The Tale of Levi Athan

The Tale of Levi Athan: Part 2

Silence now reigned. Levi shuddered behind his desk, what was that about? It was all too much for him and he began to blubber and wail uncontrollably—huge salty tears rolled down his bulbous head to collect on the desktop. Levi dabbled his fins in the pool his teardrops formed. It soothed his soft grey skin, which was beginning to dry out from exposure to the air and the bright morning sunlight streaming in through the large windows. At that moment there was a timid knock.

'Sir... are you ok?' Miss Perkins called through the door. Perhaps she had heard him crying or maybe she was merely checking up on him after the regrettable confrontation with Mister Ahab.

'Mmmmmeeeeeeee-Ooooooo-Woooooooh!' said Levi, 'Ahem, cough, cough! Ah I, um, mean... yes. Yes. I am ok.'

'I'm coming in sir—you sound terrible—you need to see a doctor.'

'Mmmmmeeeeeeee-NooooOooooo...!'

'Mr Athan! Something terrible's happened to you, have you had a stroke? I knew the stress of this merger was too much. I'm coming in right now!' Miss Perkins said. The handle rattled as she tried to open the door; her small fists pummelled the timber sentinel blocking entry to Levi Athan, 'Hold on Mr Athan—hold on—I'll get the keys now. Don't worry sir, I'll get you the help you need...!'

'Mmmmmeeeeeeee-Noooooo. Nooooooooo...!' Levi writhed in his seat. 'Ah, ahem—no! No no no mmmmm-mmmmiss Perkins, I am, ah, ahem! Fine. I. Am. Fine. Ha-ha-ha! Yes, um, fine I tell you, ho-ho—fine fine fine—fine and dandy, yes indeedy...'

'Oh sir,' Miss Perkins implored, 'I wish you would let a doctor see you. I've been so worried about you lately...'

'No! Ah, cough, cough, ahem. No. No no no... no one can see me. Mmmmmh-Mmmmmiss Perkins, I assure you there is nothing—nothing, ah, to worry about ha-ha, ahem! No, nothing at all...' Levi paused for a moment, dabbling his fins again in the teary puddle on his desk before adding, 'But ah, Mmmmmmh-mmmmmiss Perkins?'

'Yes sir?'

'I need you to go to, um, go to the nearest chemist and, ah, get mmmmmmmmh-me all the, ah, all the saline solution they have, ahem! Uh, actually—how many chemists are in the local ah, local area? Go to them all—I need all the saline solution available. Yes. My skin feels dry...'

'Sir...?'

"Dry. Ahem! And, uh, and my... my eyes. Yes, my eyes haha—and skin—feel very, very dry. Go now, at once, go go go and bring me ALL the saline solution.' Levi considered for a moment before adding, 'Oh, and ah, before you go MMMMmmmmmMMMMmmmm-iss Perkins?'

'Yes, sir?'

'While you're out, mmmmmh, see if, ah... see if you can, by any chance, get me some, um, plankton.'

'Plankton, sir?'

'Yes, oh ah—MmmmMMmmmMMmm—actually, no. Mmmmiss Perkins...'

'Yes sir?'

'Wait. Better make it, um, krill... Yes—ahem! Krill.'

'Krill, sir...?'

'Krill'

'But sir...' The harried secretary's voice had gone beyond sounding merely confused and now had a tone of desperation to it.

'NO BUTS—I want krill! And saline. Take the petty cash and go—go now and don't come back without it..!'

There was no further exchange with Miss Perkins on the other side of the door, just the sound of her gently sobbing as she packed up and left. Levi wondered if perhaps he hadn't crossed some professional line of conduct and lost some of his employee's respect.

Levi exhaled and once more gazed out the window. A storm was rolling in, thick, dark clouds bruised purple by the promise of the rain wrapped inside them scudded towards the coast. The pulse of the waves whipped up by the approaching tempest licked at the rim of sand on the edge of the magnificent blue deep and stirred a profound sense of longing in Levi. He decided to escape.

