Chapter 3
Roger: Why are you going to chapter 3, readers? The story's over. That's it; it ends with Klaus crying. So, the end.
Me: What are you saying Roger? It's not over!
Roger: Yes it is Klaus, yes it is.
Me: Dude; we can't end the story with me crying, when all hope and dreams are lost. That's a stupid ending! The author always ends her stories in high notes, not low notes. You know that! That's not how stories work, it's just not.
Roger looks at me, realizing I'm right.
Roger: Awe shucks! Okay folks, story isn't over yet. Read on!
I cried myself to sleep. I awoke when the boat stopped, and the man took me out, put me into a water-filled plastic bag, zipped it up, got of the boat, and carried me into a pet shop.
The pet shop's wind-chimes chimed from the outside breeze as we entered. They had a variety of pets. Canaries, parrots, hamsters, kittens, bunnies, and puppies. The puppies and kitties were all sleeping in their cages; some were playing with their cage mates. They were all so cute. A German Sheppard dog was snoozing in the corner (not Horst, hopefully you knew that, and didn't get the impression). The fisherman took me to the counter. The man at the counter looked up from his work.
"Well, here you are Abe!" The fisherman handed me to the pet shop owner.
"Thanks Adalberto!" Abe grabbed me and dumped me into a fish tank. He gave the bag back to the fisherman. He grabbed it.
"Come again!" Abe gave Adalberto his money, and the fisherman left with it. The wind- chimes chimed again as he exited.
Abe came, and squatted down, looking at me. He smiled.
"Well, fish." He said. "Welcome to my pet shop! You'll go to a nice home, I just know it." He stood up. The Germen Sheppard then ran up, and placed his paws on Abe's tummy, almost knocking him down, barking happily.
"Hey Adolf!" He greeted the dog. "How're you doing? As I go get your dog treats out back, why don't you say hello to our new fish?" Adolf barked again. Abe laughed, patted the dog's head, and left.
The dog went to the fish tank, and looked at me. I smiled.
"Hallo doggy!" I greeted. "You know, I had a German Sheppard once. His name was Horst. He was such a fine…" The dog growled at me, showing his teeth. I looked confused at the dog's sudden behavior. He then lunged at the tank, barking madly. I backed up, and shielded myself. Why is this dog doing this to me?
"Adolf!" Abe called. "I got snackbones, your favorite. The dog then cheered up, and went off to find Abe and his treats. I unshielded myself, blinking in confusion.
"Don't mind him." I heard a voice in German. I looked around, and saw that the voice has come from a black sea bass. "He just thinks you'll take his master away from him, that's all. He always does that to the newbies; no sweat!"
"Oh, hallo." I greeted back in German.
"Hallo!" He greeted me back. He swam towards me. "Hallo stranger, name's Yalcin; what's yours?"
"Klaus." I answered.
"Awe Klaus, nice name!"
"Ah, thanks!"
"We have a new recruit boys!" He called. More fish swam up to me. There was a butterfly fish, a lobster, olive flounder, and a northern pike. I smiled, I wasn't alone.
"Klaus, the butterfly fish is Kaari, olive flounder is Raoul, Kaaro is the Northern pike, and Sabastion is the lobster." They all greeted me with their hallos. I waved at them.
"Oooh Sabastion, like The Little Mermaid?" I guessed. "Except this Sabastion is a lobster, not a crab, and I bet he is spelled with an a after the first s, not an e." The others looked confused.
"Huh?" Sabastion asked. "Klaus, what are you saying? What's The Little Mermaid?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" I quickly said. "It's nothing."
"Ohhhhhhh!" The fish and lobster all said at once. The Butterfly Fish, Karri, then put her fins on her body.
"And I'm a girl Yalcin." She told him. "If you didn't already know."
"Yeah I know." Yalcin responded. "Fine! Boys and girl! How's that? Happy now?" She smiled.
"Satisfied." Yalcin swam to my side, and smiled. I smiled back.
"Klaus," he told me. "Welcome to the gang." The others clapped their fins and claws, cheering.
"Wunderbar!" I said. "I don't have to jet swim through a water volcano to prove myself worthy, do I?" My new friends looked confused again.
