On the Belafonte

The Zissou Society

I've been a fan of Steve Zissou and his crew for many years. At the age of 11 and a half my mother let me become a member of the Zissou Society as she felt I was 'old enough to get let down by my heroes'. To this day I'm not sure what being apart of the Zissou Society involves but it meant that I was able to have priority when sending letters to the man himself. I've only ever sent two.
The first one I sent on my 12th birthday. I never got a reply from Zissou because my mother let me sent it by myself and I didn't know the importance of a stamp. This plus the lack of a return address meant I never saw it again. I was incredibly sad about it because I drew him my best sugar crab. I cried for weeks. A couple years passed and during a rather lonely period at my first week in Boarding School, I sent him a second letter. By this point I knew about the wonders of a stamp and a return address. My drawing skills had also improved.
My letter read:
     
Dear Steve Zissou,
My name is Alyssa Street. I am 14 years
old and a massive fan of your work. I
tried sending a letter a couple years
ago - it had a great study of a Sugar
Crab but unfortunately it got lost in
the post. It took some time to get over it
but it's okay, I know this one will get to
you.
The Zissou Crew seem to be an
amazing group! Could you say hi to
Klaus for me?
He's my favourite.

My mother isn't too big on 'meeting your
heroes' but I hope to meet you and the
crew some day. Maybe I'll come seek out
the Belafonte when I'm older.

That's all for now, I hope you like my
bug sketches.

Bon Voyage!
Alyssa Street (14)

To my surprise, 4 months and 2 days later, he replied:

Greetings from the Belafonte Alyssa,
Thank you for your letter. Your bug
drawings are great. Sorry to hear about
the lost Sugar Crab drawings, I would've
loved to have seen them.
Your mother is probably right about
meeting your heroes, I'm no angel.
Don't let that put you off though, we need
a good artist like you on board.

Maybe I'll see you on a future adventure
Alyssa.

Your Zissou Society leader,
Steve Zissou

P.S Klaus is peering over my shoulder as
I write this, so he says hi. He's sort of
shocked that he actually has fans and to
be honest, so am I.

That one short letter (that no one around me would even bat an eye at) planted a stubborn seed of an idea in my head. I needed to be a member of the Zissou crew.