Chapter 3

Almost a month had passed since Lenny left the South Side Reef. Every day since then had been like a test of survival. Well, being a vegetarian shark wondering around in the ocean meant that food wasn't all that scarce seeing as kelp was just about everywhere. As for trying to find a place to live, that was another story.

Lenny had moved along from one reef to another trying to find both a place of employment and a place of residence. Every one of these reefs had given him the same treatment. The fish, unaware that he wouldn't hurt a shrimp, fled when they saw him coming and the sharks were no different than the ones he had grown up with.

Poor Lenny, all alone in the world and unable to find a place to stay for even one night, was forced to sleep on the cold, sandy ground night after night. If he was lucky, he found a large rock to use as a pillow. He might've been cold, but at least he was well fed because his food never tried to swim away from him. That may have been the only thing keeping him going. He had already been to so many reefs trying to find refuge and knew he was running out of options. He was starting to think Lino had been right. Maybe no one ever would love him for who he was. Then again, maybe that wasn't entirely true. He knew there were three people who still loved him: Oscar, Angie, and his mom. He realized they were no longer a part of his life, but the fact that they would always love him gave him hope. Hope that someone somewhere would also learn to love him. He didn't know who or where they could be or even when he would find them, but until then he lived in hope and learned to leave the past behind.

After going through at least seventeen reefs whose inhabitants refused to help him, Lenny's hopes were starting to diminish. But they say that the truth usually comes clear right when one starts to give up hope. And to Lenny, it was at that point where he was just on the edge of giving up when his luck suddenly changed.

It all started on a clear, sunny morning. Despite the shining sun and clear waters, Lenny was depressed and melancholy. He was swimming at a gloomily slow pace. His doubts of ever being accepted had just about overtaken him. Then he looked up and saw a large billboard with a message that was too incredible for him to believe.

"Welcome to Clearwater Reef! Where fish and sharks reside together in perfect harmony."

Lenny could see the reef itself about a mile away. It wasn't quite as big as the Southside Reef, but it looked like it could have some place to live. He reread the billboard about ten times just to make sure it said what he thought it did. He wanted to be sure he'd finally found a place where he would actually be understood by fish and accepted by sharks. After taking multiple glances at every last letter on the billboard, he decided to take the chance and see for himself what Clearwater Reef was like.

As he entered the city gate, Lenny took a look around and was truly amazed at everything that he saw. Everywhere he looked, fish and sharks were swimming amok together in the streets, shopping together, dining together (and the fish weren't on plates), and overall enjoying each other's company. Occasionally he would swim past a fish on the street, and instead of screaming or swimming away, they would say, "Hi there," or, "Nice day, huh?" He'd barely been in the city for ten minutes and he was already beginning to feel like he belonged here. And the part that really made Lenny happy was that none of the sharks he saw showed any signs of wanting to devour the fish, not even behind their backs.

"Wow," he said to himself. "Oscar and Angie would love to see this."

Thinking about his best friends suddenly made him wish they were there with him. But this feeling was only brief. He knew for sure he would reside in this reef, but his focus now was to find a place to both work and live in. He put aside his memories from the past and began looking around at the various work places hoping he'd find one with a "Help wanted" sign in the window.

Lenny looked at just about every kind of employment place he could imagine. Fast food restaurants, clothing stores, sports centers, you name it. Not one of them seemed to need any new employees.

After half-an-hour of looking around, he'd gotten tired and found a bench to sit on. He took a few minutes to catch his breath and then started to think. If he was going to live on this reef forever, he was going to have to get a real job. All the work places he'd looked at earlier were small-change kind of places. With their salaries, there was no way he'd make enough to even pay rent for an apartment. He needed a high paying job and fast.

"Ah man," he said out loud. "How am I ever gonna get a high paying job right now? I'm not even twenty yet. Jobs don't just fall right outta the clear blue sky."

