by Jon Lymon
Four
‘Where are you going?’ the goldfish who lived on the outskirts of the village asked Gloria as she swam past them in the direction of the shining orb. Gloria recognised some of the fish as distant cousins and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews.
‘I’m going to get back what’s rightfully mine,’ Gloria replied boldly without stopping, swinging her tailfin rapidly from side to side as she cut through the water at speed.
‘Good luck, Gloria,’ said a young goldfish, barely the size of Gloria’s top fin. The youngster was impressed that someone could be so brave. The older fish thought what Gloria was doing was stupid and just shook their heads or covered their eyes with their fins.
Soon, the village was little more than a speck behind her, although the bright orb in the sky was no nearer. Gloria knew that she couldn’t risk going up to the surface until she was right under the orb. It was dangerous up there. Things called men lived there. And men liked to eat fish.
As she swam, and as the orb didn’t seem to be getting any nearer, Gloria thought it must be moving. It didn’t want to be caught and it was running away. Gloria knew she had to speed up or risk losing it. But her fins were starting to ache and the water was starting to get cooler.
She thought about turning back, but she couldn’t give up this soon. She couldn’t go back to the village, not looking like this. Not without getting the gold back in her scales.
She decided to take a break, and let herself float down to a rock that looked smooth and inviting with some shadow underneath in which she could hide.
Gloria didn’t know much about this part of the world, but knew it was further away from home than she’d ever been, so she needed to be careful.
There didn’t look like there was anyone lurking under the rock, so she settled down. She knew she’d have to swim faster to keep up with the orb. Just a few minutes rest and she’d…
‘Well, well, well, what have we here?’
Gloria bumped her head on the rock and nearly jumped out of her scales, such was her fright at hearing a voice amid the dark.
‘Don’t fret,’ said the voice, seeming a little smaller and more innocent to Gloria second time around.
‘Who is it?’ Gloria asked, her voice trembling.
‘It’s me, I’m just behind you.’
Gloria turned around slowly but couldn’t see anyone. ‘Where are you?’
‘You’re looking right at me.’
A tentacle appeared from underneath what Gloria had thought was a stone stuck to the side of the rock.
‘Is that you?’
‘Yep, that’s me.’
A head popped out. ‘I’m Lewis. And I’m guessing from your puzzled face that you haven’t seen many folk that look like me before.’
Gloria shook her head.
‘Well, you sure look familiar to me. Are you famous?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Well, you sure look famous. Can I get your autograph?’
‘I, er…’
‘Ah, hold on. I’m fresh out of ink. Maybe later. So what brings you around here?’
Gloria wondered if she should be telling someone she’d just met what she was doing. But Lewis seemed friendly enough. ‘Somebody stole my gold,’ she told him. ‘And I’m off to get it back.’
Lewis looked confused.
‘I’m a goldfish,’ she said. ‘I’m not meant to be this colour.’
‘Goldfish aren’t all gold are they? I’ve met a few red and orange ones in my time. I’m a reporter, by the way, for the local newspaper.’
‘Well, I was gold, only someone stole my gold and now I want it back.’
‘Who could do such a thing?’ Lewis asked, sounding genuinely affected by Gloria’s plight.
‘There’s an orb in the sky. A big golden orb. That’s where my gold’s gone. So I’m off to get it back.’
Lewis frowned. As a reporter, he got to hear all kinds of rumours in his line of work, but the idea that an orb in the sky could steal gold seemed a little fanciful.
‘Hmmm, interesting,’ he said. ‘You’ve got the makings of a good story.’
‘What?’ Gloria screeched. ‘Just because I’m a goldfish who isn’t gold I make a good story, is that it?
Lewis was takenaback by her aggressive reaction. ‘No, no,’ he said. ‘Don’t go jumping to conclusions. I was thinking about the gold hunting angle. Everyone likes stories about people hunting for treasure. I know I sure do. Would you mind if I tag along with you, write your story, tell the world?’
Gloria calmed down and shrugged her shoulders. ‘I’m travelling fast,’ she told him. ‘You can tag along as long as you don’t slow me down.’
‘Hey, man, I can help you speed up. If I just cling onto your side and shake my fins, it’s as good as having another engine. Plus we can work shifts. You take a break and I do the swimming and vice versa. We’ll get there in half the time.’
Gloria sized up Lewis. He didn’t look like the strongest nor fastest of swimmers, but he seemed keen.
Eventually she nodded. ‘Let’s go then,’ she said, poking her head out from under the rock.
She couldn’t see the shining orb anymore.
‘It’s gone,’ she whined. ‘The orb. Somebody’s stolen it.’
Lewis stayed clamped to the rock in the spot he’d made nice and warm.
‘How about we rest some more,’ he suggested. ‘I’m sure that orb will be back,’ he said. ‘If it’s the same one I’m thinking of, I’m pretty certain it’ll come back.’
Gloria didn’t seem to have many options, and feeling tired from her travels and from the early start to her day, she returned to the shadows under the rock, and soon fell asleep.
Five
When she woke, Gloria was delighted to see the orb was back and Lewis was still on the rock opposite, snoring loudly.
She tapped his shell lightly with her fin.
‘Wakey, wakey,’ she whispered. ‘We should get going.’
Lewis grumbled and opened his eyes.
It took a while for him to remember where he was, who Gloria was, and who he himself was. But once he’d sorted it all out, he nodded and tore himself away from his rock, attaching himself to Gloria’s side.
