Nat, the Fish Charmer
I made this short story for children when I joined a short story writing competition. Unfortunately, I did not win. However, as one writer said, writing is not about winning, it’s about sharing your creative imagination. It was my first time to join a competition and it was fun. I guess I have to improve my diction especially because my readers are kids. Word choice is essential when you are doing a story for children. This short story for children failed in that aspect.
by ABQ Allenace Muchi
Nat couldn’t wait to go to the river. He put on his cap on his bald head. He took his fish net from the woodshed and got ready to walk under the sun with his grandmother and uncle. His grandmother was walking with a big basin on her head and his uncle with a basket of food and a water jug for their lunch. On their way to the river, Nat dropped by at his best friend’s house. “Ali, Ali,” he called out, “I’m going to catch a lot of fish for you,” yelled Nat. Ali’s mother heard him and told her son that he couldn’t go with Nat to the river because the river captured kids who never returned home. So Nat just told Ali that he would get some fish for him. Ali just nodded at him with a sad look on his face.
Nat loved to go the river on weekends. He felt very happy playing in the river but he had many questions in mind. Can the pinkish eggs of golden kuhol be eaten? Why doesn’t his grandmother want him to catch the little fish? How was the round well in the river made? Why can’t he go to the small waterfalls? Are there really dwarves who make people sick? Do the mermaids who live in a place they call palanguyan where adults swim really catch people? He also wondered if his dog, Richie, would survive if he fell into deep water.
One day, Ali escaped from their house to go to the river with them. The way to get down the river was very steep and they could only hold onto the roots of the trees. Ali lost hold and fell down into the lotuses just below the ravine. Nat’s grandmother and uncle hurried down to get Ali but they couldn’t find him. Nat kept on shouting Ali’s name but heard nothing. He could only hear himself shouting. When Nat went down he couldn’t find his grandmother too. Then he heard a stream of water behind him.
He saw small lotuses floating on a quiet rock pool in front of the waterfalls. The water seemed to be enclosed in a big aquarium. “How come it isn’t flowing towards me,” he asked himself. He was looking at the clear water when he saw Ali floating like a lotus flower. He drew closer and closer to the water, until he was inside the big aquarium too. He passed through the water without feeling anything; he didn’t get wet. He reached Ali and tried to touch him but his touch passed through Ali’s body. Nat got scared he ran back and slipped on a mossy rock. Then a big fish jumped out from the rock pool. The fish landed on his lap.
Surprised, Nat threw the fish back to the rock pool. When the big fish fell onto a rock, he heard a broken glass sound. He found a small shiny thing that looks like eyeglasses beside the fish. He took hold of the “thing” with his fingertips. As he lifted it, it became bigger and bigger until it could fit his eyes. He put it on and suddenly felt cold and wet. He saw a fish as big as him in front of his eyes. Nat didn’t know what to do so he thought of running away but to his surprise, his feet were gone. He kept on moving and felt he has a tail wagging out of the water. He looked at himself turned into a small silver fish by looking at the eyes of the big fish.
The big fish swam near Nat. It kept on making noise. When Nat looked at the mouth of the big fish, he was able to understand what it was saying. “You are in our rock pool. You will stay here for a long time,” said the fish. Then Nat asked, “Who are you?” The big fish replied, “I am Damsel, and I am a lost fish too.” “But I’m not a fish,” said Nat. “I’m a boy. I’m looking for my friend Ali. I saw him at that wall near the falls.” “Your friend never goes away from that corner.
He doesn’t talk,” replied Damsel. “He has no idea what the river is like. I will get my friend now,” said Nat. He hurriedly swam to the wall where Ali, the blue fish, was staying silently. He tapped Ali and said, “Ali Ali, let’s go home!” Ali got so happy when he heard Nat’s voice. “Oh, you also turned into a fish,” said Ali. “C’mon, let’s find our way out here,” said Nat. “I tried to jump out of this rock pool before but I almost died. We can’t breathe out of the water.
We are fish now,” replied Ali. “But there are other ways we can get out of here,” replied Nat. Then the tiniest fish came near them. “The water from this rock pool should flow towards the river first. We were also little boys once. The lotuses where Ali fell are the gates to this world. Look up,” said the tiny fish. When Ali and Nat looked up, they saw many lotuses floating. The tiny fish continued, “Ali passed through the white lacy interior of the lotus roots. The lotus roots only open once every 35 years but it will automatically open when the water in the rock pool flows to the river. Damsel tried to escape once but she failed.
Damsel is a fish charmer in the ocean. Her family can protect and guard all the fish so that fishermen can’t catch them. But when Damsel was very young, she lost her way here because she played night and day without returning home. She was attracted with the lotus fairies and played with them until the river went almost dry. The only way to get out is a great flood. But many people will die if a great flood would happen. “So we have to wait here for 35 years too,” said Nat. “Yes, the roots only open for five minutes and nobody knows the exact time they do,” said the tiny fish. Scared, Nat and Ali looked at each other.
“But Damsel is a fairy, she can do something,” said Ali. “No she can’t. She is just a fish charmer. She just makes fishes obey her through her bohow, her eyeglasses.” Ali and Nat trembled. “What will happen to us if we don’t get out of here in 35 years?” asked Nat. “You will be a fish charmer like me forever but you will have a power to grant people’s wish or make them sick. That’s why your grandmother always tells you, do not catch the fish. It’s because you’ll never know if they are real fish or a fish charmer like me,” said the tiny fish.
Nobody knows lotuses catch people. No one has any idea if there are people still waiting for the gate to open. Not even people of today have a clue if the fish in the river is already a fish charmer, since most rivers are dead.
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