I glide gently across the aquarium, pretending to enjoy the crumbs from yesterday that Eva threw into the aquarium. I would not pretend if I weren't sure she would only throw in my favorite clams from Megan Dow when she saw I had finished the seaweed fish meal.
Sam hasn't been in the office for two days, and I detest it. It's not that I like him so much, but he insists on giving me Megan Dow's clams, which I enjoy. When he's away, Eva stops pretending to give me the expensive Megan Dow’s clams and feeds me with cheaper seaweed fish meal. I suspect she pockets the change, and I don't like it. I don’t like her; She's a greedy thief.
She keeps a hidden scorn when he buys them for me, trying to imagine why I should eat such an expensive treat as a meal. I’m sure she measures the cost against her salary.
I hear footsteps in the hall, and I swim closer to the glass to hear the voices. I hope it's Sam. Suddenly, the door opens, and I see Sam holding Megan Dow's crumbs, among other things, in both hands. I start dancing, strutting from one end to the other. Today is a big day for him, his birthday. But he is not alone. Two men are beside him, and one seems to be holding his arm at the tricep area.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Sam. We already have you on tape saying you're moving drugs for M, and we both know who M is on the streets," the taller of the two men says.
Sam drops the bag containing my freshly bought clams on the table. I salivate relentlessly and do a summersault so he notices me. No success. His attention is elsewhere. He also drops his Louis Vuitton laptop bag and a snack that looks like a burger, bitten at the sides, with tiny trickles of blood remaining at the edges.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sam says with a half-smirk on his face.
The taller man, who I suspect to be a drug law enforcement officer, moves towards the wall behind Sam and smacks it. "You're my friend, and you're going to jail; save yourself," he says.
Eva rushes in. "Mr. Sam, are you alright?"
"Why did you come in like that, no knocks, no text?" Sam retorts.
"I heard screams," Eva mutters.
"Will you leave here this minute and shut the door?" he says.
The two men look at him, and the shorter man can tell Sam sleeps with his secretary. He smirks.
Too bad he doesn’t have front-row seats when they do it here on the desk. I cross two of my arms and eat my clams with another two when i watch him pant relentlessly.
"Bruno, you'll have to tell me what is next because I don't know what you guys are talking about," Sam says.
"You leave me no choice," Bruno, the taller agent, says. "You're under arrest for the peddling of Class A drugs. You have the right to remain silent, as anything you do or say may be used against you in the court of law."
"Can I feed my fish some clams?" Sam asks.
He calls me fish. He has never named me, maybe because he never liked me but kept me for my beauty. or maybe I am just a trophy to him; one he got himself and is too ashamed to name. "I'm afraid you can't do that," Bruno says. The most annoying bit is, I am not even a fish.
My heart sinks. Immediately, the shorter agent brings out ziplock bags from his jacket and starts bagging everything on Sam's desk. I watch him throw Megan Dow's clams inside one of them.
I swim to the edge of the box, wondering if they'll take me too. I summersault again. This time in worry; I am a rare green octopus in a golden aquarium, of course he bought me with illicit money.