‘I said it would be back. Didn’t I say it would be back?’ said Lewis, looking up through the beams of gold that pierced through the water.
‘You said it would be back,’ said Gloria, smiling. ‘And it’s bigger and brighter and more golden than ever. And today, it’s going to give me my gold back.’
‘Too right,’ shouted Lewis. ‘Off we go.’
Together they swam toward the distant, brilliant light.
Gloria felt they were moving much faster than she had on her own the day before. But it seemed the golden orb was moving faster still and not getting any nearer.
It wasn’t long before Lewis wanted a break, but because Gloria wanted to keep moving, she decided to continue swimming and let him rest.
She didn’t hear anything from him for some time. Apart from his snoring. She tried to wake him up by shaking her body first left then right. Still he snored. Only when she shouted, ‘Wakey, wakey, Lewis,’ for the third time did she get a reaction, his sleepy face peering out from under his shell.
‘It’s my turn to rest,’ she told him.
‘OK, then,’ he said, ducking his head back inside the shell.
She shook herself again. ‘It’s your turn to swim while I rest.’
Lewis said nothing.
‘Lewis?’
He slowly emerged from his shell. ‘I don’t think the maths is going to work on this one,’ he said. ‘I thought it might, but now I’m not so sure.’
‘Maths? What maths? What are you not so sure about?’
‘Me swimming. You resting. It’s not going to work. You’re too big. Bigger than I thought.’
It wasn’t what Gloria wanted to hear. ‘Can you at least try?’ she asked. ‘I’m really tired and could do with a break.’
<
br /> She stopped swimming and felt Lewis half-heartedly wiggle. They barely moved.
‘Nope. As predicted,’ he said. ‘No good. I’m really tired. We’ll have to…’
‘YEEEEEE-HAHHHHHH.’
Gloria and Lewis were swept away by what looked like a bullet shooting through the water, zipping past them so fast it was impossible to see exactly what it was.
‘That was awesome,’ said Lewis, impressed by the speed of whatever it was, convinced there could be a story here. The fastest fish in the sea, moves like lightning. That’d make a decent story. It was bound to be more popular than any tale of a treasure hunt.
‘What was that?’ he asked Gloria.
She shrugged, still stunned by how far she’d been washed away by the current it left behind.
‘Watch out,’ Lewis yelled. ‘It’s coming back.’
The fast moving object tore through the water toward them and skidded to a halt beside them, a broad smile fixed on its face.
‘Wanna race?’ The voice was eager and, as Gloria and Lewis could now see, belonged to a seahorse.
‘Sure thing,’ replied Lewis.
‘You what?’ said Gloria to Lewis. ‘You just said you were tired.’
‘Oh yeah,’ Lewis said guiltily, looking at the seahorse and shrugging. ‘No thanks,’ he said.
‘Come on,’ said the seahorse. ‘I’ll race you. What’s your fifty yard dash speed? How about a furlong? I’ll race you a furlong. I’ll even give you a headstart.’
‘No thank you,’ said Gloria firmly, already beginning to tire of this seahorse’s enthusiasm.
‘What about jumping? How many hurdles can you jump in a minute?’
‘We’re not here to hurdle or race or do anything like that,’ she said. ‘We’re in a hurry, so if you’ll excuse us…’
Gloria tried to swim past him, but the seahorse blocked her path.
‘In a hurry? That sounds fast. How much of a hurry are you in?’
‘We’re off to catch that,’ said Lewis, pointing to the shiny orb in the sky.
The seahorse turned around slowly and looked up to the orb. ‘Why would you want to catch that?’ he asked.
‘It stole my gold,’ said Gloria. ‘As you can see, I’m not very gold for a goldfish.’
The seahorse glanced at her. ‘Can’t say as I’d noticed,’ he said. ‘You look fine to me. I like your colour.’
Gloria couldn’t help swooning a little, then recovered herself.
‘Well, I don’t,’ she said, offended that he could like the way she looked.
The seahorse turned to look up at the orb again. ‘I always wondered if I could get myself some of that gold,’ he said. ‘Could make the greatest gold cup ever out of that, then race for it and I could win it and put it on my shelf alongside all the others.’
‘You’ve won a lot of cups then?’ asked Lewis, excitedly.
‘Enough to fill your mantelpiece and mine’, said the seahorse.
‘What’s your name?’ Lewis asked. ‘Maybe I’ve heard of you.’
‘Errr…ummm. They call me The Goldhunter. Prince Super Goldhunter of Washerton, to give myself my full name.’
‘Wow, that’s a mouthful,’ said Lewis, eyeing the seahorse suspiciously.
‘Well, it’s been nice to meet you,’ said Gloria, not even trying to attempt to say his name. ‘But we’ve got a golden orb to catch. Come on, Lewis,’ she said, looking around for him, forgetting that he was still attached to her.
‘Hey wait,’ called out Goldhunter. ‘Why don’t you hitch a ride on my back? I’ll get you there in half the time. If you’ll give me a little share of the gold when we get there.’
It was the kind of offer that both Gloria and Lewis had secretly been hoping for, but both made it look like it was an offer they needed to seriously think about.
‘OK,’ they said in unison, after about ten seconds.
‘Great. Though are you sure you wouldn’t rather race me?’ asked Goldhunter.
‘No, we wouldn’t rather race you,’ they said in unison.
‘OK. Have it your way. Hop on.’