Izzy wakes up restless; her stomach rumbles. She nudges Jacob. “Let’s get breakfast.” Jacob refuses to stir. She kisses him to no response. She tries to take the blankets away, but he rolls over, tucking the blankets tighter around himself. “No, seriously, get up, you lump,” she says louder and resorts to tickling him while he is wrapped up like a burrito.
“No, Izzy, don’t tickle me.” he pleads, flailing around, looking like a caterpillar
She, however, continues tickling him. “Are you awake yet?” She says her fingers make the tickling motion where he can see them.
“Yes, yes, I am awake, Izzy,” he says, trying to unwrap from his blankets without success.
“I think you need just a little more tickling,” she tickles him again. He squirms, then feels his underwear get damp. ‘Oh no, I peed a little.’ He feels his cheeks grow hot with embarrassment, and he rolls out of the bed and quickly changes underwear, throwing the wet pair on the pile of dirty laundry that is growing scary in size.
“That was evil, Izzy,” he says, not looking at her as he finishes getting dressed.
“Oh Jacob, I am sorry. But you have to admit it. It got you up to get breakfast, didn’t it?” She says, while putting on a comfortable blue sweater with a black cat on it and a pair of shorts and flip-flops.
“There are better ways you could have woken me up,” he grumbles. Putting his shoes on.
“Yeah, but none as fun for me,” she says as she slips out the motel room door.
They walk into the bar together holding hands and sit down in front of the cat. The cat smiles warmly. “Izzy,” he says, almost purring with pleasure. “What will it be?”
Izzy smiles back. “I don’t know what else Joe’s pizzeria is selling, or is it Dave’s delicatessen?”
“Oh come now, it made me laugh,” the cat says, then blinks one eye at a time, giving her a piercing gaze. “But seriously, what can I get you to eat this bright sunny morning?”
“Something to do today,” Izzy says, putting her head in her hands, “I have been cooped up for too long.
“Go for a walk,” the cat says, “or check out of the pool. You haven’t seen it yet, have you?”
“I would like cereal and orange juice, please, Cat,” Jacob says.
“Oh, I do enjoy it when you say please, but I will place your order only after Izzy orders,” the cat says, moving one eye to him, causing the hair on the back of his neck to rise. He then moves it back to Izzy.
“Wait, there is a pool,” Izzy asks, looking around confused.
The Cat tilts his head at Izzy in confusion. “You know there is a pool; we talked about it before.”
She still looks confused. “You might have mentioned it in passing, but I don’t remember.”
Cat looks at Izzy, his head tilting at an inhuman angle. “Well, Izzy, there is a pool.”
Jacob’s stomach rumbles loudly. “Izzy, order breakfast; I am starving,” Jacob asks Izzy with the look of a hungry dog.
“How about a bagel with extra cream cheese?” Izzy says, looking over at Jacob, then back to the cat.
“Consider it done,” the Cat says.
With breakfast finished, Izzy and Jacob open the back doors to the bar and walk out to a patio with a large kidney-shaped pool. She can see a lazy river and several hot tubs and one tub with ice forming on the surface. The whole place has a baby blue theme that matches the doo-wop style of the motel. Several lounge chairs are scattered around.
“Wow,” Izzy says, looking it over. “It’s massive.”
“The only thing it’s lacking is overpriced ice cream, and it would be a water park.” Jacob responds.
Hidden in the distance, they can hear a commotion. Then cheering. They move to investigate, walking along the concrete pathway that leads to the back of the pool area. They cross a bridge over the lazy river and are shocked to see an Olympic-sized pool with several species of aliens playing water polo. “Izzy, this is crazy. We went crazy, right?”
“I don’t think so, Jacob, but I am pretty sure that’s a starfish playing water polo,” she responds. In the water is a 9-legged creature, bright orange in color and lacking any visible means of vision. It grabs the ball and throws it into the goal, only to be blocked by Grup, who tosses it to the other end of the field, where a 5-foot-tall beaver leaps out of the water and snatches it with one paw, slamming it back to Grup’s goal.
He spots Izzy and Jacob standing on the edge of the water; he is instantly distracted by Izzy; he looks up and waves before continuing playing. However, in his distraction, he misses the ball and bats at it, causing it to be launched out of the pool, slamming into one of the fake palm trees, knocking the whole top loose. It lands with a plastic thump on the concrete walkway.
“What do you think you’re doing? I had the shot,” Scarlet shouts at the otter from across the pool.
The otter raises its hands in an angry gesture. Izzy notices the otter has white sunblock on its nose. ‘That’s weird,’ she thinks as it makes incomprehensible birdlike noises and screams.
“I don’t care; pay attention and give me a chance,” she yells back at it.
While Izzy is distracted, someone says, “Hey girl, welcome to El Poooola.” She turns around and sees A walking lifeguard troupe; he has a wide red hat on his head and a pair of red shorts. His nose is covered in white sunblock.
“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for you to visit.” His California surfer accent is thick. The lifeguard’s body was toned; the only really remarkable thing about him was his front two teeth, which were wider and slightly longer than expected.
“You ever wanna get with a lifeguard? You know where to find me.” He points to a little white cottage-looking structure at the back of the pool enclosure.
Izzy scrunches her eyebrows in annoyance. “Uh, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”.
“Or if you want, you can always come for a late-night dip,” he laughs and walks past her, patrolling the lazy river.
“No, seriously not interested,” she replies back, but he seems oblivious to her rejection.
“Are all the residents so forward here?” Jacob asks her. Watching the lifeguard pass.
“Yes.” She watches the lifeguard go. “but usually they have the charisma to back it up.”
