Distort the world into clarity

Chapter Fifteen: The interview

He swam towards an extremely long and big couch, where he rested his entire body. Beatrice noticed a way smaller chair next to the couch, she imagined that was hers, so she sat down.

"Why are there fountains of fire? Do you know?" Beatrice asked the grey whale.

"I thought I was the one that was asking the questions."

Beatrice looked down. "Right, sor-"

"But curiosity should never be punished. I'll tell you. You've probably noticed by now that the former sky has now become our ground and the land has become our sky, right?"

Beatrice nodded.

"Well, the same happened with fire and water. Our fire is now water and our water is now fire. Except this rule doesn't seem to apply for tapwater or showerwater, strangely enough. Pretty convenient, right?"

Beatrice nodded again.

"Well anyways, all the plumbing has stayed intact, even though we're living on clouds now, so that makes no sense, but alright. Our rivers and seas are now made out of fire."

"And what has become water then?"

"Well, how do you make fire?" Like a good teacher, Henry wasn't going to tell Beatrice everything. She had to think for herself a bit too.

"Eh.. Rubbing rocks against each other or something?"

"Exactly. That's a way to make wild water, yes. If you look at the other side of the room, you can see a fireplace made out of water, a waterplace if you will."

Curious, Beatrice looked behind her, all the way to the other side of the room and there it was. Bubbles, seafoam and rising water in a fireplace. A bunch of fish were gathered around it, touching the salty water. Some of them were crying. Beatrice wasn't the only one who missed her home.

"Don't look at them for too long. It'll make you want to bawl your eyes out too," Henry told her.

"It is a sad sight..." Beatrice said while slowly turning her head to face Henry again.

"I'll start with my questions."

At this moment Beatrice noticed that the whale had been holding a recording device in one of his fins. He put it on the table in between them.

"Could you please press the record button? It would take me ages with these fins."

Beatrice happily complied. She pressed the button and then looked at Henry, curious about what his questions were going to be about exactly.

"Let's start with the basics. What's your name?"

"You already know-"

The whale was really making a habit out of interrupting her. "No, I don't. Bee can't be your real name, that's ridiculous. A human named bee? Surely your parents didn't hate you that much."

"Well, my actual name is Beatrice Gallagher. Beatrice is my own name, the one my parents gave me, and Gallagher is my family's name."

Henry smiled. "A familyname? How fascinating. Why do you have those?"

"I guess because there are a lot of humans and stuff. There are many Beatrices in the world, but not that many Beatrice Gallaghers. I might be the only one in fact."

"Hm.." Henry let out a small sigh. "I don't understand this. Why do you need to make yourself special? There are many Henrys in the world, but I don't have a family name."

"Well, I guess we also have last names because... Eh... I don't know exactly. I feel like we had a history lesson about this, but... I vaguely remember something about taxes and how last names make it easier keep track of every single person."