"Oh, again it's nothing. It's nothing." Roual swam down and laid in the sand, and I started my temporary life with my new companions.
No POV
"Here we are Smiths!" Bullock told them as his private jet landed on a runway at the airport in Berlin. He opened the door to let in the fresh air. "The capital on all of Germany, Berlin!" The Smiths and him all went down the stairs. Roger collapsed onto the ground, and began kissing it.
"Oh, finally!" He said. "We're no longer in the air, awe, sweet land!" He kissed it some more. "I love Germany already!" He kissed the ground some more. Bullock didn't look amuse.
"Does she do this often?" Bullock asked Stan.
"Oh yeah." Stan answered. "He, I mean she, does this all the time." Bullock again looked like he didn't believe him, but looked back at the pilot.
"Take it back to America!" He ordered him. "We'll make our own flight back once the German fish is found." The CIA agent saluted, started the engine, and flew off. The Smiths and the CIA boss went into the airport.
"Let's go find Klaus." Stan told all of them when they exited the airport. They started walking. Francine had a brochere from the airport in her hand.
"You know Stan." Roger said as they walked. "You promised I'll earn an reward for tricking that employee back home. Well, I'm waiting! What's it going to be, huh, what it is going to be?" Stan pondered about this for a second, and then got an idea as he saw an ice cream vendor across the street, he smiled.
"Ice cream?" Roger questioned as Stan gave him and the others ice cream. "Come on Stan! I'm not a kid anymore, I don't need…:" He tasted it and licked it. "Oooh! Ice cream, I love this reward! Thanks Stan!" He licked it with pride. Stan smiled.
"Awe ice cream." He said. "It's so good, that even an alien can't resist." Bullock stopped, and looked at Stan, questioningly.
"Excuse me?" He wanted to know. "Alien? And isn't she your kid niece, not an adult? Please explain Smith. Stan laughed nervously.
"Kids! They say the darnest things." Bullock then licked some more. Stan did the same.
Suddenly, a pigeon flew in and gobbled on some of Roger's treat. Roger stepped back.
"Hey!" He shouted. "It's mine earth creature! Go on; shoo, shoo!" The bird then started pecking at his head. Roger tried to shield himself, and ran behind Stan, screaming. The bird landed on the ground, and tilted his head at him, cooing.
"Shoot it Stan!" Roger yelled. "Shoot the no-good ice cream stealer that is the bat thing with wings; shoot it!"
"No," Stan answered. "I can't shoot it. This story is kid-friendly, remember? I can't shoot it; I don't want to give kids any ideas, besides I left my gun at home. So, I'm gunless and weaponless. Besides, you just can't shoot a pigeon because it's nibbling on your ice cream cone. That's just inhumane an un-American."
"Okay, fine! But this ice cream is still mine!" He started licking fast at the frozen treat.
The bird cocked its head again; spread out it wings, and flew away.
"Ah finally, it's gone!" Roger said. "Now, I can finish this tasty treat in peace." He licked it some more. "It's a wonder why some people take those pesky birds in as pets. It's revolting I tell you. I'll never understand it." He kept on licking his ice cream cone.
When they were all done, they cleaned up, and threw their trash in the rubbish bin. Francine looked at her brochure.
"Well, let's go find Klaus." Stan repeated from earlier.
"Look, honey!" Francine showed her husband the brochure. "The Chalottenberg Gardens, we got to go there! Oooh; and Berlinmat, a mini- department store! Let's go there!"
"No, we don't have time. We got to focus, and find Klaus."
"Ooh! Roger will like this. It's a bar and also a night club!"
"Who's Roger?" Bullock wanted to know. "And why is Shirley sounding male?" They ignored him.
"Get out!" Roger shouted eagerly, pushing Stan aside. "Really!? Show me, show me, show me!" Francine pointed to them on the brochure. The alien gasped in delight and squealed like a girl. "Oh my gosh! They do have bars and nightclubs; aw right! This is my kind of city!"
"Uh, we got to go find Klaus." Stan spoke, but they didn't listen.
