Mr. Fish & Other Fantasy Tales. David Ph.D Dicaire
King Sloan summoned for his daughter. She swam over to his private chambers.
“Yes father, you wanted to see me?”
“I think you have been spending too much time with Bernard.”
“But, father, he is new here and needs someone to guide him along.”
“I see.”
“Besides, he is very nice.”
“But, he was not born a fish. Someday, he will want to become a human again and will leave.”
“Maybe he will decide to remain a fish.”
“Perhaps. Remember that you are going to marry Luther when the time is right.”
“Luther is nice, but I do not want to marry him.”
“Luther will be the future king. He is strong and brave.”
“I do not wish to discuss this any further.”
Tatiana swam away.
“Come back here,” Sloan shouted.
Some time later, Bernard found her crying in her mud hole.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing. My father and I have a strong difference of opinion.”
“I see.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you like being a fish?”
“I guess so. I would rather be a human being, but I am not sure how to go back to being my old self again.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Everyone, come quick.”
All of the fish swam out of their holes and dropped what they were doing.
“What is it?” asked Luther.
“Spike was seen cruising around looking for a meal.”
“He's probably looking for Bernard. I knew that fish would be trouble.” Luther glared at Bernard.
“I outwitted him once, I will outwit him again.”
“You were lucky he didn't eat you.”
“Father what are we going to do?”
“There is no reasoning with Spike.”
“If I tell him that I used to be a human maybe that will scare him away.”
“Spike is not easily scared.”
“For now, I don't want anyone to go out of the safety zone. Does everyone understand?”
Everyone agreed.
“We will start night watches. Luther, can you organize that for me?”
“Consider it done.”
Later that night, Bernard was on his watch. All was quiet on the watery front and he started to relax a bit. He didn't like the first encounter with Spike and certainly wasn't looking forward to a second one. Suddenly, he heard a noise.
Should I go and see what it is? Perhaps it is Tatiana?
He moved slowly and carefully toward the source of the noise when something attacked him. He fought the unknown assailant thinking it was Spike. In a split second decision, he realized it was best to lead the danger away from the group.
Bernard high-tailed it out of there and could not manage to shake the pursuer. In the darkness, there was a terrific battle between the two combatants. Bernard who had never really been in a fight in his entire life--as a human or as a fish--struggled with everything he had. In an effort to end the nightmare, he bit down on the enemy as hard as he could.
“Dirty fighter.” It was Luther's voice.
“Why are you attacking me?”
“Because I don't like you. Tatiana is mine. Leave and never come back.”
Bernard fled.
6
Bernard managed to survive the next few days on his own. Lost and afraid to go back to the kingdom because he was sure that Luther would be waiting for him, he wandered. He found a muddy little hole that was not as comfortable as the one in the trout village, but it was home.
It wasn't easy and he was very lonely, but there was food available and the deeper waters were much more open and kind of fun to explore. However, he kept one eye out for Spike and all other potential enemies.
While being a fish was not the most pleasant life, he had come to accept it as his fate. He longed for the days when he was human and ate gourmet meals, enjoyed an after dinner drink in his monogram pajamas in front of a roaring fire, while he read a book or watched a classic movie. There was an excitement going on vacation to some wonderful tropical island or a different exciting locale. Those days seemed so distant.
Each day he explored a different part of the great water. There was always something new to see and found a sunken boat that seemed like a good hiding place. There was also a lot of garbage on the seabed.
It is a shame the way people dumped garbage in the water like it was a landfill site.
But there were enjoyable parts to his excursions. There were turtles and schools of minnows that numbered in the thousands. There were also a couple of larger fish, bigger than Spike that cruised right by without even looking his way.
One morning he decided to venture to a new part of the great water. After a solid breakfast, he headed out. He cruised through a neighborhood that didn't seem to have any inhabitants when he saw a fish much larger than Spike. But the old sturgeon was blind and after a brief chase was out of breath and could no longer pursue him.
At one point, Bernard swam to the surface and stuck his head out for just a second and noticed a log with a number of frogs sunning themselves. When they saw him they dived onto the safe grass. He returned to the water and swam off.
Two hours later, he had discovered more of this strange new world that included sunken boats and a different food source. Although it was inviting to remain there, he decided to head back to the mud hole that had become home the last couple of days.
Upon his return, something shiny caught his eye. It danced in the weak sunlight teasing Bernard to the point that he couldn't stand it anymore. The silver minnow was tantalizing and in a quick second, he bit down on it. The hook sunk into his bottom lip and a tremendous pain shot right through his entire body. The more he struggled, the deeper the hook became imbedded into his lip.
He was being reeled in and struggled as hard as he could. Visions of ending up in someone's frying pan were dancing in his head as he broke the surface and heard the fishermen scream with delight at the size of their catch.
Bernard continued to struggle but it was of no use. He stopped to catch his breath and the fisherman only reeled him in at a quicker pace.
I am going to be on someone's supper table tonight.
He was almost in the boat when the line snapped. In an instant, Bernard was gone and could hear the curses from the fishermen of the big one that got away.
After much effort, he made it back to the place that had become home with the lure still dangling from his lip. There was the occasional drop of blood and he feared that Spike or some other menacing fish would pick up on the scent. But for the moment he was free and tried to figure out how to get the fishing lure out of his mouth.
But before he could enter his mud hole, it collapsed on him and he was out of a home. His lip hurt and the night would soon fall down over the water where predators like Spike cruised looking for victims.
Later that night, he was huddled near an old twig when the rain started. It came down hard and cold penetrating the surface and chilling the water very quickly. Despite the pain in