Chapter 6
Far, far away from his father, Nemo was plunged into unfamiliar water, where he landed on a plant of some kind. He peeked from behind the leafy fronds and called out, “Dad?”
There was no answer.
He gazed at all the new sights around him. Small, strange objects were everywhere: a miniature pirate ship, a tiny treasure chest, some sort of hut, a volcano with red lights flashing along the sides to look like lava, and finally, three giant tiki heads.
Terrified, Nemo tried to swim away. But instead, he bumped into a transparent wall—then another, and another. He was in some sort of glass box!
Outside one glass wall, people sat in a waiting room. On the other side, a dentist approached a patient. Nemo heard them speaking, so he swam closer to the sound of their voices. The dentist, Dr. Sherman, saw Nemo and walked over to the tank. “Hello, little fellah,” he said to Nemo. Then he turned to his patient and told him, “I found that guy struggling for life out on the reef and I saved him.”
Nemo watched the dentist for a few more moments, then began to hear whispering behind him. Scared, he slowly backed away from the voices and bumped into the treasure chest. Hundreds of tiny bubbles poured out.
“Buuuuuubbbbbles!” cried a voice. A yellow tang fish charged at Nemo. Nemo dodged the fish. Then he watched the fish attempt to put the bubbles back in the chest.
“My bubbles!” cried Bubbles, the yellow tang, protectively.
Nemo raced into a nearby diver’s helmet. But as soon as he was hidden, he saw a dark figure approaching. It got closer and closer until it was looking at Nemo up close.
“Bonjour,” a tiny cleaner shrimp named Jacques said.
Nemo bolted out of the helmet and right into Bloat, a blowfish. “Whoa! Take it easy. Slow down, little fellah. There’s nothing to worry about,” Bloat said.
Nemo quickly looked around him and saw that he was surrounded by all kinds of fish. There were also a starfish named Peach, a black-and-white humbug named Deb, and a royal gramma named Gurgle.
“I wanna go home,” Nemo said to his audience. “Do you know where my dad is?”
“Honey, your dad’s probably back at the pet store,” Peach said.
Nemo looked at the starfish curiously. “Pet store?” he asked.
All the fish chimed in at once. “Pet Palace,” Gurgle said.
“Fish-O-Rama,” added Deb. “Mail order,” said Bubbles.
Nemo still seemed a little confused. “I’m from the ocean,” he timidly told the fish.
“The ocean?” Gurgle yelled.
The rest of the tank fish gasped.
“Wow. The big blue. What’s it like?” asked Bubbles.
“Uh…” Nemo faltered. “Big… and blue.”
“I knew it!” Bubbles exclaimed.
“Kid, if there’s anything you need, just ask your auntie Deb. Or if I’m not around, you can always talk to my sister, Flo.” Deb indicated her reflection in the glass. Nemo realized she thought it was her twin sister.
All of a sudden, Peach yelled out, “Root canal!”
The Tank Gang raced toward Peach to see the dental procedure that was in progress. They all watched with great interest, commenting as the dentist worked.
Just then, a pelican flew into the open window by the fish tank. “What did I miss?” the bird asked. “Am I late?”
“Hey, Nigel,” Peach said to the pelican. “Root canal, and it’s a doozy.”
Nigel looked over at the tank and noticed the new little fish. “Hello. Who’s this?” he asked.
“New guy,” Deb said.
As Nigel leaned closer to the tank to give Nemo a proper hello, Dr. Sherman walked into the room. “Hey!” he yelled. “No, no, no! Those aren’t your fish. Those are mine. Shoo!”
Nigel let out a loud squawk and flew away. As he took off, he knocked over some of Dr. Sherman’s things.
The dentist leaned down and picked up a picture in a frame that had fallen to the floor and cracked. “Hey, little fellah,” he said to Nemo. “Say hello to your new mummy. She’s gonna be here Friday to pick you up! You’re her present …”
As soon as Dr. Sherman walked away, the Tank Gang began to mutter, “Oh. Darla…not her…she’s bad news.”
“What?” Nemo asked. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Poor Chuckles,” Deb said.
“He was her present last year,” said Bloat. “She’s a fish killer,” Peach added.
Nemo was horrified. “I can’t go with that girl,” the little clownfish said. “I have to get back to my dad.”
Getting more worried by the second, Nemo began to swim wildly around the tank. He ended up stuck in the filter tube. “Help me!” he cried.
“Oh, no!” the Tank Gang yelled. “We gotta get him outta there.”