"Mom," Hayley said, looking at the brochure with her brother. "We got to go to the Berlin Wall, and the Museum Berlin-Karlshorst."
"Uh, guys."
"Cool!" Steve butted in. "The fastest elevator in all of Europe at the Potsdamar Platz, we got to go!"
"Okay." Francine agreed, closing her brochure. "But first we're going on a sight tour, okay?" The kids, Bullock, and Roger all groaned.
"Guys!" Stan told them firmly. They all stopped, and looked at him. "We got a mission to go find Klaus. Sorry, but there's no time for fun. There's just not. The kids have school, and your Mom and I have work. There's no time for goofing off, there's just no time." Steve and Haley groaned in disappointment.
"Come on Dad!" Steve urged. "Lighten up, will you?"
"Yeah Dad," Hayley added. "You need to chill! We never been to Germany before in our entire lives, we want to explore!"
"But Klaus…" Stan protested.
"Stan," Francine spoke. "We can search while we have fun; come on!" She and the kids started walking off.
"But…"
"Stan," His boss said. "I'm ordering, no, I'm commanding you to have fun! Now, come on! Let's show those Germans what we Americans are all about!" He went off.
Stan sighed, and looked at the sky.
"Hang in there Klaus; hang in there!" He then followed his family and Dep. Bullock to the bus stop where they planned to go on a hop-on hop-off bus tour all over Berlin.
Klaus
I awoke the next morning with the sounds of the wind chimes. I swam up to see who altered the chimes to go off. My fish buddies swam up next to me. Sabastion was on the pebble bottom. I looked out.
A middle-aged man with grey hair entered the store with a brunette little girl who looked about nine. Adolf greeted them with barks as they came to the front counter. Abe then appeared from the back room.
"Well, hallo!" He greeted. Adolf kept barking. Abe looked at him. "Knock it off Adolf." Adolf obeyed, and laid down. Abe looked back at the customers.
"Can I help you?" Abe asked.
"Yes." The grey-haired man said. "My daughter would like a pet fish."
"Oh yes please!" The little girl said. "Fish, please!"
"Okay." Abe went around the counter. "Follow me." He went towards the tank with the guests following behind.
"Recruits!" Yalcin told us. "One of us is finally going to be adopted! Remember what I taught you boys…." He noticed Kaari's glare. "And girl." Kaari smiled. "Now go, go, go! Show the girl we want to go to a nice home!" We all swam to the front of the tank, and tried to be cool in front of the family.
"Only one remember Aaline." Said the father.
"Yes Daddy!" The girl answered and looked at us, trying to decide. We all waited patiently for her decision.
"I want the goldfish." Aaline finally said, pointing at me.
"Okay," Abe stood up, and scooped his net in the tank, heading towards me.
"No!" I shouted, and swam away. The humans looked surprised, so did my friends. "I don't want another family!" I swam behind some coral in the corner.
"Klaus?" Yalcin wanted to know, swimming besides me as I laid down on the pebble ground, looking depressed. "What's wrong? Why don't you want a family?"
"You won't understand." I answered, meekly.
"What do you mean? Being adopted by a family is a great opportunity! They'll love, feed, and talk to you."
"I don't want that." He gasped.
"What, why?"
"You won't understand."
"Oh, come on Klaus. I'm your friend, you can tell me anything. Now, what's bugging you?" I sighed, and looked at him.
"I don't want to be rejected again."
"What do you mean?"
"Look, I already lived with two families, and they both think I don't exist anymore. My last family treated me like crap (and no readers, crap isn't a swear word) everyday. They barely talk to me, and I don't think they really love me as much. To them, I'm just invisible sometimes. I don't want that anymore. I don't want to relive the hurt of being neglected. You know what a family member in the last one did to me? He flushed me down the toilet even though I wasn't dead." Yalcin gasped. "That's how much they hate me. They don't care what I think, they be better off if I was dead." I then sighed meekly again.
"That's terrible Klaus!" Yalcin said. "Flushing you down the toilet, how mean! This family may be different though." I looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"Well I don't. But you won't know until you try. Come on Klaus, give them a chance, they might surprise you." I sighed, and realized he was right.
