Nome has new fish babies!

[naomi_jay]

The gouramis are kind of put out, but it's not all about them...





It's now about the black phantom tetras!



And the corydoras, but they're hiding, whereas the tetras are a bit less camera-shy.



In other news, it's been a slow weekend writing-wise. I didn't spend much time at the Strawberry Fair in the end, but I still haven't managed to get much done because I was too busy catching up with Becky and fish shopping. I've done about a thousand words so far today, and want to get another thousand done before I go to bed. I should have been filling in application forms for jobs, but that can wait til tomorrow. My aim is get the first three chapters done and send them to James for his thoughts.

So here's proof that I am actually working on Silver Kiss:

 

I had a couple of bitchy messages from Vince about how busy the restaurant was and how many people had called in sick. I was replying to him when Kaye sashayed in, stiletto heels clicking on the wooden floor. She snatched the TV remote up from the coffee table and put the news on.

            ‘Anyone catch the tennis yesterday?’ she asked. ‘My new boyfriend kept me busy all afternoon and I missed the results.’

            Kaye had a new boyfriend every week. I’m not sure she always got rid of the old ones first, but I didn’t care enough to ask. I focused on my text, not wanting to be drawn into conversation with her.

            Flo joined us, flopping down into the chair next to mine. ‘Darling, you don’t watch sports for the results. That’s just boring. You watch it for the tight shorts and grunts of effort.’ He nudged me. ‘Right, Ayla?’

            ‘I don’t watch sports at all,’ I said. ‘I don’t see the fun in grown men hitting balls at each other.’

            ‘Well presumably that’s why you hook up with women,’ Kaye purred. Flo cackled like it was genuinely witty and I glowered at the pair of them. As much as I liked Flo, he and Kaye together was an unpleasant mix.

            I sent my text to Vince and glanced at the TV, watching the highlights of the tennis flick by. A yellow band scrolled along the bottom of the screen, displaying breaking news headlines. Stock market crashes, celebrity scandals, and football scores flashed by, totally uninteresting to me, although I was sure Shannon would want to know her favourite actor had been caught drink-driving. Then the final headline went past: Teen werewolf still missing in Yorkshire.

            ‘Oh shit,’ I said, a little pang of sadness tugging at my heart. ‘They still haven’t found that kid.’

            ‘It’s been two weeks now,’ Flo said, examining his turquoise-painted nails. ‘They’re probably not going to find him, are they? Runaway kids don’t really come home safe and sound.’

            ‘Maybe he went feral?’ Kaye said. Now that the tennis highlights were finished, she was rearranging her corset, jiggling her boobs about with a frown of concentration. In about five minutes she’d be complaining about how hard it was for her to find tops that fit her cleavage. ‘You guys do that sometimes, don’t you?’