Chapter 7 - Les poissons
Arron laid back against the rocks and caught his breath, short silent gasps escaping from his chest until he regained his energy. He stopped as he took a moment to admire his new human legs. He was wearing nothing but his purple t-shirt. Just then, in flew Sienna humming a dizzy tune as she flew down to meet the trio.
"Well, look at what the catfish dragged in!" said the bird. Arron smiled wildly. "Look at ya, look at ya, there's something different!" Said Sienna, flying around the boy with a huge smile on her face. "Let me guess. It's your hair, right? You've been using the dingle-hopper, right?" She asked eagerly. Arron smiled and shook his head. "Well" said Sienna. "I can't put my foot on it now but there is something different-"
"HE'S GOT LEGS YA IDIOT!" Interrupted Stella, amazed at the birds mere stupidity. "He traded his voice to da sea demon and got legs. Geez, man!"
Stella looked down at the prince and her face fell.
"Oh, no" she said. "Not your beautiful pipes!" Arron looked down in disappointment as it dawned on him that he was going to have to win Erica's heart while completely mute.
"Arron's a human!" Said Flora in disbelief. "He's gotta make the princess fall in love with him-" Arron tried to stand up on his new legs, only to lose his balance and topple over, sending a wave of water crashing over Flora and Stella. "And she's gotta kiss him!" Said the fish, shaking some seaweed off her face.
"And he's only got three days!" Said Stella as another wave splashed over her.
"Look at him! Just look at him!" Stella cried. "On legs, on human legs!" She wailed. "My nerves are shot, this is a catastrophe! Do you know what his mother'd say? I'll tell you what his mother'd say. Shed say she's gonna kill herself a crab that's what she'd say!" Stella cried, clearly afraid for her life. "Her youngest son is now the the very thing the queen hates da most. Oh, that's it! I am gonna march straight back home and tell da queen just like I should have done de minute-" Stella was interrupted by Arron, who scooped up the crab and was shaking his head frantically at the crustacean. "And don't you shake your head at me, young man!" Said Stella.
"If we can just get that sorcerer to give you back your voice, you can go home with all de normal fish and just be, just be-" She trailed off when she saw Arron's pleading expression. "And just be miserable for the rest of ya life." Stella sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll help you find dat princess." Arron's face lit up as he embraced his friend in a crushing hug and placed her back down on the rock. "My what a soft shell I'm turning out to be…" said the crab.
Taking pity on her friend, Sienna spied an abandoned ship sail behind a rock. She used some rope to tie a knot here and straighten out the fabric there and flew over to the prince with the rag in hand.
"Now Arron" said the bird as she displayed the make-shift cover up. "If you wanna be a human the first thing you gotta do is dress like one, now let me see here…"
Further along the beach, Erica and Maxine walked aimlessly along the shore. Her beloved flute in hand, Erica began to play the tune she had heard when she was rescued, but to no avail. For the past five days she had come down to the beach, hoping to find the mysterious boy who had saved her life. But she had found nothing. Just as she was about to turn back and call it a day, Maxine picked up a familiar scent and starting running at full speed down the beach, mewing frantically. "Maxine, what is it girl?" She called after the fluffy white cat as she ran to catch up with the feline.
Maxine stopped in her tracks at a large rock, where perched on top of it was a short, crimson-haired boy, excited by the cat and scrambling to get away from it.
"Maxine!" The princesses sweet voice called after her cat and scooped her up, not noticing the former merman in front of her. "Sorry about this fur ball" she said, looking her cat straight in the eye. "She's harmless, really." Erica looked up to see Arron, running a hand through his crimson hair, trying to get it to stay straight.
Erica stopped and stared at the boy dressed in rags. Sienna had made Arron a sort of makeshift cover up. As dingy as it was, it served its purpose and Erica didn't really notice. She looked at the boy. "Do-do I know you?" She asked inquisitively. Arron's smile widened. Maybe this wasn't going to be so hard after all. "You seem very familiar…" said the princess. Suddenly something clicked. "Oh my gosh, you're the one, the one I've been looking for!" Arron's face lit up as he took the princesses hands in his. "What's your name?" Asked Erica. Arron went to say his name, only to have no sound come out. Arron remembered he had no voice to speak with, and his face fell to the ground. "What's wrong?" Asked the princess. Arron bit his lip and pointed at his throat. "You can't speak?" Said Erica, looking at the sore looking red marks on the boys neck. She couldn't help but notice that the marks on his throat were shaped in the outline of a very spiky and bony hand. It was faint but visible.
Arron shook his head, and Erica's face fell.