"Alright!" I decided. "I'll give them a chance." I swam up. Yalcin cheered. "But if they treat me like crap again, I'm never going to live in a family again!"
"Trust me Klaus." Yalcin said. "You'll thank me for this."
"Yeah, whatever." I swam to the humans. They were all wondering where I went. Aaline noticed me, and tapped her father.
"Well," Abe told them. "I don't know where he went. I'm sorry, maybe another fi…"
"Father, he came back!" The little girl squealed in delight. "Catch him before he swims off again!"
Abe approached me.
"Here we go little guy." He said, and scooped me up in a water-filled Ziploc bag. He closed it, and gave me to the girl. The little girl proudly grabbed it, and looked at me.
"I hope you like him." Her dad bent down next to her excited daughter.
"Aaline." He spoke. "What do you say to the nice man?"
"Oh yeah!" The girl realized, and then looked at Abe. "Thanks for the fish mister!"
"The pleasures all mine." Abe responded. Aaline then looked at me again.
"I'll call you…Goldie!"
Goldie? What a repulsive name for a goldfish! My name's Klaus, not Goldie. But oh well, as long as I go to a loving family that'll always love me for me, and never neglect me, I don't care. That's good enough for me.
As we went, my friends waved and shouted their goodbyes to me. I waved back, and mouthed to Yalcin "Thank you!" Adolf stood up, and barked goodbye.
The chimes chimed as we exited the shop. We got in their car, and drove off when we were all buckled in (yes, even me with Aaline's assistance).
On the drive there, I saw the River Elbe beyond the trees. Awe, the Elbe, how I miss seeing that river. I saw some more sights from the window. The landscape looked pretty much the same; it was like I never left.
We pulled in a corner and followed the river all the way to Binnen Alster street. I gazed in amazement at all the houses. Aaline turned to me.
"Like it?" She asked. "This is the street where daddy and I live. We'll be home soon, Goldie."
When we got there, Aaline picked up my bowl as we went out of the car door that Aaline's father held open for him.
"Daddy?" Aaline asked. "Do you think Goldie will like our house?"
"I bet he will." Aaline's father told her.
"Thanks Daddy!" With that, father and daughter hugged and kiss, then Aaline ran with me inside.
"Careful you don't trip, dear!" The father called.
"I won't!" Aaline hollered back, opened the door, and closed it behind her.
She took off her pink jacket, her mittens and hat, and then showed me around.
She showed me the kitchen, living room, and the family room. Downstairs was the basement, the fitness room, and her dad's study. On the third floor she showed me her dad's room, and then she took me to her room.
"This is my room." She announced, turning on the light switch. I gazed at it. She had a lot of dolls. She also had a TV in her room. The walls were decorated with pictures she drew.
"I'll show you my favorite doll," she went to her bed, and picked up her Raggedy Ann Doll, and showed it to me.
"This is Ann." She explained. "Mama gave it to me when I turned one." I looked at her. She then looked sad. "Mama passed away last year. She had a major heart attack." That made me sad. Poor Aaline, losing her mom at such a young age. Aaline then looked back at me.
"But I know that Mama will live on in my heart forever!" She then put Ann down on her bed, and got of. She then dumped me in the fishbowl on the nightstand.
"You stay here," She told me. "I'm going to get you some fish food, and throw this away." She then left her room.
I gazed at all her dolls. There must have been a hundred of them. That girl sure likes doll.
Then a grown Siamese cat came into the room. She hissed when she saw me. She crept closer to my bowl.
"Nice kitty." I said nervously. "Nice, kind kitty. You wouldn't hurt an innocent goldfish, now would you? Let's be friends!" I held out my fin. "Hallo, I'm Klaus and I…"
The cat hissed at me again. I withdrew my fin.
"Okay, I guess you don't want to be friends." I laughed nervously. "That's cool. Yeah, whatever floats your boat I guess."
The cat hissed at me a third time and lunged at me. I screamed as I shielded myself for the upcoming attack.
I opened my eyes when I didn't fall; I was still in my bowl and on the nightstand. I sighed in relief, and then looked at the cat.