They all rushed over to Nemo but stopped short when they heard someone say, “Nobody touch him.”
They looked behind them and saw Gill, a moorish idol fish, come out of the shadows.
“Can you help me?” Nemo asked him, struggling.
“No. You got yourself in there, you can get yourself out,” Gill replied. He started to swim away, but decided to give the little fish a bit of helpful advice. “Alternate wiggling your fins and tail.”
“I—I can’t. I have a bad fin,” Nemo said. “Never stopped me,” Gill said, showing Nemo his own severed pectoral fin. “Just think about what you need to do.”
Nemo tried and tried, and with one last push, he freed himself.
The Tank Gang burst into cheers. “Pretty good, kid. You did it!” they cried.
Gill didn’t join in the celebration. He was in a corner, deep in thought.
Peach looked over at him and said, “Uh-oh. I’ve seen that look before. What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinkin’… tonight we give the kid a proper reception,” Gill said.
第 6 章
在一個(gè)遙遠(yuǎn)的、見(jiàn)不到父親的地方,尼莫被扔進(jìn)陌生的水里,跌落在某種植物上。他躲在茂盛的葉子后面向外瞅了瞅,大聲呼喚:“老爸?”
沒(méi)人回答。
他凝視著周?chē)?,一切都是新的。到處都是新奇的小東西:一艘微型的海盜船,一個(gè)小小的百寶箱,某種小屋子,一座火山,邊上有紅燈在閃爍,就像熔巖似的,最后還有三個(gè)巨大的提基頭像。
尼莫嚇壞了,想要逃走。但是,他卻撞到了一面透明的墻上——接著撞到了第二面、第三面墻。他在某個(gè)玻璃箱子里!
在一面玻璃墻外面,人們坐在候診室里。在另一邊,一位牙醫(yī)走近一位病人。尼莫聽(tīng)見(jiàn)他們?cè)谡f(shuō)話,于是向傳來(lái)聲音的地方游近一些。牙醫(yī)謝爾曼看見(jiàn)了尼莫,于是走到了魚(yú)缸邊。“你好,小家伙。”他對(duì)尼莫說(shuō)。然后,他轉(zhuǎn)身面向他的病人,告訴他:“我發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)小家伙在礁石上拼命掙扎,于是救了他。”
尼莫又看了牙醫(yī)一會(huì)兒,然后聽(tīng)到身后傳來(lái)低低的說(shuō)話聲。他有點(diǎn)害怕那些聲音,于是慢慢地往后退,一不小心撞到了百寶箱。上百個(gè)小泡泡涌了出來(lái)。
“泡泡……泡泡……泡泡!”一個(gè)聲音叫著。一條黃色的刺尾魚(yú)向尼莫沖了過(guò)來(lái)。尼莫躲開(kāi)這條魚(yú)。接著,他看到這條魚(yú)想要把泡泡塞回箱子。
“我的泡泡!”黃色的刺尾魚(yú)“泡泡”大喊,充滿著呵護(hù)。
尼莫趕緊鉆進(jìn)旁邊的潛水員頭盔里。但是,他剛藏起來(lái),就看到過(guò)來(lái)一個(gè)黑影。黑影越來(lái)越近,最后靠近了尼莫,看著他。
“你好。”一只叫蝦蝦的小清潔蝦說(shuō)。
尼莫飛快地逃出頭盔,正好撞到了河豚豬豬。“哇!放松點(diǎn)。慢點(diǎn),小家伙。沒(méi)什么好擔(dān)心的。”豬豬說(shuō)。
尼莫很快地看了看四周,發(fā)現(xiàn)他的周?chē)歉鞣N各樣的魚(yú)。還有一個(gè)叫“小桃”的海星,一條叫“漂漂”的黑白相間的宅泥魚(yú),和一條叫“膽小鬼”的皇家絲鱸。
“我想回家,”尼莫對(duì)他的圍觀者說(shuō),“你們知道我老爸在哪兒?jiǎn)?”
