I challenged the blog staff to write a short story. Luke was especially happy about that. Penny took up the challenge with her own fish tale.

Blog Advisor Zachik

A Short Story by Middle-Schooler Penny Andreas

“Welcome! Welcome Ladies and Gentleman to the ‘Great World Circus!’” Thomas W. Ratgrape stood in front of the crowd, feeding off of their applause. His great big smile on his face stood out in the spotlight, and his brightly colored red suit shone in the circus ring. 

“Thank you. Thank you, everyone. No, really, I mean it. Now, first up, we have your one, and only, ‘Dancing Monkey!’” 

The brass music boomed over the speaker. Thomas rushed behind the curtain, his support-staff followers running after him. 

“Sir, you go back on after the monkey.” 

“Sir, sir, your suit is unbuttoning!”

“Sir Your father wants to–”

“JUST SHUT UP!” Thomas yelled. “I DO NOT CARE! JUST GET ME THAT FISH!”

Everyone looked at each other, wondering who should move first. 

“WELL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THE FISH ISN’T GOING TO COME BY ITSELF!” 

They all started running again, worried that their master, Thomas, would yell and fire them. Soon enough, the monkey was done dancing, and the crowd was becoming bored. Thomas quickly looked around, desperately looking to see if the fish was there. 

“Gertrude! Gertrude, where is the fish?” Thomas frantically said to Gertrude, who was the janitor of the circus. 

“I dunno,” she said.  

Thomas sighed and quickly started to pace across the maroon carpet. 

“I’ve got it! I’ve got the fish coming throoooooough!”

“Lacey? You were the last person I thought would get the fish. Is it well? Eh, no matter, we have to get it on!”  

Thomas ran out of the curtains and quickly took his spotlight. The music stopped, and a loud drum roll burst out of the speakers. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome the amazing, magnificent ‘Talking Fish!’”

Gertrude placed the giant fish tank onto the scooter, and rolled it out into the circus ring. The fish, Margarine, tried to swim, but her tank was too small. She couldn’t even move. 

“How incredibly rude. What do they even want me to do?” Margarine asked. She looked beyond her dirty, small glass like aquarium, and saw the crowd. Her eyes were blinded by the lights. She refused to look at the crowd and tried to turn her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thomas and his mean, stink-eye glare. He slowly walked over to her. 

“Fish, if you don’t start talking, I will make your life worse than it is.”

He walked away squinting at her. Margarine floated there, speechless. What am I supposed to do? She pushed on the glass, daring to break it, daring an escape. The glass was strong, yet Margarine was stronger. That glass popped out and shattered on the hard cement ground. Water spilled out, creating a tidal wave that carried Margarine across the ground. She frantically tried to swim, hoping she could make it to the clear water pond just outside the door of the tent. She was almost there when Thomas stepped in front of her and picked her up. He apologized to the bored audience and quickly walked backstage. As soon as he was behind the curtain, he threw the fish against the wall into a water tank. 

“HOW DARE YOU EMBARRASS ME IN FRONT OF MY PEOPLE?! MY AUDIENCE?! YOU ARE A DISGRACE! YOU SHOULD BE SORRY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!”

He stormed out of the room, leaving Margarine alone in the dark. She swam to the bottom of the tank, and belly flopped onto the gravel. She longed for her sweet, clean, clear pond that they  polluted in order to capture her. She missed her poor family, swimming alone in the river to which they were transferred. She missed them so dearly. But at that moment, *click*. 

The custodian Gertrude walked through the door and turned on the lights. She took out her mop and bucket of water and started to clean the floor. 

“Hello, Gertrude,” said Margarine.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” Gertrude yelled, dropping her mop. 

“Well, don’t be frightened for goodness sake. I was only being polite.

”Gertrude stared at her in awe. How could the fish be speaking? Was she dreaming? Was she even alive?

“You really speak? How?”

Margarine laughed. 

“I don’t really know. I just started to talk one day. But when the world found out, they captured me, and pulled me into this…this horrible place.”

