by Reena Yadav
FISHES PLC
By
Reena Yadav
*****
Fishes Plc
Copyright 2013 Reena Yadav
Cover image Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into retrieval systems or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the various products referenced in this work of fiction which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
*****
Fishes Plc
Florida is a peninsular between the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and the Straits of Florida. At the southeastern tip of Florida lies the Florida Keys. Beneath the Florida Keys, there was an Ocean Valley and in this valley, there lived many types of marine life. One of the families that lived in Ocean Valley was the Flame family. The Flame family had a daughter named Angel Flame. The Flame’s were from the angelfish family. They were bright orange-red color with vertical elongated black spots with four bars on their dorsal and anal fins with alternating short black and purple bands. The males of the Flame family were always larger than the females.
The Flame family consisted of Father Flame and Mother Flame with their only daughter Angel Flame. Angel Flame was a young fish, who loved adventures and would always wander off away from Ocean Valley High, the school where she studied.
One day, on her way back from school, onboard Mr. Manta Ray, their bus driver, Angel saw her parents drawn towards a large net which had appeared from the sea bed. She rushed over to help her parents as the large net was ploughed up, capturing all the other fishes in it as well.
‘Father, Mother!!’ she screamed as she could not see her parents. They had swum with a shoal of tuna. Angel then thought of idea, she was going to go up to the surface of the sea and see what was in store for her parents. As she went to the surface, she saw a large boat with the name “Orion” engraved on it, painted in blue while the boat was white. Just below the sign, she saw a location; it was ‘K-E-Y L-A-R-G-O’ Angel said excitedly, ‘KILLAGO!! That’s an easy name to remember’ Angel thought to herself. As she saw the large net rising above the surface, she was overcome with sadness, there was nothing she could not but watch. She looked helplessly as the tuna were dumped onto the deck.
‘Hey, Marty, look what we got here … a couple of angelfishes? What should we do with them?’ a fisherman said to Marty, the captain of the ship.
‘Place those fishes in here!’ Marty said as he gave large bowl of water to the fisherman, ‘I’ll take these fishes back to my kids and place them in my aquarium’
Father and Mother Flame, who were frantic, were now scared and called out to Angel, ‘take care Angel! You have been a great daughter!’ they said as if they were never coming home again.
‘No!! I’ll save both of you! We will be together once again!’
As they boat raised its anchor and headed back to shore, Angel saw that her parents were safe while the fisherman had placed the dead tuna’s in an ice container. Angel was horrified and grateful at the same time, grateful that her parents were still alive and swimming in circles in the bowl in the captain’s chambers.
Angel followed the boat, day and night. She was alone. She had not eaten for few days and was beginning to feel giddy. As she fainted down to the sea bed, she felt a bounce, which woke her up immediately.
‘Hey, you! Wake up!’ the voice said as Angel turned to see an ugly looking fish. It had four teeth, two arranged on top and two on the bottom. The fish didn’t have spinal dorsal fins and didn’t have fins, unlike other fishes. It had a pale tan yellowish skin with square network of lines centered on a bulls-eye pattern on the mid-back front of the dorsal fin. It had olive colored lines with small dark brown spots on its cheeks and lower side; it had white abdomen and dark bands on its caudal fins.
‘Oh! I didn’t see you. Who are you?’ Angel asked. ‘I’m Puffer’ he said and continued, ‘What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you around before and you better get some sleep, you look extremely tired’
‘I’m Angel. I was following that boat to Killago. The fishermen took my parents away, I heard they were going to put them in the aquarium’ Angel said as she lay to get rest. ‘Killago? You mean Key Largo’ Puffer said.
‘You better get some rest. I’ll help you find your parents. I know where that boat would land’ Puffer said as he gently patted Angel to sleep.
Once rested, Angel woke up and found Puffer sleeping by her side. She was startled and she jumped up and that woke Puffer up.
‘Oh! You are up already’ Puffer said. ‘I’m sorry I startled you, thanks so much for being here’ Angel said.
‘Well, ma’am, looks like you were too tired when I told you I would help you find your parents. Come, let’s swim to Key Largo. I’m ready whenever you are!’ Puffer said excitedly. ‘This is my first adventure out of Ocean Valley’ Puffer continued. ‘Yeah, mine too’ Angel said as they both swam to Key Largo with Puffer leading the way. ‘Always remember, keep swimming!’ Puffer said as he swam ahead of Angel.
As the boat anchored at Bayside Inn in Key Largo, the fishermen who had already packed the tuna into ice boxes, moved rapidly to place them into a moving freezer van which would keep the fish fresh until they reached the market. Father and Mother Flame looked helplessly as they saw the dead tuna being shipped away. The captain of the boat then took the large bowl where he had placed Father and Mother Flame and transferred the water with them into a plastic bag and drove home.
Angel and Puffer soon reached the jetty and looked for ‘Orion’, they found it anchored but no one was around. Angel became sad and Puffer saw her sadness and said, ‘Hey, don’t worry, we’ll find them. We just need to spread the word that you are looking for them’ Puffer said enthusiastically. ‘Don’t give up hope!’ he encouraged.
‘Yes, I know but how do we find them?’ Angel asked as she looked around and saw a fairy that looked like a queen. She was in human form. She had seen Angel and Puffer and came and sat up to them as they as close to the shore as they could. ‘Please help us!’ Angel said. ‘Who are you?’ Puffer said.
‘My name is Asia; I am sea nymph in human form and come from the Asian continent. I am here on holidays. How may I help you?’ Asia asked as she picked Angel and Puffer up as they lay on her palm, breathless.
‘I came to shore to look for my parents, but I can’t find them. I saw the captain of the Orion boat taking my parents away. They had captured my parents together with a shoal of tuna. The tuna died and we haven’t seen my parents since’ Angel said as Puffer said, ‘yes, yes, this poor fish hasn’t eaten or slept’
‘I guess I can help you, but there are conditions’ Asia said. ‘Do you agree?’
‘Yes, we agree!!’ Angel and Puffer said together.
‘Using my magical powers, I will transform both of you to humans. You have twenty-four hours to search and return to this shore with your parents. Once you are here with them, I will transform both of you back to your fish form’
Asia then whisks her arms around Angel and Puffer and placed them on the ground and instantly Angel transformed into a beautiful teenage girl. Asia called her Emily and Puffer had changed into a handsome teenage boy called Jacob. ‘Your twenty-four hours starts now!’ Asia s
aid as she motioned them to go search for Angel’s parents.
In a new place and not knowing where to start, they felt helpless, even as humans. Then, suddenly, ‘There, over there!! That’s the captain, isn’t it? Jacob said excitedly as he pointed out to the captain of the boat who was having a picnic with his family. Father and Mother Flame were nowhere to be found. ‘Yeah, that’s him and his family. We’ll wait here and follow them home, Father and Mother should be at their home’ Emily said as they sat nearby while observing the movements of the captain and his family.
Just as soon as the captain and his family had finished their picnic, they headed to their car and drove home. Emily and Jacob ran behind the car but couldn’t catch up with them. They were despaired. Just then, Asia swept them up and brought them to the captain’s home. ‘Thanks Asia’ Emily and Jacob chimed.
As Asia placed them near a window pane, Emily and Jacob saw Father and