Chapter 2 - The Sunbathing Fish
clownfish - 0 | clownfish - 1 | clownfish - 3
Shen Dong thought that, as a long time resident of the island, had come across the most miraculous of things: a clownfish that would go and lie on the same rock everyday.
Every! Day!
He found this even harder to swallow than last year when the chickens kept disappearing until there was only a single hen left at New Years.
He stared at that clownfish and carefully confirmed that it really was the same one as yesterday.
“Who is screwing with me…?” He looked all around. Right now Chen-shu wasn’t around so he was all alone on the island. Sure, maybe some of the villagers had come around to steal eggs, but who would want to sneak around every day to put a clownfish on a rock?
“It’s not funny!” he yelled.
Of course no one responded. There was only the sound of birds and the wind and sea.
“Just go ahead and lie there,” Shen Dong said. He was in no hurry to throw the fish back in the ocean this time. He poked the fish. “Put a metal lid on you and you’ll sunbathe yourself into a zebra fish.”
The clownfish didn’t move and just continued to calmly lie there. For some reason Shen Dong thought that there was something about its expression that gave him the impression that it was really enjoying this sunbathing.
“You really won’t die?” Shen Dong stood there for a while, unsure of what to do. He didn’t consider himself a compassionate person but the sun was getting hot and he just couldn’t stand the idea of this fish frying itself to death on the rocks.
Really, the way the clownfish lay there made it look like it was already dead. Shen Dong sighed, jumped up onto the rocks, and threw the fish into the sea again.
“Don’t jump up here if you can’t get back down!” He said toward the water, then turned and left.
That afternoon Shen Dong was busy. Boat mending wasn’t some high level skill but for someone not so well practiced as Shen Dong, it took him a lot of effort to get it done. He was drenched with sweat just getting the boat up onto land, but he fixed it in the end. It wouldn’t be causing him any troubles for the next few months.
He showered then headed back to the Watch Room, made his report, then turned on the computer.
As for the computer… well… Every time it turned on its fans would scream like a pig being slaughtered and cranking noises would come out of who knows where. And from the point in time when its ‘ON’ switch was flicked, to when it actually finished booting, Shen Dong was able to do a whole island count of the chickens.
The half-dead machine couldn’t connect to the internet, instead, it was Chen-shu and Shen Dong’s only source of entertainment: solitaire for Chen-shu, and minesweepers for Shen Dong. After all these years of playing, they were both mighty experts.
Shen Dong started up his usual custom game of a full screen of tiles. It could last him a whole night, which saved on food, a good thing since he didn’t have any appetite to eat fish.
He played till it was dark then got up, stretched, and turned on the light.
The sea breeze at night was cooler and more fierce by a lot so he went to the window intent on closing it tight, but as he reached out a hand, he heard a noise from down bellow.
The clang of the door.
It was the metal door of the lighthouse, he was sure of it. He’d been hearing it for so many years, he couldn’t be wrong.
Though he didn’t normally lock it, it was still a heavy thing and would stay shut on its own even with all the wind.
That is, unless someone opened it…
Shen Dong didn’t think more and got up to get the wooden cudgel from the wall. This wooden stick was once the handle of a hoe that, for some reason, ended up as just a handle. Shen Dong thought it felt good in the hand and so held onto it.
The stairs up the lighthouse were metal and caused a din when someone walked on them. Shen Dong quietly listened in the Watch Room. He could hear the stairs vibrate but it wasn’t like when a person normally walked up them. It was a lot quieter and there was no sound of shoe soles hitting the metal either.
“Who’s there?!” Shen Dong shouted. He wacked the top of the metal banister of the stairs with his cudgel.
No one replied but the foot steps paused, then picked up the pace.
“Shit!” Shen Dong stepped back and gripped the wooden cudgel harder.
To be honest, he felt pretty scared. There was no one on the island, and the other islands were uninhabited. If a villager from the nearby fishing village had run into some trouble, they wouldn’t be trying to be so stealthy. Not to mention that Shen Dong hadn’t heard any distress signals these past two days.
Pirates?
Sea monsters?
Mermaids?
Dozens of weird and wild guesses spun in Shen Dong’s mind, but before they were able to settle, a man appeared at the top of the staircase.
