Live and Let Swim

by Mo O'Hara

  ‘Why does the octopus want to get out so much?’ Pradeep asked.

  ‘I don’t know . . . Maybe he misses the ocean. They caught him off the coast of South America somewhere. Then the Aquarium people spotted how smart he was and started getting him to make predictions,’ Oddjobz replied.

  He started rooting around in a small tank nearby, from which he pulled a water-filled plastic jar containing a small, worried-looking crab. ‘Nearly feeding time,’ Oddjobz explained.

  ‘So he doesn’t like predicting World Cup-winning football teams or who’ll be the next president of Luxembourg?’ I asked. ‘I think that would be pretty cool.’

  ‘Sad little octi,’ Sami said. She walked over to the tank, still carrying Frankie in the bottle. He had clearly released her from the hypno-stare. Sami put her hand up to the tank and Antonio put his tentacle up to meet it on the other side of the glass.

  ‘I make you smile,’ Sami said. She started doing some shark-toddler impressions for him.

  Antonio still looked pretty sad though.

  ‘Do you think she can communicate with the octopus like she could with the evil eel in Eel Bay?’ Pradeep’s look said to me.

  ‘No, I think she can just tell he’s sad. I mean, look at him. That’s one glum octopus,’ I answered in looks.

  Sami stared into the eyes of the octopus. ‘Maybe octi lonely?’ she said. She climbed up the stepladder to the octopus tank and popped open the lid of Frankie’s bottle. ‘Swishy fishy play with you!’ she cried, and dumped Frankie into the tank.

  ‘Noooooooooooooooooooooo!’ we all shouted.

  Well, all of us except Sami.

  A confused-looking Frankie tumbled into the octopus tank.

  Antonio took one look at Frankie and you could tell right away what he was thinking – and it wasn’t ‘Oh, here’s a fishy friend here to come and play with me!’ It was ‘LUNCH!’

  Frankie’s eyes glowed bright green. He poised his front fins, ready to karate-chop his way out of any attack and bared his teeth, ready for a fight.

  The octopus and fish circled each other, checking out each other’s weaknesses. Suddenly, the curtain on the other side of the tank was pulled open. An announcer in an Aquarium uniform stood in front of a surprised-looking crowd. He spoke into a microphone.

  ‘Welcome to the octopus-feeding time at the Aquarium today. As you can see, our famous octopus, the Amazing Antonio, is about to have his lunch.’

  We could see through the glass on our side of the tank that the crowd was not expecting the fight of the century at feeding time.

  ‘Now as you probably know, octopuses are very smart, so we like to give them a bit of a challenge at feeding time so they don’t get bored. We normally give them a container that they have to figure out how to open to get their prey. Usually a lobster or a crab of some kind . . .’

  The announcer trailed off as he stared into the tank at the octopus and fish locked in pre-battle circling.

  ‘Actually, every single time I’ve done this we’ve given the octopus a jar with a crab in it . . . but apparently today we have decided to go for a special challenge and have Antonio chase and catch his prey.’

  We could see our dads in the crowd through the glass. They must have finished working in the cafe. Luckily they were checking their phones instead of looking at the tank.

  I shot Pradeep a look that said, ‘Quick, duck, so they don’t see us!’

  As we yanked Sami off the ladder and ducked down, I was sure I spotted Mark and Sanj coming out of another door behind the crowd. They were carrying a piece of pipe or tubing with them, and I swear I could see a little furry tail peeking out of Mark’s jacket.

  The announcer spoke again. ‘It looks like today the prey is a . . . goldfish. It’s a bit of a special choice, but then the Amazing Antonio is a very special octopus.’

  The crowd clapped and cheered.

  That’s when Antonio sprang. He whipped around the tank trying to grab Frankie. Each time Frankie tried to escape, he was slapped back down by a wave of tentacles.

  Pradeep spotted a pipe in the far corner of the tank. ‘Frankie could get through that – look!’ He pointed.

  I tapped on the glass to get Frankie’s attention and motioned to the exit.

  Frankie looked at me, winked, then sprinted for the pipe, disappearing out of sight.

  ‘I guess that today, the lunch got away . . .’ the announcer said, and got a laugh from the crowd.

  But Antonio wasn’t going to give up easily. He put one tentacle into the pipe and then another, and another. He was squeezing himself inside.