Looking up at the sky, Lenny of course knew he was right. But something surprisingly helpful and conveniently located caught his eye. A tall billboard stood just across the street from him. It read, "Patrick and Sons' Lost and Found Organization. If you've lost your child, please contact us at 1-800-LOST-CHILD, or visit us in the shipwreck located west of the reef."

"Lost kids organization, huh?" Lenny thought. "Well, I guess it's better than working at Fish King for a living. Plus, I do love helping kids. Heck, if anything I can relate to them. What the heck? I'll give it a shot. Wow, billboards are my best friends today."

Without wasting anymore time, Lenny got up from the bench and started swimming west. He could tell which way it was by the location of the sun. Everyone knows the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, even sharks.

About fifteen minutes later, he found the shipwreck he was looking for. He was left speechless when he saw how big and beautiful it was. It was so much cleaner and newer looking than Lino's wreck. It must've just sunk a few years ago. Another thing that amazed Lenny was the location of this ship. It wasn't as distant from the rest of the reef as Lino's liner was from the rest of the Southside Reef. Heck, it was only about a quarter of a mile outside of Clearwater.

"Wow, no wonder the sharks get along so well with the fish," said Lenny. "They're practically next door neighbors."

Lenny went inside the ship and discovered the interior was every inch as beautiful and grand as the exterior. The color scheme was mainly blue with dove white accents and the floors were checkered with black and white tiles. Everything was so modern and convenient in the ship. Lenny felt like he was in a palace. Lino's liner had absolutely nothing on this beauty.

But it wasn't just the beautiful décor that amazed Lenny. He was equally impressed to find that this ship was a home to quite a few fish as well as sharks. And I'm not talking pet fish like the ones Lino had in the beginning of the movie. These fish were residents just like the sharks.

After taking in how unbelievably awesome Clearwater Reef and this elegant ship were, Lenny decided it was time to do what he came to do: seek out the owner of Patrick and Sons' organization and ask them for employment.

Lenny swam slowly through the hallway trying to find out where the organization was. He hadn't managed to, but he knew he was getting close when he came to a door with a sign outside that read, "Apply for jobs here." Clearly this ship had all sorts of jobs for all sorts of people.

Lenny pushed the door open and went inside. It wasn't exactly a large room, but at least it wasn't cramped inside. On one side of the room was a couch, on which two young sharks appeared to be filling out job applications. On the other side was a small desk where an elder female shark with half-moon glasses was seated. Lenny approached the desk and the female shark looked up at him through her spectacles.

"Good morning," she greeted him with a smile. "How may I help you?"

"I'd like a job application please," Lenny said with a smile.

"Alrighty," replied the elder female. "And what kind of job were you looking into?"

"Patrick and Son's Lost and Found Organization," Lenny replied.

The female shark looked rather surprised at Lenny's answer. "Really? A young shark like you? I thought you might want to start off with something small, like waiter or cabana boy."

"No, no," Lenny replied. "I'm here to help kids and nothing else."

The elder female smiled. Apparently she admired his heart. "Well then." She handed Lenny a pen and a piece of paper from a small pile. "There you are, Sweetie. Once you've filled everything out, just take it to Patrick."

"Thank you very much," Lenny said with a smile.

"You're very welcome."

Lenny took a seat on the couch and started filling out his application. Most of the questions it asked were basic application stuff. Name, age, date of birth, etc. But some of the questions required personal information that Lenny was afraid to answer. Current occupation? He wrote "none" trying to avoid giving the real answer, which as we all know was heir to a family of mobsters. Contact information? That one really was tricky. Unless he got this job, he had no contact information. So he simply wrote, "To be determined." The last truly difficult question to answer was, "Why are you interested in this job?" It may have sounded a bit sappy, but the only answer Lenny had was, "Because I can relate to the poor children."

He finished filling out the application in about ten minutes and then left the small room nervously hoping everything he'd answered would earn him this job. But there was also something else that made him even more nervous. Where was he supposed to go now?

End of chapter