Chapter 6 – A New Home

Author's Notes – Happy New Year to everyone reading my stories.

It was impossible for Gill to tell how long he was transported, within the dark confines of the box. Gill kept trying to assure himself that Sammy only wanted the best for him, that he would be taking him to a place of safety, a place where he could finally finish healing, before being released back into his ocean home once more. Yet Gill could not help but feel a certain amount of trepidation, as he felt movement going on underneath him, as he could only guess at where he was going, or about what was going to happen to him once he reached his destination.

He tried to get some sleep, but his feelings of vague anxiety made it impossible to relax enough in order to do so. There was no food in the small container – surely an indication that he would not be moved too far, or that his journey would not take too long. But then again, humans were strange creatures, strange and unpredictable; Gill did not pretend to understand even half of what they did. Still, there always seemed to be some strange, ironic logic to their actions, even if this was at times beyond the comprehension of a fish.

Finally, he felt a slight jolt, and realized that they must have come to a stop. That was a good thing, surely? It must mean that they had reached their intended destination, meaning that it would only be a short duration of time until Gill could be placed somewhere where he would be able to complete his healing. Gill felt someone – Sammy surely? – pick up his container and carry it in his hands. Gill was still in total darkness – both literally and metaphorically – when he felt the movement come to a halt. He could hear Sammy speaking, and another, unfamiliar voice, replying. He concentrated hard on listening, so that he could hear what was being said.

"…So you see," that was Sammy's voice, "I can't keep him, what with going back to university, and Grandad moving in with Mum in Perth. So I remembered when I came here when I was a little boy. I remember I used to look at your fish tank," he gave a little laugh, "I have to admit that it was the only thing that made coming to see the dentist worth all the hassle, being able to see your fish. Then I remembered that you still worked here, and I thought, well, I know he likes tropical fish, and I know that he likes diving. I thought perhaps you would be able to give our rescue fish a good home."

"Well now," Gill didn't recognise that voice, "that's very kind of you to think about me, what with everything else going on in your life. Can I have a look at the little fella?"

"Of course," Sammy replied.

Suddenly, Gill was almost blinded by light, after having been in darkness for some time. As his eyes gradually adjusted to the light, the blurred shape in front of him metamorphosed into a big, pink, friendly face, which was staring intently at him. Gill stared back at this unfamiliar human. He seemed to be older than Sammy, but not as old as Mr. Elias, and he was wearing a white coat. As Gill's eyes continued to adjust, he looked away from the new human, to the surrounding area. He seemed to be in a strange room, with posters on the walls, a large window to one side, and a couple of lamps opposite each other. Gill turned around, and saw a very large fish tank not far away from the window.

"Well now, isn't he a beauty?" said the new human in appreciation, "don't worry about him, I'll make sure that he's given everything that he needs." Without another word, Gill found himself being unceremoniously, but not ungently, tipped into the new fish tank. He looked back at the human in the white coat, and then back at Sammy. He swam from one side of the fish tank to the other. It was nearly twice the size of the aquarium back in Mr. Elias' lounge, but it seemed smaller, because it was so crowded with plastic miniatures. There was a miniature volcano complete with imitation lava, a miniature ship, three tiki heads, a barrel, lots of imitation plants, a diver that was making its way from the bottom of the tank to the top, and an imitation human skull. Gill investigated each one of these miniatures in turn, fascinated by them all – the human who had put this tank together seemed to have wanted to recreate a kind a miniature underwater world with tiny plastic figures, although Gill had no idea why a human would want to do that. Once again, humans seemed like a strange, incomprehensible species, although Gill could not help but be amazed at their creative ability.

Sammy had been watching him the whole time, and laughed quietly to himself, "Thank goodness, he seems to like it there," he said.

"He does, doesn't he?" the human in the white coat said, staring at Gill, and smiling as Gill went to investigate the plastic skull. Of all the strange items inside this new aquarium, this one fascinated him the most. Generally, he had found that humans did not like talking about, or even, from what he could tell, thinking about, death. Yet here was a plastic skull, a symbol of death, and one that had obviously been created by a human, and then someone had decided to place it inside an aquarium, where it was clearly on display. Gill shook himself slightly. Stop trying to make sense of these strange bipeds, he told himself; you'll only drive yourself crazy, and it's not as if you're any closer to understanding them now than you were when you were scooped up from the ocean, so long ago. Instead, Gill cautiously examined one of the eye-sockets of the plastic skull, and then swam inside the skull. There was just about enough room for him to get comfortable within the confines of the plastic skull. Good, he thought, since it seemed like he would be here for quite some time, the inside of this skull appeared to be a suitable place where he could sleep and rest when he needed to.

"Well, I'm glad that's sorted out," said Sammy, "that's a nice aquarium you have there, hopefully the little guy will come to feel at home in it." With that, Sammy waved goodbye to the human in the white coat, and left the room.

