people you care about how much of a failure you are? Opening her mouth, then closing her mouth, Delphine isn’t sure how to explain what happened to wreck her career in music to Evelyn and Mackenzie. Taking a deep breath, she's about to answer when a platter of gator tail is set on their table with sauce to dip the fried tail in. She tilts her head to both women, raising a chestnut-brown eyebrow at them. "Did you two order gator tail for the appetizer?"

"Delphine, I just arrived, but I'm not complaining. Gator tail is amazing and tasty," Evelyn soft spokenly explains, plucking up a piece of the gator tail, dipping it into some sauce with Mackenzie following her lead.

"Southern friend food is always the best, taste wise." Mackenzie voices while chewing on a bit of her gator tail. She winks at a confused seeming Delphine.

Taking another deep breath, Delphine takes a piece of the gator tail, dipping it into some sauce before plopping it into her mouth. She chews for a few good minutes, annoyed with how tough her piece was. When she thought she was clear to swallow, her gator tail, Delphine attempted to do so only for the piece to get caught mid-way in her throat. A wave of panic shot through her as she began to cough to clear her airwaves before the gator tail could end her in front of the very few people that were at The Winchester. She was sure that people were looking in her direction while Mackenzie and Evelyn grew confused by whatever was going on with the brunette.

She began to wring out her hands midair as she began to hack up the gator tail instead of trying to get it to go down. She succeeded in sparing her life as her face grew flustered, hot, and sweaty with her near-death experience so early in her life. Her candy-apple-green eyes narrowed on the piece of gator tail that had attempted to take her life. She didn’t bother to glance in the direction of Mackenzie and Evelyn as of the moment, needing a moment to collect herself with her thoughts. When her heart stopped racing out of control, her candy-apple-green eyes finally landed on the two women who were waiting for a response from Delphine.

"Never again, will I eat gator tail. It just attempted an assassination on my life in front of a bunch of strangers." Delphine irritably mused, garnering a chuckle from Evelyn, who found the young woman to sound ridiculous.

"Delphine, are you listening to yourself? Accidents happen, the gator tail did not just try to kill you." Evelyn chuckles some more, finding Delphine's hysterics humorous. She watched as Delphine began to mutter to herself, not wanting to ever eat the fried seafood again in her life.

"Eve has got a point, Del. These things happen to most people. You'll be okay, no need to swear off fried southern food forever because you nearly choked to death on it." Mackenzie keeps a straight face upon doing what she could to reason with the disheartened Delphine.

Tears pricked the back of Delphine's eyes. She didn’t feel sane or normal considering she got fired from her job, and returned to Clairvoyant Cove only to have a near-death experience due to a deceased creature. She needed to calm herself down, taking a few swigs of water in order to quench her chapped, parched lips. "I got fired from Candlewood Records."

The silence ensured caused the atmosphere to swirl with tension, making it palpable. Nobody said anything, registering the words that fell from the disheartened Delphine, whose voice had cracked upon delivering the bad news. They were aware of how much the woman enjoyed working for Candlewood Records—it’s all she spoke highly of when she saw Evelyn, Mackenzie and her sisters.

"Why did they fire you?" Evelyn softly asked, becoming straight-laced, leaning forward. She cleared her throat, analyzing the face of the brunette woman. Sorrow broke through on the elderly face of the woman, extending a hand over the table to place on one of Delphine's for reassurance and support.

"I don’t care about the reason. There's no way that Candlewood Records should have fired Del. She's got a great voice, body, and reserved personality. She doesn't deserve to be fired," Mackenzie scoffs, rolling her eyes at the lunacy of it all.

Delphine couldn’t mask the shame surfacing on her face with tears on the verge of falling from her candy-apple-green. She took a few, steady breaths before opening her mouth to explain why they fired her. Her voice was once a gold mine before something ruined her vocal cords. "I was in the middle of recording my fourth studio album when my voice quit on me. I don’t know what or how it happened."

"Your voice stopped working on you in the middle of recording your fourth studio album, but how?" Mackenzie quizzed with disbelief, coloring her tone and face. She was about as stunned as Evelyn by the newfound piece of information. She shook her head, poking her tongue into the side of her cheek. "Can you tell us more, Del?"

"Candlewood Records loved the seemingly squeaky dolphin vocals I was once able to produce. My voice began to crack, drying as if I never had a singing voice. The only thing I have left of my short career is my writing ability." Delphine choked out, on the brink of breaking down in The Winchester, not caring who was around to witness her hysterics.

Evelyn squeezes the hand of Delphine, reassuring the brunette as best as she could that it wasn’t the end of the world. She had knowledge that neither Mackenzie nor Delphine were aware of. "You may need to look into another, more fitting career, Miss Delphine. I know you love music, but this may be a sign for you to change paths."

"I'm with Eve on this. What about writing a fully blown book? Writing is the second-best skill that you're grand at." Mackenzie agrees with Evelyn as her eyes widen with enthusiasm while Delphine gives the suggestion some deep thought.

