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 his lip and the fact that he was out of his home in the cold, sleep eventually came to him in one great wave. After all, he had traveled far and wide for most of the day and was very tired.
He dreamt of the first day the company opened its doors and how so many people were very excited. There was a large and lavish ceremony with a ribbon cutting, champagne, a large cake, dignitaries present, and a hope for a sound, financial future. But everything had fallen to pieces with one little mistake. He awoke and then dozed off again.
The second dream was not as pleasant. He was with the board of directors who were discussing how to exert some damage control after the spill. There were many who just wanted to come clean and admit to the mistake, pay the fine, then move on. But he refused to bow to environmental pressure and vowed to fight them to the end. Profits were the most important thing.
He awoke again to the driving rain and a few seconds later dozed off again. The third dream was more of a nightmare. He was taken to the site where all the fish and wildlife had died. The water was a strange pink color and the dead fish glared up at him with open eyes that seemed to scream for some kind of justice. Suddenly, one of those fish was he, dead in the water, and a victim of a severe chemical spill.
“Bernard! Bernard!”
He woke out of his reverie. It was morning and the rain had stopped; the sun had begun to warm the water. Tatiana was floating around in front of him.
“Tatiana.”
“I’ve been looking all over for you. Where did you get that fishing lure?”
“I caught it.”
“You have to help me. The entire kingdom is caught in a giant net.”
“What can I do?”
“You will think of something. Come on, we don't have a minute to lose.”
They rushed off.
The pair arrived at the sight where the entire village squirmed in a large net.
“You are sitting on my face,” screamed one fish.
“You know, you don't smell so great,” announced another.
“How are we going to get them down?”
“I have a plan,” smiled Bernard. “Come on.”
They raced away and not more ten feet from the boat Bernard jumped with all of his might and knifed through the water's surface in a spectacular display of aquatic gymnastics catching the attention of the two fishermen who just the day before had almost hooked him.
“That's the guy who got away yesterday. Look, my lure is still in his lip.”
The two fishermen forgot about the net for a second and concentrated on catching the one that got away. But Bernard who had adapted to being a fish and had much practice swimming was too fast and powerful for them. They tried to scoop him up with a net attached to a long pole but missed.
Meanwhile, Tatiana had managed to chew a hole in the net that allowed all of the fish to escape. One by one they raced out and discovered freedom.
“We must help Bernard,” said Tatiana.
They all turned to see him entertaining the two fishermen who were not impressed with this fish that seemed to be getting the better of them. It was then that one of the guys pulled out a gun and a shot rang out across the calm morning waters.
Bernard, bleeding profusely, was convinced that he was going to die. He started to rise to the top of the water. Tatiana was by his side and crying.
“Oh, Bernard, please don't die.”
King Sloan and all of the other fish surrounded him in horror unable to do anything to save the fish that had rescued them.
“How did you know they would let the net go?”
Bernard