With Miss Perkins out of the building there was no better opportunity to make his move, but there was still the significant problem of how in the world could he get anywhere like this?

To begin with, Levi swivelled his chair around using his fins so that his tail was no longer beneath his desk, and he had more open access to the vast expanse of carpet between his current position and the door. Then, by tilting his great head forward and counterbalancing with his tail he was able to find a fulcrum point of balance which lifted his body away from the backrest and opened up his range of movement. With a little finesse I should be able to gently transition to the floor in a calm and orderly fashion from this position Levi thought, right as he slipped from his precarious perch and fell to the ground in a crash so bone shudderingly heavy it shook the windows and dislodged a flock of seagulls from a nearby rooftop.

Levi writhed in a dull sea of pain, the breath completely knocked out of him. But he was on the floor at least and gradually the pain eased enough he could take stock and plan his next move. Cautiously, he experimented with his various appendages, giving careful consideration to the strength and mobility of his fins and tail. After a great deal of trial and error, he found that through careful coordination and tremendous force of will he was able to use an ingenious combination of his flippers as a steering mechanism and his tail as propulsion to inch his great bulk forward.

Greatly cheered by this positive development in locomotion, Levi ploughed ahead, determined to reach the door before Miss Perkins returned. Progress was, however, painfully slow, and Levi soon exhausted himself to the point that he accidentally stuck his right fin into the bin next to his desk during one of his steering adjustments. As he drew it out he saw that his fin had become caught in a plastic 6-pack ring from last Friday's after-work drinks. No matter how he flapped his fin about he could not dislodge it—if anything it seemed to become more firmly entangled. The 6-pack ring greatly impeded his already laboured progress, but he was determined to make good his escape and so he forged bravely ahead regardless. The shadows in the room grew long as Levi made his excruciating way across the carpet and as he finally approached the door the looming storm broke, unleashing terrific torrents of rain that mercilessly lashed at the windows in a great raging deluge.

By reaching up to his utmost extension Levi was eventually able to hook the 6-pack ring stuck on his fin around the handle and pull it down to release the lock and open the door. Elated to finally be free of his office, he made a renewed effort to clear the reception as quickly as possible and get to the stairs.

In his haste though, Levi collided heavily with Miss Perkins' desk, knocking it aside and upsetting its contents. As a consequence, a large red apple, no doubt part of Miss Perkins' lunch, rolled merrily across the desktop and fell off the side—landing with a plop squarely in Levi's blowhole. This coincidence would have amazed Levi more were it not for the fact that the apple completely blocked his blowhole and prevented him from breathing. Levi could not dislodge the troublesome piece of fruit. Panic set in, and then faded as his sight grew dim and spots like luminous jellyfish pulsed before his tired eyes. Finally, with a monumental effort he cleared the intruding piece of fruit with a mighty spurt from his blowhole. The apple shot straight up like a pome cannonball and struck the ceiling with such force that it set off all the fire-sprinklers in the building with the terrible fury of its passage.

Initially, Levi was grateful just to have survived the unfortunate incident with the apple, and he rested for a while after his arduous journey and enjoyed the soothing sensation of the fire-sprinklers raining down on his dry skin. But eventually he noticed that, as the room gradually filled with water, he was floating ever so slightly and could move around much more easily. Levi kicked his mighty tail and flapped his way along the sodden carpets of the flooded hallway towards the stairs. The water from the sprinklers was cascading down the staircase like a miniature waterfall, and with the added assistance of gravity, combined with his immense weight, Levi found it easy to slide down the stairs and out of the fire-exit into the outside world. He was last seen by astonished bystanders—including Miss Perkins, who was lugging a heavy load of krill and saline back to the office—sploshing along the rain choked-gutters, heading towards the ocean and the freedom it promised.

                                                                                        THE END