"Oh." She sighed. "Well, then you couldn't have been who I thought." Maxine blew a stray hair out of her face and Arron did the same. Then, Arron had an idea. He moved his hands frantically, trying to tell the princess about his identity. Unfortunately, Erica wasn't very good at pantomime. "What is it?" She asked. "You're hurt? You need help?" She asked as Arron shook his head, and eventually stumbled off the rock, struggling to stand and almost tipped over, but Erica was there to catch him. "Whoah…" said the young princess. "You must have really been through something." Arron's cyan blue eyes looked into Erica's midnight black ones. "Come on" She said, helping Arron to his feet. "Come with me back to the castle, let's get you cleaned up." Arron smiled and waved at Stella, Flora and Sienna as he was led away by the princess.
"Way to go, Arron!" Sienna called after him.
In the palace, Arron sat in a huge white bath tub in the castles enormous bathroom, gazing in amazement at the bubbles on the surface of the warm water. He picked one up and flinched a little as it popped before his eyes.
"Fell from a shipwreck" said Carlotta, the kind, plump caretaker and cleaning lady of the castle. "Oh, you poor thing." She said as she poured a bucket of warm water over Arron's crimson head. Carlotta picked up the rags that lay on the floor and turned up her nose. "I'll just, um…get this washed for you…" She said as she walked out of the bathroom and into the courtyard, where she proceeded to throw the rag in the bin. But she missed and it fell on the floor, where the maids were doing the laundry. One of them picked up the rag, too fixated on the conversation to notice its dinginess.
"Well you must have heard something about this boy" said one maid to the others.
"No" replied another.
"I mean, this boy shows up in rags and doesn't talk…"
"Well Gertrude said…"
"Now when has Gertrude gotten anything right before…" The maids raved on, and didn't notice the red crab pleading to be put down as she was forced to be repeatedly dunked into the water, still in the rags pocket. Eventually Stella managed to scuttle up a washing line and into a room where she thought she was safe, until she noticed that she was in a kitchen where a silver platter full of stuffed crabs lay on a bed of lettuce. Stella completely stiffened in horror, right before fainting on the floor.
Back in the dining room, Erica stood gazing out of a huge glass window towards the ocean, day-dreaming about the boy who saved her.
"Oh really, Erica" said grimsby, snapping her back into reality. "I mean, young men don't just go swimming about in the ocean and then disappear into oblivion." Erica was shocked at her guardians disbelief.
"I'm telling you grim, he was real!" She snapped back like the teenager she was."I'm going to find that boy… and I'm gonna marry him." Erica looked towards the doorway as a giggle came from Carlotta.
"Hm hm, come on honey" She said. "Don't be shy…" She nudged Arron into the dining room, a smile growing as he came to meet his princess. He was dressed in an immaculate pink suit. His hair maintained and his cheeks rosy as ever, Erica noticed just how, well, cute the boy looked.
"Oh, Erica" Said grimsby to the princess. "Isn't he a sight." Erica smiled warmly at the little merman.
"You look wonderful" She said, performing a small curtsey, and Arron clumsily bowed in response. Both children walked to the long dining table and sat down, Arron hardly able to take his eyes off the beautiful young girl across from him, every part of her perfect now that she wasn't all sandy and sea-struck. Erica adorned a smart white shirt, a frilly blue skirt and a pair of black boots. Her long black hair was tied back into a pony-tail, only for a few stray strands to float around her face. She looked lovely.
"Carlotta, what's for dinner my dear?" Asked Grimsby.
"Oooh, Loui's fixing his specialty. Stuffed crab!" At Carlotta's words, Arron's face stiffened in horror as all the colour drained from it.
Back in the palace kitchens, Stella was shivering in fright as she hid under a lettuce leaf. Over by a a stove, the castles chef, Louis, a plump old French man was dancing around the room preparing his specialty; seafood. He pranced around the room proudly, humming and holding a bowl full of fish, much to Stella's horror. She was glad that Flora wasn't here right now.
Les poissons, les poissons
How I love les poissons
Love to chop and to serve little fish
First I cut of their heads
Zen I pull out their bones
Ah mais oui, ça see'est toujours delish
Les poissons, les poissons
Hee hee hee, haw haw haw
With the cleaver I hack them in two
I pull out what's inside
And I serve it up fried
God, I love little fishes, don't you?
Here's something for tempting the palate
Prepared in the classic technique
First you pound the fish flat with a mallet
Then you slash through the skin
Give the the belly a slice
Then you rub some salt in
'Cause that makes it taste nice!