Shen Dong stared blankly at him and stood stock still.
Yes, a man with not even a weapon in his hands or any kind of anything on him, so Shen Dong should have sighed in relief. But no, the man had nothing, not even clothes.
Naked!
Completely naked!
The man was completely naked!
Shen Dong thought this current situation was even more baffling than being confronted with a sea monster. Just where exactly had this naked guy come from?
But whoever he was, he was much calmer than Shen Dong and strode right up to him. Shen Dong gave a start and brandished his weapon in the stranger’s face.
The man stopped and looked at the wooden stick, then looked arrogantly at Shen Dong.
Who are you?!
What are you doing?!
Where did you come from?!
There was so much that Shen Dong wanted to say but he had no idea where to even start. He thought a moment, then decided it might be best to stay silent since he’d probably just stutter anyway.
Shen Dong stared at the man and readied for an attack. But strangely, when he looked at the man’s expression, the man who had barreld up the stairs completely naked, he saw it was blank.
“You…” Shen Dong couldn’t stand it, so he pointed his stick at the man and slowly opened his mouth. “W-what do you, you want?”
On hearing those words the man’s expression became even more confused. He stared for a moment, then replied, “Forgot.”
What?
Shen Dong squinted and said nothing, but his mind was spinning with activity. A butt naked man runs up to the Watch Room of the lighthouse then says he forgot what he wanted to do.
Who you trying to fool?!
Shen Dong didn’t feel like saying anything. He already knew what was up. This guy was an egg thief.
It was around that time of the year when no few number of rare, sea birds would start laying their eggs. These eggs could sell for a small fortune and each year there were always thieves wanting to try their luck, though they tended to avoid this specific island because of the lighthouse.
So this guy had some real guts.
“Leave.” Shen Dong used his wooden cudgel to poke at the man’s chest. He wasn’t some wildlife conservationist but he could tell that the number of birds on the island had gone down since last year. He hated poachers and thieves.
The man didn’t move and instead pushed away the stick. “Who you telling to leave?” he asked unhappily.
“You.” Shen Dong felt impatient and would rather not talk.
“Why?” The man asked petulantly as he walked past Shen Dong and into the Watch Room. “I haven’t remembered yet what I wanted to do.”
Shen Dong’s patience snapped. This guy’s head had a problem!
Shen Dong stared at the man’s buttocks. His figure was nice and his skin had an even tan… Obvious signs that pointed to him being a seasoned egg thief!
“Eh?” The man turned and looked at Shen Dong. “Where’s the light? Everyday I see light coming from around here, but where…?”
“G-Get get… out!” Shen Dong decided to recind his earlier judgement. No self-respecting egg thief would coming calling around at the lighthouse. This guy had to have some kind of… problem.
“I I…I won’t,” the man stuttered, imitating Shen Dong. Then he laughed. “There really are people who stutter when they’re nervous huh…”
“Shut up!” Shen Dong didn’t wait for him to finish before brandishing his wooden cudgel and smacked him on his back.
“Ah!” he guy yelled. He turned, took a few steps back, and rubbed his back. “What’d you do that for? It hurts!”
Initially, Shen Dong thought the guy annoying but tolerable. But as soon as he tried imitating Shen Dong’s stutter, all bets were off. He could put up with anything else, just not that.
He held back with his second swing. This one was aimed not at his back or head but just at his feet.
“Hey!” The man grabbed his foot then hopped toward the window. “Someone’s hitting someone!”
I’m hitting you! Shen Dong swung at his arm. Who told you to steal eggs anyway!
But the man’s reaction made Shen Dong freeze.
The man pushed opened the window, jumped up onto the sill. He looked like he was going to jump.
The lighthouse wasn’t really that tall. The light part of it was fifty metres up, but the body was only about thirty metres. But even so, the place was built on top of the craggy rocks of the reef and if someone tried jumping from up here they were nearly guaranteed to dash themselves against the rocks.
“Don’t hit me” The man held the window frame and looked pitifully at Shen Dong.
“You…” Shen Dong pointed at the floor meaning for him to get down from the window. Even after being hit, the guy hadn’t tried to retaliate, only dodge, so Shen Dong figured he wasn’t dangerous.
