ATTENTION EVERYONE: (Update as of June 4th, 2008). I am very sorry this story has been inactive for about a year. I plan to update it soon. Please bear with me...I will be re-writing the first three chapters and then getting the story back on track. This chapter is not new, I just needed to post this update for everyone to read. Chapter 1 Rewritten will be up by the end of the week!
"I can't believe this, I just can't believe this." Mullet Fingers said, pacing the room back in his R.V. after showing Beatrice and Tina the lake and the sign.
"Who knows? Maybe all the mullets will swim away." Said Tina hopefully.
"Eggs can't swim." Mullet Fingers said darkly.
"Oh. . .right." Said Tina, hoping Mullet Fingers would've bought it.
"Well what are you planning on doing then?" Beatrice asked.
"Well first, I'll mess up anything they've set up to build a dam. Then I'll kick down that sign. And if they're stupid enough to park a car there then I'll hot-wire it and drive it into a tree. I'll hop out at the last minute though." He said with a mischievous smirk.
"You can't!" Exclaimed Tina.
"That's crazy." Said Beatrice.
"You'll kill yourself." Tina said.
"Not to mention cause Lonna extreme happiness." Said Beatrice.
"Alright, alright fine." Said Mullet Fingers, that Lonna comment seemed to have stung him "Then what do you suggest we do about it?"
"I think that first, we should let as many people know about it as possible. Tina and I can tell the whole soccer team and we can span out from there." Said Beatrice.
"Yeah and just who the heck is gonna give a dang about mullets?" Mullet Fingers asked sharply.
"That's exactly what you said about the owls, and look how many people turned out to support us? It's better than risking your life, Mullet." Beatrice said.
"Kay, fine. Go ahead and tell everyone. But what am I supposed to do? You and Tina are like the only people I talk to these days." He said.
"You can just sit tight. We'll take care of it, don't worry." Said Beatrice gently.
"Fine, but do it quick okay? You know I hate being left out of things like this." Said Mullet Fingers.
Beatrice and Tina said good-bye and left for their soccer practice. Mullet Fingers curled up in his sleeping bad and started thinking about what would happen next. Would Beatrice be right? Would they have all kinds of support?
Probably not. Everyone thought the owls were cute, fish won't matter. He thought to himself.
Tina and Beatrice were walking through the woods together.
"Do you really think he's going to sit tight like that?" Tina asked.
"Oh, I hope so. I don't want him getting hurt." Said Beatrice.
"I'd be more worried about him being arrested, isn't he still wanted for breaking out of juvie?" Tina asked.
"Yeah but Lonna's too lazy to follow up on the investigation, the cops dropped it eventually." Beatrice replied.
Suddenly, Roy ran up from out of nowhere. "Hey Beatrice, hey Tina." He said, out of breath.
"Hey, what's up?" Beatrice asked.
"I need you to tell Mullet Fingers something for me." Roy said.
"I already told you, cowgirl, I'm not your guys's messenger. If you've got something to say to him then go tell him yourself." Said Beatrice.
"One, he won't talk to me and two, even if he would, I don't even know where he lives now. Besides, this is really important." Said Roy.
Beatrice crossed her arms. "Alright then, you tell me first and I'll decide how important it is." She said.
"It's about that place he always used to take me to try and show me how to catch mullets! They're building a hotel there, he needs to know!" Roy said impatiently.
"He already knows." Said Tina.
"And you aren't going to encourage him to do anything about it, Tina and I are taking care of everything." Said Beatrice firmly.
"He knows?" Said Roy, clearly disappointed.
"What's wrong? I thought you wanted him to know." Said Beatrice.
"I did but. . .I kinda thought that if I was the one to tell him, he'd forgive me for what happened." Said Roy.
"Roy, it's going to take a lot more than telling him some mullets are in danger to make-up for what you did. You really hurt him." Said Beatrice.
"I told him I'm sorry, what more does he want from me?" Roy demanded angrily.
"He got sent to juvie again cause of what you did! You really expect sorry to fix that?" Beatrice exclaimed.
"No." Roy mumbled.
"It's going to be a long time before he forgives you, maybe even never. I'm sorry, Cowgirl, but we've got to get to soccer practice. See ya." Said Beatrice as she and Tina hurried off.
Roy tried to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.
"You okay?" A voice asked.
Roy looked up. A tall blond girl with brown oval framed glasses stood in front of him, looking worried.
Roy quickly wiped his eyes with his arm and said "Yeah, I just got something in my eye."
She smiled at him. "Oh. That makes sense. Hey listen, you're Roy Eberhardt, right?" She asked.
"Yeah." Roy replied.
"Then you know Mullet Fingers, right?" The girl went on.
"I know who he is, yeah." Said Roy.
"Do you know where I can find him? It's really important." She said.
"Sorry, he and I aren't really on speaking terms anymore. . .I haven't seen him in months." Said Roy sadly.
"Oh. Well, if you do see him can you tell him that Ally's looking for him? Thanks!" She said without waiting for an answer, and the ran off.
Roy felt even worse now. He turned around and began walking to the owl preserve. When he got there, however, he hid behind a bush as he heard a very familiar voice.
"I said back off."
"What's the matter, Nature Boy? Too scared to take on mean old Cody?" Another familiar voice snarled.
Roy recognized this voice from school. It was Cody Rinlae, Dana Matherson's successor as the meanest kid in school.