“親愛(ài)的,你老爸可能回寵物店了。”小桃說(shuō)。
尼莫好奇地看著海星。“寵物店?”他問(wèn)。
所有的魚(yú)七嘴八舌地?fù)屩f(shuō)。“我來(lái)自寵物世界。”膽小鬼說(shuō)。
“水族天地。”漂漂補(bǔ)充。“我是郵購(gòu)的。”泡泡說(shuō)。
尼莫看上去還是有點(diǎn)迷惑。“我從大海來(lái)的。”他膽怯地告訴其他魚(yú)。
“大海?”膽小鬼喊。
魚(yú)缸里其他的魚(yú)一陣驚嘆。
“哇。大海。大海什么樣?”泡泡問(wèn)。
“呃……”尼莫支支吾吾地說(shuō),“大……又藍(lán)。”
“我就知道!”泡泡大喊。
“孩子,需要什么,就找你的漂漂阿姨。要是我不在,你可以跟我的妹妹亮亮說(shuō)。”漂漂指著玻璃里自己的影子說(shuō)道。尼莫明白了,她把那個(gè)當(dāng)成了她的雙胞胎妹妹。
突然,小桃大聲喊道:“根管治療!”
“魚(yú)缸幫”沖到小桃身邊,觀看正在進(jìn)行的牙齒治療。牙醫(yī)在工作時(shí),他們都興致勃勃地看著,還評(píng)頭論足。
就在這時(shí),一只鵜鶘從魚(yú)缸邊開(kāi)著的窗戶飛進(jìn)來(lái)。“我錯(cuò)過(guò)了什么好戲?”這只鳥(niǎo)問(wèn)道,“我來(lái)晚了嗎?”
“嘿,大嘴哥,”小桃對(duì)鵜鶘說(shuō),“根管治療,超贊的。”
大嘴哥打量了一下魚(yú)缸,發(fā)現(xiàn)多了一條小魚(yú)。“你好。這是誰(shuí)?”他問(wèn)。
“新來(lái)的。”漂漂說(shuō)。
大嘴哥往魚(yú)缸這邊靠了靠,準(zhǔn)備向尼莫正式問(wèn)好,這時(shí)謝爾曼醫(yī)生走進(jìn)了房間。“喂!”他喊道,“不,不,不!那些魚(yú)不是你的。是我的。噓!”
大嘴哥大叫一聲,飛走了。離開(kāi)的時(shí)候,它還把謝爾曼醫(yī)生的一些東西撞倒了。
牙醫(yī)彎下腰,撿起相框里的照片,相框掉到地上摔壞了。“喂,小家伙,”他對(duì)尼莫說(shuō),“跟你的新媽咪問(wèn)個(gè)好。她星期五會(huì)來(lái)這里接你!你是她的生日禮物……”
謝爾曼醫(yī)生一走開(kāi),“魚(yú)缸幫”就開(kāi)始咕噥:“哦。達(dá)拉……不是她吧……她可是個(gè)壞消息。”
“什么?”尼莫問(wèn),“她怎么了?”
“可憐的查克斯。”漂漂說(shuō)。
“他是達(dá)拉去年的禮物。”豬豬說(shuō)。“她是小魚(yú)殺手。”小桃補(bǔ)充。
尼莫嚇壞了。“我不要跟那個(gè)女孩走,”可憐的小丑魚(yú)說(shuō),“我要回去找我老爸。”
尼莫越來(lái)越擔(dān)心,開(kāi)始在魚(yú)缸里拼命地游。最后,他卡在了過(guò)濾器里。“救救我啊!”他喊道。
“哦,不!”“魚(yú)缸幫”大喊,“我們得把他弄出來(lái)。”
他們都沖到尼莫身邊,但是當(dāng)聽(tīng)到有人說(shuō)“誰(shuí)都別碰他”時(shí),他們突然停了下來(lái)。
他們轉(zhuǎn)身向后看,看見(jiàn)鐮魚(yú)吉哥從陰影里游了出來(lái)。
“你能幫幫我嗎?”尼莫掙扎著問(wèn)他。
“不能。你自己進(jìn)去,就能自己出來(lái)。”吉哥回答。他正要游走,但還是決定給這條小魚(yú)一點(diǎn)有用的建議。“輪流擺動(dòng)你的鰭和尾巴。”
“我——我不行。我的鰭受傷了。”尼莫說(shuō)。“對(duì)我就沒(méi)影響,”吉哥說(shuō)著把自己被割斷的胸鰭展現(xiàn)給尼莫看,“專心想著你該怎么做。”
尼莫試了又試,最后猛地一推,終于掙脫出來(lái)。
“魚(yú)缸幫”一陣歡呼。“很不錯(cuò),孩子。你成功了!”他們尖叫著。
吉哥沒(méi)有加入他們的慶祝。他在角落里,陷入了沉思。
小桃朝他看過(guò)去,說(shuō)道:“哦——哦。我見(jiàn)過(guò)你這表情。你在想什么?”
“我在想……今天晚上我們要好好地歡迎一下這孩子。”吉哥說(shuō)。