  ‘He can’t actually fit through that pipe, can he?’ I asked Pradeep, knowing there were millions of octopus facts stored up in that brain of his.

  ‘Well . . . an octopus that size can fit through a tube about the size of a milk bottle top,’ Pradeep replied. ‘So probably.’

  I gulped.

  ‘Remember, octopuses don’t have any bones. If their beak can fit through a hole, then they can. They are totally squishable.’

  ‘Octopus must give good huggles,’ Sami added.

  Oddjobz had dropped the crab in the jar the moment he realized what was happening and was already up the ladder pushing the heavy lid off the tank, but the pipe was just too far away.

  ‘There should be a filter over that pipe. Someone must have taken it out!’ Oddjobz said, as Antonio disappeared after Frankie.

  Pradeep and I shot a look at each other: ‘Mark and Sanj!’

  ‘We have to get Antonio back,’ Oddjobz said, climbing back down the ladder. ‘If he can get through that pipe, he can get into any of the other tanks in the aquarium.’

  ‘That means he can still get Frankie!’ I said. ‘Where does that pipe go?’

  ‘The filtration system leads all over the seawater section of the Aquarium. From here it will pass through the ray and skate pool, the starfish pool, the seahorse grove and then on to the . . .’ Oddjobz stopped. ‘The shark-feeding tank.’

  ‘Well, I guess that’s the end of the octopus-feeding show,’ came the announcer’s voice. He sounded a bit confused. ‘See you in an hour for shark feeding, and then back here later this afternoon for the Amazing Antonio’s latest predictions! If we get him back in time, that is.’ He mumbled that last bit.

  ‘How are we going to save Frankie?’ Pradeep asked.

  ‘Swishy fishy not playing chase with octi?’ Sami said. I could see her bottom lip starting to quiver.

  The last thing we needed was Sami having a meltdown if she realized what she’d done.

  I took a deep breath and said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get him back!’ Then I looked over at Pradeep. ‘Somehow,’ I added.

  ‘Listen up, kids.’ Oddjobz’s voice had changed into serious mode and he barked orders with precision. ‘We have a mission.’

  He pushed a button on the wall and the table top flipped over to reveal an architectural map of the Aquarium. All the pipes and tanks were marked, as well as the access points from behind the tanks.

  ‘We all have to work together,’ Oddjobz said as he gathered us around the map.

  ‘Pradeep – plot the route through the fish tanks to intercept Antonio and your goldfish.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Pradeep answered.

  ‘You – Tom.’ He looked at me and I gulped. ‘You’re on lookout. Keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious while you are tracking the absconders.’

  ‘The who?’ I asked.

  ‘The absconders . . . the escapees . . . Antonio and the fish!’ he said.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ I answered.

  ‘And you –’ He turned to Sami.

  She straightened up to sharky-toddler attention.

  ‘You carry the fish’s bottle so you’ll be ready to put him in it when you catch him.’

  ‘Yessy, sirry!’ Sami shouted and then giggled.

  ‘OK, I’ve got a route memorized,’ Pradeep said.

  ‘Good,’ said Oddjobz. ‘I’ll check the behind-the-scenes se
ctions of the Aquarium to make sure they haven’t come out anywhere back here, while you check the tanks that are viewable to the public. You should see them coming through the filtration pipes.’ He paused. ‘Stay focused, boys. Your fish is counting on you.’

  We nodded.

  ‘And you too, shark-girl,’ he added as an afterthought.

  We opened the staff door and ran straight into our dads, who were once again plugged into their mobile phones.

  ‘Hey, we thought we might see you here!’ Pradeep’s dad said, looking up as we crashed into him. ‘Did you see the octopus show? We didn’t spot you earlier.’

  ‘Tom, don’t you think that goldfish looked a bit like—’ my dad started to say, when both their phones went off at the same time.

  ‘Sorry, got to deal with a situation at work,’ Pradeep’s dad said, fiddling with his phone.

  ‘Me too,’ my dad said, typing away.

  ‘Did you see the seahorses, Sami?’ Pradeep’s dad asked, eyes glued to his phone screen.

  ‘No,’ said Sami. ‘But sad octi and swishy fishy—’

  ‘Let’s go and see the seahorses now,’ Pradeep interrupted. He started walking away with his hand over Sami’s mouth.