Gill cautiously swam out of the plastic skull, and watched as the human in the white coat came over to the aquarium and placed his head right in front of Gill. "You just get accustomed to living here little fella," he said, smiling, "I've got stuff to prepare before my next appointment." With that, he went to the other side of the room. Within a couple of minutes, there was an unpleasant drilling noise coming out of a thin metallic tube in his hands. Gill watched, perplexed, for a while, as the human seemed to examine various small metal objects, some of which made unpleasant noises when he fiddled with them. Gill shook himself again. Humans, he thought, strange creatures, was there really any point in his attempting to understand them? Probably not, he decided. It would probably be better to carry on investigating this new aquarium instead. So he investigated one of the plastic, imitation plants. It was stuck into the base of the aquarium, but Gill found himself able to lift it out of its base by grabbing onto it in his mouth, and swimming upwards. Not that that succeeded in very much, he had to admit, as he watched the liberated plant gradually sink to the base of the aquarium, but at least it was giving him a little bit of control and autonomy over his new environment.

"I don't think you ought to do that." It was a female voice, and sounded as if it was coming from inside the aquarium.

Gill looked around suddenly, trying to locate the voice. "Hello?" he asked warily, "Where are you?"

"Up here, attached to the side of the tank," came the reply.

Puzzled, Gill swam up to where he thought the voice had come from. There, attached to the side of the aquarium, was a small, pink starfish. She removed the top half of her body, with a slight sucking sound, and stared at Gill, upside down. "I don't think you should remove the plants from where they are," she said, "the boss might not like it if you do that."

"The boss?" Gill asked.

With another sucking sound, the starfish detached herself completely from where she had been attached to the side of the tank. She sank gradually down to the base of the aquarium. Unsure of what else to do, Gill followed her. She pointed towards the human in the white coat, who was examining another one of his metal tools. "The dentist," she said, "Doctor Sherman. He works here, and this is his aquarium."

"Dentist?" Gill asked.

"Do you know what a doctor is?" asked the starfish.

"Yes," said Gill, remembering Doctor Jones, "it's a human who has dedicated his or her life to making sick humans better."

"Exactly," replied the starfish. "A dentist is one of those, except that he only works with humans' teeth and the surrounding area of their mouths, such as their gums."

Gill watched the human for a while. Those tools he was examining seemed more like the sort of mediaeval torture tools that he had heard Mr. Elias reading to Patch about, rather than tools made to help the sick. Still, he reminded himself once more, humans could be very strange and unpredictable creatures, so he should not really be surprised if they used strange and unpredictable tools. He turned his attention back to the starfish, "And he's the boss around here, is he?" he asked.

"Yes, he's the one in charge. Most of the other humans come and go, patients, those needing appointments, and sometimes their parents if they are children," said the starfish. "There's Barbara, his receptionist, but she does not take much notice of this aquarium most of the time."

Gill looked around himself, at the fish tank that was apparently his new home. "I have to admit that this place is quite impressive," he said, as he watched the miniature diver make its way from the bottom to the top of the aquarium, "it's much bigger, and has far more inside it, than the aquarium that I was in before."

"Where was that?" asked the starfish.

"In Mr. Elias' lounge," Gill replied.

The starfish looked confused. "I don't know where that is," she admitted.

"Australia, I think," said Gill, "and before that, I lived in the ocean."

The starfish's small, black eyes seemed to shine when Gill said that, "Oh, the ocean," she said, sounding excited, "I've heard about that. Isn't it a sort of huge fish tank, that just keeps going on forever?"

Gill chuckled at her excited expression. "Well, I've never heard it described quite like that before," he admitted. "But yes, it is huge, far bigger than the biggest fish tank that you can imagine, and it just goes on and on. And within it, there are hundred, thousands, millions of different fish and other sea creatures, all living their lives and making homes for themselves within its depths."

The starfish was watching him intently, "You miss it, don't you?" she said quietly, "you've lived in captivity for a while, but you don't feel at home in a tank. You want to go back to the ocean, don't you?"

Gill gave her a small smile, "It's as if you can read my mind," he admitted.

The starfish gave a little laugh, "No, not your mind, but your body language, certainly."

Gill swam to the side of the tank. "Humans rescued me from the ocean, when I got covered in some strange, black liquid that I think is called oil," he said. "I had to spend some time in their aquarium in order to recover. They were kind to me, gave me everything that I needed, and I could stand being in captivity only because I knew that they intended to release me back into the ocean as soon as I was well enough to go back there." He sighed, "But then one of the older humans got sick, so I was sent here to finish my healing," he said, "but in all that time, I never stopped longing to taste the ocean once more, to feel the salty water under my fins, to swim free, to be free, in a way I could never be while living in even the largest fish tank."

The starfish put one of her arms on Gill's side, and gave him a friendly smile, "I'm Peach," she said, "and I believe in you. I believe that you will make it back to your ocean home someday." She pointed with another arm, "This must be one of the most sought after places of dentistry in the world," she said, "that window over there leads onto the harbour. You can see the Sydney Opera House from it." She chuckled slightly, "That's got to be one of the most famous of landmarks in the entire world, certainly in the southern hemisphere. I bet only the Empire State Building in America, The Eiffel Tower in France, and Big Ben in England are even more famous than that opera house. Of course, Big Ben is actually the name of the bell inside the clock tower, not the clock tower itself, but humans often get that mixed up."

Gill gave her a slightly puzzled look. Peach gave a little chuckle, "Anyway, that's not important," she said, "what is important is that, just beyond that harbour, the ocean is out there, just waiting for you. And I believe that someday you will return back there, where you belong."

Gill smiled at her, "Thank you for believing in me," he said, "will you come with me when I do go back there?"

Peach gave him a small smile, "I think I would like that," she said, "I think I would like that very much indeed."