I wasn't the type of guy to want to fight someone over something as stupid as throwing water on one of my friends, but when Anderson Crick flings a vile full of water at Fish, it's like I'm seeing red and my fists ball up at my sides.
Fish stumbles back. He touches the wet spot on his T-shirt a few times, and then he looks up at Anderson, surprise and hurt crossing his expression.
"Come on!" Anderson growls like a pissed-off chihuahua, "Come on!"
"What the hell is your problem?" I demand, and then I shove him as hard as I can, pushing him back into one of the shelves full of books and crystals behind him so that he knocks a bunch of junk over when he hits it with his big head. "You can't just throw water on people, you moron!"
"It's saltwater!" Anderson shouts, "I'm trying to see if it activates his mermaid DNA, dumbfuck!"
"Are you crazy?" I shrill, "Get some paper towels for him or something!"
I turn back to Fish to try to help him dry off his shirt, but as I do so, he goes running past me and Anderson and bolts towards the front door like he's on fire.
"Fish! Wait a second! " I yell after him, push Anderson aside, and sprint after the other boy, the bells on the door tingling loudly as I slam through and out into the open air exactly at the same time as a large crowd of tourists rush by. In an instant, I lose Fish among the throng of excited children and their parents.
"Bitch! I've been waiting for you for half an hour! " Emilio shouts and walks up to me, his phone clutched in one hand, a bag of fries in the other. "My cheesy fries are already ice-cold! Ice fucking cold, Carter! "
"Emilio!" "Did you see where he went?" I ask, grabbing his shoulders.
"Who?" Emilio demands, nearly dropping his fries when I shake him back and forth.
"Fish!" I yell, frustrated as hell at this point. "Anderson threw water at him and then he took off running somewhere! Did you see where he went? "
"Oh, yeah!" Emilio sighs, and then he points to a small farmers' market set up further down the block. "Tuna Boy ran in that direction." But Carter, what's up with you? "
"What do you mean?" I question, my breathing finally slowing down.
Emilio shrugs and then points to my arm, "I just didn't take you as the type of guy to wear glitter in public." newsflash though? You're kind of owning it, boo. "
I look down at my arm to see just what the hell he's talking about and turn it over, only to see tiny multicolored speckles stuck to the inner part of my wrist. They almost looked like sequins from a costume, but under the glint of the sun, they're gone in an instant and I'm left breathless.
"So, are we going to your house or what?" Emilio asks, flipping his gorgeous chocolate mane, eyes rolling. "We're supposed to binge watch Euphoria at your house tonight."
"You go ahead. I'll catch up with you, okay? " I tell him, and then I run past him and bolt down the sidewalk in my search for Fish.
"Carter!" Emilio shouts, "Oh, come on! It's the episode where Zendaya kisses the guy with the giant mole on his face and it gets caught in her braces! "Newsflash, she bites off his mole!"
It takes me about an hour to scour the town for fish. That is, until finally I get wise and decide to check out the farmers' market going on further down the block. Our town liked to host dinky little events for tourists coming in, mostly to keep them entertained, but also to make a shitload of money from the souvenirs that they liked to buy, like shells and weird crafts made of stuff from the ocean.
Among the many vendors though, my favorite had always been Goldfish Man.
Goldfish Man didn't say much, like Fish, but he was always at every market with two giant tanks full of assorted fish. Some of them had bubble eyes, other ones were speckled. And they were only a few quarters each, so needless to say, Goldfish Man been my favorite person growing up, even if I was never allowed to buy a goldfish.
I push my way over to the familiar tanks and the salt and pepper haired man casually sitting behind the counter reading a book called The Power of Letting Go.
"Excuse me?" I go up to him, "Goldfish Man?"
Goldfish Man glances up at me, does a double take and then he stands up, his face breaking out into a huge smile before he extends his hand out for a shake.
"Yeah, it's Carter," I reply, and then I reach out and I take his hand, "Remember me? I used to come here all the time growing up. My mom never let me buy a goldfish."
Goldfish Man lets go of my hand and then he starts searching for something, moving papers aside and tossing his book over his shoulder. A second later, he pulls out this giant plastic box filled with water out from under the table and he moves to hand it to me.
"Wait, I--" I begin to protest, and then stop when I see the giant goldfish floating around inside the box. It was the biggest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life, with these long whiskers like a catfish. Unlike a catfish though, it had copper scales and silky fins.
Goldfish Man pushes the box into my hands, still smiling.
"I can't take this," I protest, trying to give him the box back. "I don't even have a tank back home or fish food or anything. My mom's going to kill me if I show up with a random fish without a tank or anything."
Goldfish Man starts searching for something else, then he hands me a stack of papers. Vouchers, for free fish food and fifty-percent off one of the fish tanks from his store, Goldfish Land.
I exhale and then I look down at the goldfish in my hands, only for him to splash me violently seconds later.
And then it's like something just clicks inside my head.
Had Anderson been right about Fish?
"Fish?" I look down at the box, my eyes popping wide, "Is that you?"
Comments (25)
See all