Saturday's Storyteller: "Mackerel is no name for a little girl."

by Belinda Roddie

"Mackerel is no name for a little girl."

"Why is it that you never like my name choices?"

"Because they're silly."

"You said the same thing about naming the cat Jumping Bean."

"Yeah. It was silly. I like Zelda better."

"Okay, fine. Mackerel's out. How about Salmon?"

"Dude. No."

"Carp?"

"No!"

"Rainbow Trout."

"You just keep naming random fish! C'mon!"

"Well, at least I added the Rainbow part of Rainbow Trout! That leaves me some gay cred!"

"Sure. And zero 'capable of properly naming your hypothetical daughter' cred."

"Hey, man, I take what I can get."

"What little there is, at least."

"Don't be mean."

"It's late, I worked a long day, and I'm cranky. And we're almost out of booze."

"Told you to get more."

"We shouldn't. Budget's tight this month with the car payments."

"Then sell the car."

"You sound like an alcoholic."

"You sound like a buzzkill."

"Sometimes, you worry me, John."

"...Sometimes?"

"Okay. Fair. All the time."

"That's better. ...Okay, so how about Largemouth Bass?"

"Are you being serious now, or just trying to bug me?"

"Blowfish."

"John."

"Kipper!"

"...Okay, that's actually a real name."

"Wait. Really?"

"Really."

"Awesome!"

"It's a boy's name, though."

"Pffft, whatever! I'll name my daughter Kipper!"

"Whatever floats your boat, dude."

"...What would you name her?"

"Hmm?"

"What would you name our daughter?"

"...Our daughter?"

"Sure, bro. Our daughter."

"...Marissa, I think."

"Why's that?"

"I dunno. It's just a nice name."

"...Okay. I like it."

"Good."

"But Mackerel can be her middle name."

"No."

"Kipper, then?"

"I'll think about it."

"Think about it while I split the last can of beer in the apartment between us."

"Okay."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"And no."

"No fair!"

"I thought about it."

"I will slap you in the face with a fish, Aaron!"

"Good luck. We have no fish to slap me with."

"I'll find some frozen tilapia!"

"No dice."

"I'll thaw it out and slap you!"

"Nope."

"SLAP SLAP SLAP!"

"Just give me my share of the beer, John."

"Never! I'm holding it hostage until you agree to the name Marissa Kipper!"

"Sometimes, I don't know how I still love you."

"...Patience?"

"...Yep. That'd be it."

This week's prompt was provided by Daniel Bulone.