The cat was clawing at the nightstand, trying to make me fall.
"You can't get me, you can't get me!" I teased singsongy in English. "Is that the best you can do? Because, you can't get me, you can't get me!"
The cat hissed, and pawed more violently. I screamed as my bowl tipped. I swam all over, trying to stay on top of the nightstand.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I apologized. "I won't tease you any longer; just please, don't eat me!" The cat continued, and I kept screaming.
"Sabine!" Aaline's scolding voice came in. "No!" She slapped the cat on the butt. The cat looked at her. "Bad cat, bad cat! Now, go in the corner and think what you did! Go on, shoo!"
Sabine hissed at me one final time, and then left the room. I looked at her, still breathing rapidly. She looked at me sadly. She put the fish food that she had beside my bowl.
"Sorry about that Goldie." She said. "You have to forgive Sabine, she has to get used to you."
When I caught my breath, I felt pleased. This little girl had saved my life! Never in a long time has no one dared to save my life. I smiled at her.
She showed me all of her drawings she did to now to when she was three years old. This kid is artistic, that's for sure!
After her supper, and after she fed me, she picked up a book, and plopped onto her bed.
"You want me to read to you?" She asked. I nodded. "Okay, I'm going to read you a Magic Tree House book: Dinosaurs Before Dark." I settled down as she was about to speak.
She read me four chapters, before she had to go to bed. She closed the book, shut off her lamp, and laid in her bed.
"I love you Goldie." She said, and fell asleep.
I smiled as I saw Aaline's father turn off the lights, and closed the bedroom door. I fell asleep. I could get used to this.
The next morning after Aaline's breakfast, she said good bye to me when she went off to school. Now, a school day in Germany doesn't last too long. Only about 8AM to 1PM. After one, she's free (Bet you readers are jealous of us huh?)!
Since she didn't have any homework when she got home, she and her father went to the zoo until it closed.
Now I wasn't allowed to go of course, but when she came back, she sat by my bowl and showed me the pictures they took of each and every animal. I smiled at each one. Then we watched Lauren's Star together on her TV.
That night, she read more of the Magic Tree House, and then went to bed.
The next day, Ailine's school let out, her father and Aaline took me to Humburg Port. We went to see the sights. I was amazed by it all; it's been so long since I been here last.
We found a place to have a picnic. They put me on the table as they had their lunch.
When they were done, they cleaned up, and took me canoeing in the Elbes river. It was all so peaceful; I never felt more relaxed!
To my surprise, Aaline dumped me in the water of the Elbes. I looked at her, confused. What was she doing?
"Explore the Elbes!" She shouted at me. "It's beautiful; now, don't get lost!"
I was shocked. I can just explore the river all by myself? I looked at her, she nodded.
"Go on Goldie!" She urged. "We'll be right behind you!"
I was overjoyed. I swam down the river, and looked at all the sights. It was all so breathtaking; it was just like I remembered.
I felt so overjoyed, that I burst into song.
"No more jeers," I sang.
"No more neglect,
No more tears,
I am finally welcomed with respect.
I am no longer depressed.
Because, this fish can't handle that much stress!
True, I was blue,
but, I am a German fish
with a wish,
and it finally came true!
With respect, we can live with grace
and with it, we can make this world a better place!
I'll just forget about mein past.
I am respected at last!
From my American family, I was torn apart.
but this girl, no matter her size,
has a very big heart!
I am her prize!
I have no more tears,
because I am finally welcomed with good cheer!
True, I may not be like most humans,
But I am with my fellow Germans!
This is my song,
for a moment, just a moment, I belong!
No POV
"We'll find you our Klaus," Roger sang.
"and the moment that we do,
we'll hold you close,
and sing the song of the Germans with you!" He stood on a large rock.
"Sing the song of the Germans with you!"
"Roger?" Stan interrupted. "Why are you singing from The Little Mermaid II?
"I have no idea!" Roger confessed.
Klaus
"I'll just forget about mein past," I continued.
"I am respected at last!
Yeah, I am respected at last!
I am respected at laaaaaaaaastt!
They picked me up, and we headed home. I never felt so alive!