"I ain't scared of you, I'm just givin' you a chance to save yourself before I get angry." Said the other voice.
Roy knew this voice too. He suddenly felt a surge of excitement.
He peered through the bottom of the bush to try and make out who was there. He saw the tattered jeans and skateboard shoes of Cody Rinlae and three of his buddies. The were circling someone. Then he saw another pair of feet, and he knew who it was right away. Dirty, bare and nut brown; it could only be one person.
"I'm only sayin' it one more time: back off." Mullet Fingers's voice said dangerously.
Cody and his buddies chortled. "And just what's a sissy kid like you gonna do to us? Ties us up in a net? Or maybe set some alligators loose on us!" Cody sneered.
Mullet Fingers threw a punch at Cody, who dodged it and hit him in the back.
"Smooth one, Nature Boy." Cody said with a snort.
Mullet Fingers tried again but one of Cody's buddies knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the side.
"What now, Nature Boy? No little owls or crocs to save you now!" Cody said coldly.
Suddenly, just as Roy was preparing to leap out of the bushes and save the day, Beatrice and Tina showed up. Extremely disappointed, Roy knelt back down.
"What're you doing to that kid, Cody?" Tina demanded, for Cody was her boyfriend.
"Nothing, Tina, just taking care of him." Said Cody, planting a kiss on her cheek.
"Yeah well, your mommy told us to send you home so why don't you let us handle him?" Beatrice said.
"You two? Take care of him? But. . .you're girls." Cody said trying to hold back laughter.
"And just what does that have to do with anything?" Tina asked through gritted teeth.
Cody laughed and hurried off with his friends. Beatrice helped Mullet Fingers up.
"Honestly, Tina, what do you see in him?" Beatrice asked darkly.
"Our parents are friends, they kinda push it." She said.
"Cody and his thugs don't know you and I are related." Beatrice informed her stepbrother.
"What happened to soccer practice?" He asked.
"Cancelled. What happened to staying at the R.V. and letting us handle things?" Beatrice asked.
"I wasn't doing anything! Geez, can't I take a walk?" He raged.
Beatrice and Tina giggled and took him to get some dinner.
Later that night, Roy was taking a bike ride down by the harbor. He wished he could go back in time and change things. He'd made a huge mistake and, as a result, he'd lost one of his best friends.
It happened four months ago. Mullet Fingers had gotten another injury, he'd been bitten by a fairly poisonous fish out in the water. Fortunately, Roy and Beatrice found an old antidote for it and avoided him having to go to the hospital. It took a couple of days, however, and during those few days he was in excruciating pain. Roy was shaken by this, anyone who had seen Mullet Fingers during those few days would've been. So, having no desire to ever see Mullet Fingers in such pain again, Roy decided to take action.
First, he started pressing Mullet Fingers, saying it was unsafe out there and he needed a home. He and Mullet Fingers ended up getting into a huge fight. In the end, Roy did the only thing he thought possible to keep Mullet Fingers safe. He went to the police and told them where Mullet was hiding. He was arrested and taken to juvie, where he lasted three days then broke out.
Roy tried to apologize to him, finally accepting that Mullet Fingers could take care of himself, but the boy refused to speak to him and disappeared. Roy felt awful.
He still felt awful as he biked down the harbor, which glowed orange in the sunset.
It was nighttime now, Mullet Fingers was creeping through the woods, toward the lake with the mullets in it. Stray branches scratched his arms and legs, but he didn't care. His mind was set on saving those mullets. When he got there, he found that it was pitch black. No moon tonight, meaning no light. First, he saw some sort of marking sign attached to one of the trees. It was above the river, but he was pretty sure he could reach it if he waded in a bit. He did so, and found the water oddly thick and soft. He didn't care though, he was too busy trying to grab the sign. He couldn't reach it. Partly because he couldn't jump.
"You've got no idea what you're standing in, do you?" A girl's voice came.
"Where did you come from?" Mullet Fingers asked.
The girl standing by the river was Ally. A beam of light suddenly came from her black figure and was shined on him, and revealed that he was standing knee-deep in wet, almost dry, cement.
He groaned. There were two wooded dams around either side of the section of river he was standing in.
"Hold on, I've got a rope here." Said Ally, pulling a long, thick rope out of her bag.
She threw it to him and began pulling, trying to get him out. She did so with alarming ease.
"Thanks." He said, letting out a huge sigh and lying down on the ground.
"You need to be more careful. That was why I've been trying to find you all day, I had a feeling you'd end up in there somehow." Ally said.
"What're you doin here?" Mullet Fingers asked.
"Same thing you're doing. Saving the mullets, Mullet." She said.
"Oh." He said bluntly.
"Yeah, and that isn't a marking sign, I put that there. I put signs all over the place." She said.
Mullet Fingers got the idea that Ally and Beatrice would get along well.
"So lemme get this straight: you can catch mullets with your bare hand, run faster than pretty much everyone in the whole town and you care about what happens to smaller animals that can't protect themselves?" Mullet Fingers asked.
"Yup." Said Ally.
"Wow, you've really got it all." Said Mullet Fingers, getting to his feet.
"Where're you going? Don't you wanna hang out a little longer?" Ally asked.
"No, I've. . .uh. . .gotta meet someone. . .somewhere. Bye." He said before running off.
