Later on, Brandon is back as his regular human self, all alone in the living room; Nick is in his room, sleeping; Joseph is in his room, doing ceramics.

Brandon is lounging on the sofa, staring out the gloomy, blurred scenery through the rain-covered window. He hears the rain showering against the window, taunting him with the fact that he is going to have to wait until the sun makes its appearance.

With a huff, he turns away and stares ahead at his fish, which is swimming contently around the fishbowl that is still untouched on the countertop in the kitchen. His mind is contemplating on how he can take away this merman curse without the sun. He does not want to wait for the rain to pass; he has a job to do and the curse makes it very difficult for him to do his job.

Knock, knock, knock!

Brandon flutters his eyes, snapping out from his thoughts. “Huh, who’s here in this rain?”

He swings his legs over to the edge of the sofa and rises to his feet. He then ambles to the foyer and opens the front door.

On the other side is Matt. He is wearing a yellow raincoat, with a matching rain hat and rain boots; occupying both of his hands is a large cardboard box.

“Oh, hey, Matt!” Brandon steps away from the doorway. “Come on in, you’re getting soaked!”

Matt steps in and puts the box down. He then begins peeling off the hat and jacket from himself, revealing his gray jacket and badly cut hair. Brandon steps away from Matt to avoid getting droplets of water on him.

Matt peers at him. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” He shields the soaked outerwear with his body and quickly hangs them up on the jacket rack by the door. He whirls back to him and extends his hands out at him. “Are you okay? Did I get you wet?”

Brandon shakes his head. “No, no, you’re fine.” He then nods toward the box. “What’s up with that?”

“Oh!” Matt heaves the box back into his hands. “This I got for you!”

“Really?” He tilts his head at it with inquiry. “What is it, exactly?”

“It’s a radiator!”

His expression comes more intense. “Radiator?”

Matt smiles at him. “Yeah! You see, Crammer called me up and told me that your merman cure is the sun! But the sun’s not here since it’s raining really hard. And since there’s no sun, you can’t be cured!

“So I decided to go to the store and buy a radiator! It’s just like the sun, emitting heat since that’s most likely the reason why the sun cures you because it dries up the moisture, which is opposite to getting a tail, since water--moisture--is needed to get a tail.

“So, you wanna try it out?” He holds the box out toward him.

Brandon smiles with a closed mouth. “Sure!”

---

A few minutes later, Brandon is back on his sofa, reclining on it. This time on the coffee table is the large, metal radiator. It is humming as it emits heat waves at Brandon.

Brandon begins inhaling and exhaling loudly as he feels the prickling warmth growing on his cheeks and back as sweat drips down from his eyelashes. He wipes the back of his hand across his forehead, feeling it completely wet.

He chuckles, turning to Matt. “Hey, Hacker, is it okay to sweat? Because it’s like water…?”

From the reclining chair, Matt perks up at him from his smartphone. “Well, you’re not turning into a merman!”

Brandon nods his head. “Oh yeah.” He then grabs the front collar of his shirt and pulls it up, then down over his face. “Man, I’m sweating like a pig.”

“I think it means it’s working,” Matt points out.

Brandon gazes at him. “When should I stop, though?”

“Oh, hm…” Matt casts his eyes down as he mentally searches for a response. “To be on the safe side, don’t step away from it ‘til the next morning. It works on outlets, so you can take it with you to the kitchen or to your bedroom!”

Brandon lets out an exhausted sigh. “Oh man. Okay.” He then adjusts himself on the sofa, locking his eyes on the working radiator.

Notes

E.7 "Imma Merman"
Part 7/8
Episode 7/20