Hooks

Chapter 5: The Town Meeting

It had been days since Paul and Joe were taken. Every fish in Coral City has been very quiet and soft spoken since the tragic incident. Fish have been staying close to the city. No one has dared to go up to the surface. Paul and Joe's family and friends have been in tears and haven't ate in days. The town mayor knew that it was time to do something and that things couldn't stay this way so he decided to act on it.

It was a bright and early morning. The sun had barely rose and I remember being woken up abruptly by the sound of the mayor's voice echoing throughout the city. He was swimming back and forth as he weaved in and out of the pebble roads and was screaming and announcing that we were having a town meeting in five minutes. Quickly, I rushed out of bed and woke up Carol and the kids. Everyone was still half asleep as I rushed them out the door. We made it out of the house and started swimming down to the chamber. When we finally got there, it was crowded. It always is at town meetings. I looked around at everyone and watched as they struggled to keep their eyes open. Many fish were yawning and several were complaining about the early inconvenience. After another five minutes of this, the mayor finally swam on to the front stage. Everyone applauded and cheered for him because as I said before, everyone loves the town mayor. The mayor started to speak and the city grew quiet as they waited anxiously on what he would have to say.

"Good morning citizens of Coral City! I am sorry to awake you so early in the morning but this meeting is very important and should probably have been held a few days ago. As we all know, Paul and Joe left us recently and it has been very sad for all of us. There have been many tears shed and many smiles lost. But we all know that our town motto is "Once a happy fish, always a happy fish."
However, lately we haven't been living up to this motto and it saddens me to know and see this. We can't bring back Paul and Joe. They will always be in our hearts. But, what's done is done. The only thing we can do now is prevent any other bad things from happening. That is why I have called this meeting."

The fish in the chamber begin to sit up in their seats and become more attentive to what the town mayor was saying. The mayor continued.

"What we need to do is stop it. Hooks are the reason for Paul and Joe's death."

The mayor held up a long, pointy, sharp hook for all the fish in the city to see. The fish all gasped and started to scream.

"Calm down citizens. There is no need to be afraid. I will not hurt you with these hooks. However, the humans will...just like they did to Paul and Joe. What we need, is a plan. This is our city. This is our ocean. We will defend it and take it back. Who's with me!?"

The mayor held the hook up in the air and the crowd went wild. They began to cheer, chant, and scream.

"Now, with all of this being said, does anyone have any ideas?", asked the mayor after the crowd quieted down again.

One blue fish swam forward.
He then asked the mayor, "What if we created fake fish to trick the humans into thinking it was us?"

The mayor smiled and then replied.
"That may work. But, what if we confuse the fake from the real? That could be very bad...any other ideas, citizens? One brave fish has swam forward. Are there any others brave enough to give an idea that could save our city?"

Another fish swam forward. He began,
"We could just stay away from the surface."

The mayor shook his head in dissapointment.
"Yes, we could. But the bank is where majority of our food supply comes from. Without food we will starve. We don't want that now do we?" he said.

The fish told him no, sulked, and swam back to his family. The mayor then started again,
"Have we no other ideas?"

The town was quiet. No other fish was courageous enough to give an idea only for it to be turned down in front of everyone.

"Very well then. It seems that the only thing left to do is leave it up to your town mayor. I will try to come up with a solution to this problem soon. Until then, be safe. Put up warning signs, eat less, and most importantly...stay away from the surface. We don't want anyone else getting hurt now, do we? Thank you Coral City. You are dismissed."

The mayor left the stage and the crowd began to disperse. It was very quiet and the absence of sound was very abnormal. That night, I tossed and I turned. How could I sleep when our city was in danger? What were we going to do?