  ‘We’ll meet you for the shark feeding, OK?’ I said, following Pradeep.

  ‘Mmm,’ Pradeep’s dad mumbled, texting away. ‘See you kids later.’

  ‘Don’t you think it’s strange that both our dads have had so many urgent work messages today?’ Pradeep asked as we hurried along.

  Sami interrupted us. ‘Swishy fishy!’ She pointed to a flash of orange in a tropical fish tank down the hall. That kid has really good eyesight!

  We ran to the tank as fast as we could, only to see a final tentacle disappear into the pipe at the far end.

  ‘The filters on all the pipes between the tanks must have been removed,’ I said.

  ‘But why would someone do that?’ Pradeep asked. ‘To create a mass fish-breakout? Or just to let Antonio escape?’

  ‘None of the other fish can fit through the pipes. Not in these tanks anyway,’ I said, looking at a pufferfish bouncing against the pipe entrance.

  ‘And why isn’t Antonio stopping to munch on any other fish on the way?’ Pradeep added. ‘It’s suspicious . . . in a Mark and Sanj mostly evil kind of way.’

  ‘But what would they have to gain from messing with the tanks in an aquarium?’ I asked.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Pradeep sighed. ‘Like Oddjobz said, let’s just focus on finding Frankie.’

  We followed Pradeep’s memorized map to the skate and ray pool. It was a shallow tank of water with a plastic lid on the top so you could look at the fish from above. The water at the far end of the pool started to gurgle, and then out popped Frankie, looking over his shoulder as he swam.

  ‘There he is!’ I shouted, pushing past a startled family to press my face to the tank.

  A second later Antonio spilt out of the pipe after him.

  ‘Swishy fishy and octi having fun!’ Sami clapped.

  Frankie dodged the octopus’s tentacles by jumping up out of the water. He leapfrogged off the back of skates and rays all along the length of the tank – while Antonio swerved in and out of the startled fish.

  ‘It’s the octopus!’ the mum of the family cried.

  ‘Is that the fish he was going to have for lunch?’ asked the dad.

  ‘He’s not having this fish for lunch,’ I said. ‘Come on, Frankie!’

  When Frankie got to the pipe leading out of the pool, he flipped around at the last second and grabbed the tail of a skate in his mouth. As he swam backwards into the pipe, the skate became wedged into the opening, blocking it so Antonio couldn’t follow.

  ‘Good move, Frankie!’ Pradeep shouted. ‘That should stop him.’

  Unfortunately for Frankie, a wedged skate was no match for Antonio’s eight suckered arms. In seconds he’d pulled the skate free and had disappeared down the pipe himself.

  The startled skate shook himself and swam back to his friends.

  ‘Noooo!’ I cried.

  At that moment Oddjobz emerged from a ‘Staff Only’ door and whispered, ‘I thought I might be able to cut them off at the cleaning hatch, but they slipped through. Keep trying, boys . . . and shark-girl. We’ll catch up with them!’ He disappeared behind the door again.

  ‘Come on, next tank!’ I cried.

  This section of the Aquarium was much quieter, with hardly any people milling around. We ran around a corner and Sami clapped her hands with excitement.

  ‘Love starry-starfish!’ she squealed.

  Frankie sploshed into the starfish tank from a pipe in the top corner. Starfish were everywhere, stuck to the sides and top of the tank. Frankie didn’t even pause for breath, heading straight for the exit. Just as he was about to escape, a tentacle thrust out of the pipe behind him and dragged him back.

  ‘Frankie!’ Pradeep and I yelled.

  ‘Hello, octi!’ Sami cheered.

  Frankie thrashed about and managed to shake Antonio off. But by now the rest of the octopus had slipped into the starfish tank.

  ‘What’s Frankie going to do? Pradeep said. ‘He’s got nothing in there to defend himself with!’

  Frankie looked at the starfish and then he looked at me. He winked.

  ‘Oh yes he has,’ I said. ‘Ninja-fish throwing stars!’

  Frankie gripped a starfish in his teeth and flung it at Antonio. It sailed through the water with precision, clocking Antonio right in the eye.

  The octopus flapped his tentacles and squinted at Frankie. If I could read octopus looks, I’d swear Antonio said, ‘Bring it on, small fighting fish!’

