Aquarist Adventures - Things are getting fishy
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The following week, after two blissful days without any radiation treatments, Cassie was back at work at the aquarium. She had already vacuumed out the small coral tank and greeted the racoon butterfly fish and the Moorish idols. Next up on today’s list of tasks was feeding the fish in the Pacific coral reef habitat.
To do this, Cassie had to climb a ladder to get above the tank. At the top of the ladder, the ceiling was low and she had to scooch along in a low squat or get down on her hands and knees and crawl to get to the aquarium. Once she was at the edge of the tank, there was a plank across the open water that led to a center platform where she could drop food in for the fish. Kokala, the pufferfish, often munched on leaves of lettuce, but she really loved when Cassie would use the salad tongs to hold out her favorite treat of shrimp. When she saw Cassie, she swam up to the surface and greeted her.
Cassie and Kokala had been through a lot together. Not only did Cassie feed her daily, but when Kokala had to have her bite plate ground down, it was Cassie who lured her into the transport tank and cared for her during the procedure. Today Kokala was feeling particularly in need of attention and Cassie watched her swim to the surface over and over, begging for her shrimp treat!
Having fed the fish and taken care of everything that she needed to, Cassie headed back in her penguin-like crouched waddle toward the ladder.
“Ouch!” she yelled as her head bashed into the large yellow and black striped beam hung low above the top of the ladder. She didn’t bang her head often, but she had done it a few times despite all of the caution colors and signage.
This time though, she felt a strange sensation all over her body. It felt like she had expanded in size about a centimeter in all directions. The hair on her arms stood straight up. She could even feel the tightness in her eyebrows. As she imagined what she would look like with eyebrow hair sticking straight out, she laughed. Instantly, the expansive sensation went away and her arm hair lay back down.
“That’s odd,” she mused to herself as she headed down the ladder, more carefully this time.
After lunch, her duties took her over to Pier 60 to the brand new Puget Pavillion, still under construction. She checked in with her supervisor on whether or not she would be diving today in the brand new, enormous main tank.
“Unfortunately not,” he replied. “The idiots on the construction crew haven’t been able to fix all of the leaks they keep creating with their carelessness around the seams,” he finished explaining.
Extremely disappointed, Cassie headed back to her normal station on Pier 59. On her way out of the building she got behind two slowly moving construction workers. She could easily hear their conversation.
“I don’t know why they’re so upset over the seam leaks. Who cares about this aquarium anyway? Fish are food, period. Why would anyone spend money to come see a bunch of dumb, stupid water creatures?”
Cassie felt the same sensation in her body from earlier. As her skin stretched she could feel the tingling in her arms and the hairs stiffen.
“Right?!?” the other worker joined in. “And all the stupid emphasis on ‘caring for the ocean’. It’s a perfect dumping place as far as I’m concerned. Let there be a trash island. Better there than here.”
Cassie felt her irritation grow.
The two workers stopped at the railing on the pier and stared down into the waters of Olympia Bay. “Climate change my ass!” the first worker spat as he hurled his McDonald’s soda cup, lid, and straw into the water.
Cassie felt her anger unleash and her body responded. She could barely see over her expanding form, but she could see each knee grow right into the behinds of both workers, launching them up and over the rail tracing the arc of the cup from moments before. With the sound of the dual splashes, she could feel the rage subside and the tingling in her skin dissipate.
She wondered what story the workers would tell about how they ended up in the water. “Oh well,” she mused. “No one will believe them. Good riddance.” She went on with her day.