"I need to think about what I want to do after my failed music career. Do I even want to keep writing or do I want to let it go?" Delphine gently mutters, mostly arguing internally with herself.

Evelyn and Mackenzie shoot each other a look while digesting what Delphine suggested. Neither of them fancied the idea of watching Delphine give up on her creative spark, which made her more outgoing, hopeful, and positive.

"In the meantime, what do you plan on doing with your life?" Evelyn genuinely questioned Delphine while Mackenzie sat back, soaking in what was becoming of her best friend.

"I plan on getting a job at the local grocery store, part-time," Delphine replies, nonchalantly shrugging. She chose to ignore the horrified looks written across the faces of Evelyn and Mackenzie. She knew what she had to do, finding no pleasure in creativity at the moment. In fact, she was so burnt-out from her latest endeavor, she didn’t care if she ever got back into the creative scene ever again.

"A part-time job at the local grocery store? Candlebrick Shoppers?" Mackenzie questions as an idea seemed to cross her mind. Her navy gray eyes danced with light. "I think it would be a good idea for you to join normal people in their everyday life. I work at Candlebrick Shoppers in the hair saloon part."

"You do?" Delphine frowns, having had no clue what her friend had been doing while she was out chasing her dreams that were nothing more than a fantasy. She found a soft, short-lived smile for her best friend. "Good to know, since I'll be joining you. I'm going to try bagging groceries. Seems easy."

"In theory, it sounds easy. Customers can be a pain in the arse," Mackenzie snorts, slightly laughing just as Evelyn cuts in.

"Neither of you two women are ordinary. I wouldn’t allow your imagination to be stemmed. I would keep fighting to be in the creative field. You don't know what may come your way." Evelyn informs Mackenzie and Delphine, attempting to lift their moods, which partly works.

Before any of the women could speak, a woman with honey-blonde waves appeared at their table. She was slim, fit with a heartshaped face, hazel brown eyes, dressed in all black with a creamy tan complexion. She didn’t seem too friendly as she eyed the elderly woman. "What are you up to, Grandma?"

"Penny?" Evelyn joyfully asks, frowning once she sees the mean streak clinging to the twenty-five-year-old woman who was her flesh and blood granddaughter. She was close to Penelope Cromwell once upon a time until the Guiders stole Penelope from her daughter. Sighing, sadness swept into her upon realizing what change had been implemented in the honey-blonde.

"I have come for the Dolphin Shifter. Her blood is the most sustainable for my client." Penelope snarls, cutting her hazel brown eyes to Delphine who frowns at what the honey-blonde just spoke into the universe.

"Dolphin Shifter?" Delphine snorts just as Penelope growls at her. She becomes tense, leaning into the wall that her chair is pressed into. She quirks an eyebrow, while Evelyn isn’t just heartbroken by the sight of her grandmother, she's disappointed in Penelope.

"It doesn’t matter if you are aware or unaware of what you are. It just matters that I collect you. My client has had his eye on you since you set foot in Clairvoyant Cove where no secret stays hidden or buried." Penelope hisses, ready to lunge in the direction of Delphine.

"Penny, is it? Why don't you just take your bag of craziness elsewhere?" Mackenzie scoffs, once more rolling her navy gray eyes, gaining a scowl from the likes of the honey-blonde woman.

"Shut up, Mage! I'm talking to the dolphin!" Penelope hisses as her hazel-brown eyes turn a charcoal black, confirming what Evelyn had silently been fretting about. She dug her fingernails into the palm of her skin, drawing blood in the process.

"Mage?" Mackenzie snorts again, yawning as she waves off the absurd notion. She doesn’t get the chance to say too much more when Penelope launches her body viciously at Delphine.

"You are coming with me, dolphin!" Penelope angrily hisses, digging her fingernails into the skin of Delphine.

Delphine groaned at the collision course, Penelope made towards Delphine, causing her to kick the slim, honey-blonde from off of her. She shot Evelyn a scathing glance, hoping the elderly woman was not in on whatever was going on with her granddaughter. Clearing her throat, she did her best to croak out the elderly woman's name. "E-E-Evelyn, what is wrong with your granddaughter?"

Evelyn drowned her shock in order to get a grasp of the situation in front of her. She harshly gulps, standing up to confront her granddaughter. She lifts a hand, taking a deep breath. "Penelope Alina Cromwell! What happened to make you take this dark path? Aren't Guiders meant to guide their clients?"

Penelope heard her grandmother loud and clear. She was simply meant to guide, but since she strayed from her client, something twisted took root in her heart, changing her. She couldn’t tell anyone what changed her, since it wasn’t the reason for her client's paranormal status. She shot her grandmother a dirty look. "Wouldn't you like to know what happened you old bat?"

"Excuse you, Penny?" Evelyn gasped, not able to feign shock at the change in Penelope. She heard a great deal about Guiders nor did the being represent evil in anyway. At least, she knew they weren't meant to.

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