  Frankie let off a volley of flying starfish that spun through the water like a scene from a fishy kung fu movie. Each one rocketed towards its target. This time though, Antonio was prepared. All eight tentacles shot out and grabbed a spinning starfish. Then Antonio hurled them right back at Frankie!

  Frankie legged it (or whatever fish do that’s fast but doesn’t involve legs) and shot through the exit just as starfish started sucker-splatting behind him.

  ‘Phew!’ I sighed. ‘Antonio can’t follow Frankie now. He’s blocked the pipe with starfish!’

  ‘Um . . .’ Pradeep tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to Antonio peeling off the stunned starfish from the pipe entrance. ‘I don’t think Antonio heard you.’

  Antonio disappeared through the opening in an instant.

  ‘Naughty octi and fishy!’ said Sami crossly, pushing her face against the glass tank.

  ‘Poor starry-starfish. Must be all dizzy.’

  ‘Never mind the starfish,’ cried Pradeep, tugging Sami’s arm. ‘We’ve got to find Frankie!’

  We ran down a ramp and passed some tanks containing crabs and creepy glow-in-the-dark fish. Where could Frankie have gone? What if Antonio got him in one of the pipes?

  The next tank on Pradeep’s mental map was the seahorse enclosure, but we couldn’t see Frankie or Antonio anywhere.

  ‘See seahorsies!’ Sami cried.

  Then Pradeep spotted a separate tank. ‘Seahorse Grove,’ he read from a sign on the wall as Sami shark-swam over to peer inside. ‘This is a Baby Seahorse Nursery. Please Be Quiet. No Shouting. No Photography. Do Not Wake the Babies!’ There was a picture of a sleeping baby seahorse underneath.

  Suddenly, Frankie plunged into the seahorse grove, with Antonio right behind him! The two were just about to fight when Sami tapped gently on the glass and pointed to the sign with the picture of the sleeping baby seahorse. They paused and looked around at the tiny figures of seahorses snoozing peacefully all around them.

  Sami put a finger to her lips.

  Gently Frankie and Antonio tiptoed around the sleeping baby seahorses, until they got to the pipe on the far side.

  Then Frankie shot through the entrance of the pipe with the octopus right behind.

  ‘Not again!’ Pradeep cried.

  We raced along, following the pipe to the next secti
on of the Aquarium. Suddenly, the pipe disappeared into the wall, taking Frankie and Antonio behind the scenes. Just next to the pipe was another staff door. But as we looked closer, we saw that someone had taped a note just below the ‘Staff Only’ sign, so it now read:

  I shot Pradeep a look: ‘It has to be Mark who wrote this!’

  Pradeep’s look said back, ‘But why would Mark be in the “Staff Only” section of the Aquarium?’

  My look responded: ‘I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s something evil.’

  Then Sami tugged on my shirt. ‘Why you doing the funny secret-look thing?’ she said in looks. ‘There’s only me here.’

  ‘OK,’ I said out loud. ‘We’ve got to find out what Mark is up to and find Frankie. Agreed?’

  ‘Agreed,’ Pradeep said. ‘I bet Sanj is in on this too.’

  Sami nodded.

  We cracked open the ‘Staff Only’ door and listened. Voices were coming from a room inside, further down a corridor.

  ‘The “sending the dads fake work problems to keep them busy” plan seems to have worked perfectly!’ we heard Sanj say.

  ‘Yeah, and the little morons won’t mess things up for us either,’ we heard Mark reply. ‘They’ll never find us in here! I even put up a special “No Morons” sign so they’ll definitely stay away.’

  ‘You put up a what?’ Sanj replied.

  Water swooshed through the pipe over our heads in the direction of Sanj and Mark’s voices. We followed the sound, tiptoeing along the corridor.

  ‘Our guests are about to arrive,’ Sanj’s voice said. ‘I have two blips on my Fish Pipe Tracking app.’

  The door to Mark and Sanj’s hideout was open, so we hid to one side and peeked in.

  Mark was sitting on a large leather chair, wearing his white Evil Scientist coat with Fang, his evil vampire kitten, sitting proudly on his lap. Sanj was sitting on a normal chair at a table nearby, entering something into his computer tablet.