As Louis banged his knife on the countertop, the collision made Stella jump and her hiding place was revealed. Louis turned his head when he saw a raw crab on the counter, and reached down to grab it.
Zut alors! I have missed one
Sacre bleu, what is zis?
How on earth could I miss
Such a sweet, little succulent crab?
Quelle dommage! What a loss
Here we go, in the sauce
And some flour, I think just a dab
Then I stuff you with bread
It don't hurt, 'cause you're dead
And you're certainly lucky, you are
'Cause it's gonna be hot
In my big silver pot
Tout à l'heure, ma poisson!
Au revoir!
Stella clung on for dear life onto the handle of the huge pot of boiling water Louis had tossed her into. She eventually scrambled out, only to be caught again by Louis, who held the crab up to his face. It was then that Louis realised the crab was actually alive.
"What is this?" He said to the crab. Desperate to get away, Stella used her sharp red claw to pinch the plump chef on the nose. Louis dropped the crab in pain as he clutched his plump, pink snout. Stella made a run for the open window only to be stopped in her tracks by three knives being thrown at her, all of which missed the crab but still landed in the wall inches away from her none the less.
A game of cat and mouse began between the chef and the crab, Stella running into places her tiny size would allow her to go, often resulting in Louis's head colliding with whatever the tiny crab scrambled under.
Eventually, the kitchen turned to disarray. Broken bowls, china and cups were everywhere and cutlery was scattered all over the floor. Shelves were tipped over and pots and pans lay everywhere. From the dining room, Carlotta heard all the fuss and entered the kitchen, and was shocked to find the burly chef on all fours searching frantically in a cupboard.
"Come out you little pipsqueak and fight like a man!" Louis yelled in anger.
"Louis!" Exclaimed Carlotta in shock and anger. "What are you doing?" She said with a huff. Louis banged his head on the top of the cabinet as he turned to look at the maid.
"I, uh, I just, um-ah, sorry madame…" He laughed with a fake smile as he pressed on a small flame burning on the tip of his moustache.
"Hmph!" Said Carlotta as she grabbed the domed plates and headed back to the dining room.
Back at the table, Arron looked down at and was delighted to see a dinglehopper just like the one he used to have, before his mother destroyed it. He picked it up and began brushing his hair, only stopping when he noticed the bewildered expressions on grimsby and Erica's faces. Blushing like mad, Arron put down the dinglehopper as a wave of embarrassment washed over him. But to his surprise, Erica burst into laughter and Arron looked up, smiling brightly.
Grimsby looked disappointingly at the little girl laughing her head off before him. The princess looked at her right hand man, cleared her throat, and put on a distinguished expression. "Eh em, so sorry grim." She coughed, but she couldn't help stifling a small smirk, and neither could Arron. He would have laughed along with the princess, bet he knew no sound would come out, and the sight of a mute boy trying to laugh surely would have been a strange one for sure, so he just sat there and smiled sweetly.
Arron then noticed grimsby starting to light what he knew as a 'snarffblatt', and looked at it inquisitively. Grimsby noticed the young boys expression and let him take the pipe.
"Do you like it?" He asked. "It's rather antique…" But his speech was cut short as a cloud of smoke erupted from the pipe as Arron blew through the mouth piece.
Forgetting her manners again, Erica burst into another fit of outrageous laughter, nearly falling off her chair in the process.
"Why, Erica" said Carlotta as she placed the princesses plate in front of her. "That's the first time I've seen you smile in weeks." She said as grimsby wiped off the remaining dirt from his face. "Yes." He huffed. "Very amusing." Erica regained her breath and looked at Arron. There was something so strangely familiar about this boy, but she just couldn't understand what…
"Erica" said grimsby, bringing the girls attention back to him. "I was saying, maybe you would like to give our guest a tour of the kingdom tomorrow…" Arron's train of thought wandered off as he saw Stella's face appear from under Grimsby's domed plate. He looked around to make sure no one was looking, then gestured for Stella to quickly scuttle over to his plate.
"Well, how about it?" Asked Erica. Arron quickly slammed the dome back on his plate with a "everything is ok" face, hoping no one saw what had just happened. "How would you like to go on a tour of my kingdom with me tomorrow?" Erica asked, and Arron's face completely lit up and a huge smile appeared on his face. He nodded vigorously. "Great!" Said Erica.
"Now, let's eat" said grimsby "Before this crab wonders off my plate." Grimsby looked down in confusion, as the only thing on his plate was a bed of lettuce and a trail of tomato seeds. "That's odd…" Muttered Grimbsy to himself. "I was hungry, too…"