“Well, I guess we are similar in that way. I wanted to go to college, but I got fired from my job and lost all  my money and had to work at this dump.”

“Perhaps we could someday escape, though that day would be far far away due to the situation here,” Margarine sighed. 

That’s when Gertrude had an idea. They could escape. They could get out of this miserable, terrible, horrible place. 

Gerturde jumped up into the air. “I know how we can escape!”

Margarine was delighted. “How might we do that?”

“Tomorrow night, when you perform for the last time, you can tell the audience how bad Thomas is treating you, and then they will have to all leave, and right then we could leave, too!”

Margarine was thrilled. She was so happy with the thought that she could see her loving family and pond again. That night, she slept for the first time. 

The next day, Margarine woke up with joy, but suddenly it diminished like water on fire. She awoke to everyone running around, yelling, and frantically waving their arms. Thomas was not around surprisingly. At the corner of her eye, she noticed Gertrude standing with her mop. Gertrude met eyes with Margarine, and broke a small smile. 

“WHAT IS ALL THE CHAOS?!” Thomas suddenly walked into the main room. Everybody froze and immediately turned to Lacey. Thomas started to slowly walk across the room. 

“What…is going….on?” snarled Thomas. 

Lacey’s eyes were wide open, and her legs were trembling. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. 

“I-I–I…I LOST THE MONKEY!” Lacey started to cry. She went down on her knees. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” 

Thomas looked down at her like a hawk watching its prey from above. He walked silently to the back of the room. 

“Find it. Or else,” Thomas said. He walked out of the room, smoke metaphorically fuming out of his ears. Gertrude rushed over to Margarine. 

“Don’t worry,” whispered Gertrude, “I stole the dancing monkey, and I’m going to replace it with a normal foolish monkey.”

Margarine sighed, worried that the plan wouldn’t work. She swam to the top of the tank and said, “He will have to put me on instead, and then we can escape?”

“Precisely,” smiled Gertrude. She then walked away and went back to her mopping. 

Two hours later, Thomas prepared for the show, for he was on in 5 minutes. 

“Are we prepared? Is everything ready? Where is the monkey?” 

Gertrude pretended to be rushed and threw herself onto the ground, the fake monkey in her hand. “I’ve found it!”

Thomas looked down at her. “Thank you,” he said, and he snatched the monkey out of her hand and walked off. 

Gertrude was thrilled as she got up off of the ground. She was ready to get out of this dump. 

The music started to grow out of the big bass speakers, and the spotlights circled around the circus ring. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to the circus!”

The loud brass music played, which was heard from backstage, where Gertrude and Margarine were desperately waiting to see the magnificent fail of Thomas. 

“First up, I will joyfully present to you, the one, the only…Dancing Monkey!”

The spotlight appeared suddenly on a miniature stage, with the fake monkey on it. The monkey blocked the light with his hands, and ran off the tiny stage to the door and ran out. Thomas stood there speechless, surprised that he had just lost the monkey. His mind quickly turned to the crowd though, and he rushed to take the spotlight. 

“Well, that was unexpected! To keep your interest, I want to show you the magnificent, amazing “Talking Fish!” Thomas said nervously. 

Gertrude pushed Margarine to the center of the dusty stage. Margarine looked out to the crowd, hoping this would work. 

“Hi. My name is Margarine. I am a talking fish. And although many people stare at me in awe when I speak, some people treat me wrong for it. They give me small fish tanks, which smell and are unclean. They also force me to talk and punish me if I don’t. I don’t like the disrespect at all. I find it quite rude. And these people, they are horrible. And I know one person who is like this. Thomas W. Ratgrape.”

The audience gasped when they heard this, and immediately refused to stay in the circus tent any longer. People demanded their money back, and some climbed out of the seats. Soon enough, people were carrying Margarine’s fish tank outside, and placing her in a beautiful pond outside of the circus. Gertrude followed, cheering for her and Margarine’s freedom. 

And they all lived happily ever after. Except Thomas W. Ratgrape.