“No. I’m going,” the man said. He looked out the window for a few moments, then suddenly turned back again, “Ah!”
Shen Dong had been about to pounce and grab the guy back from the window when the yell startled him, nearly making him push the guy out the window by accident.
“I remember!” The guy beamed and let go of the window frame. He pointed at Shen Dong. “You! I wanted to come find and tell you: Don’t go around throwing people into the ocean just cos you’re bored. It’s annoying.”
“Eh?” Shen Dong didn’t get it. Throw people in the ocean? When had he thrown anyone into the ocean? There were only two people on the island and Chen-shu was too fat to be thrown anywhere.
But before Shen Dong could sort out his thoughts, the man leaped from the window.
“Hey!” He threw his wooden stick aside and ran to the window only to see the man’s shape disappear into the darkness. “Hey!!”
Shen Dong leaned out the window. All he could see where the waves crashing against the lighthouse. He saw no one on the rocks and no one in the water.
“Shit!” Shen Dong grit his teeth and slapped the window sill. He turned and ran out of the room. He nearly slipped as he down the stars then grabbed the life buoy and electric torch from the cupboard by the door then went out.
There were no proper roads on the island. The so-called dock was just a rock to tie the boat to near by, but other than that, it was all uneven reef rocks that you could feel through the soles of your shoes.
The man area the man had jumped was on the far side of the lighthouse. Other than doing repairs, Shen Dong never usually went there, let alone at night.
He sloshed and clambered his way around on the rocks and made it to the back of the lighthouse. He shone the torch around but saw no sign of the man. He recalled the angle he had jumped at then turned to look out to sea.
“Are you there?!” He yelled. “Are you okay?!”
No one replied. And after two hours of searching in vain for any sign, Shen Dong slowly made his way back inside, his clothes soaked through.
After changing, he sat at the computer but didn’t start another game.
He was worried.
No matter what the guy had or hadn’t done, jumping out at that height was crazy. If he got off with just a broken leg he’d be lucky. No matter if he was an egg thief or just plain crazy, Shen Dong didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
But the guy had disappeared into thin air and Shen Dong had searched for hours and turned up nothing. If instead he’d died in the ocean, then his body should end up washing up…
Shen Dong felt something was off
A completely naked man turns on up the island in the middle of the night saying he’s forgotten what he wants to do, gets hit a few times, then tells Shen Dong off for throwing people in the ocean. How did that follow?
Shen Dong spent the night staring at the computer. From when he’d come back he hadn’t felt an ounce of tiredness and after a while, he went out again to have another look, but again found nothing as though none of it had happened.
At dawn, Shen Dong left the Watch Room and went up to the Lantern Room. He looked out to the flat sea. The sun was just coming up past the horizon and looked just like a chicken egg.
“Morning.” Shen Dong said to it, stretching. He felt his mind was clearer.
But as he reached the apex of his stretch, he realised something and froze.
No, he hadn’t been chucking any humans in the ocean, but it was true that he had thrown something else.
For the past three days he’d been throwing that clownfish into the ocean.
No way.
Shen Dong shook his head. Absolutely no way.
He’d had a period in his childhood when he’d been desperately wanted to find a mermaid in the ocean, or even just in a river, but even then he would have known there was no way this current situation was possible…
Shen Dong stood by the window facing the sun and struggled internally. One part of him thought he had been on the island for too long and was going a bit off, while the other made endlessly wilder and wilder theories.
He struggled for half an hour until finally defeating the sensible side of himself, then turned and left the lighthouse.
First he made a few rounds of the place, but, like before, found no trace of the man, so he took the boat back toward home.
But instead of heading to his house, he instead headed towards the shoals and that particular rock.
But there was no fish.
Shen Dong stared for a while then sighed and slowly crouched down. He slapped a hand onto the rock and laughed. “Shen Dong, you got a real imagination.”
After squatted for a bit, he felt stiff so got up. He planned to maybe do a round of the island then take a swim to see if he could find that person around here.
But right as he got up, before he had a chance to turn, he suddenly saw the water by the rock swell and a small orange and white shadow appear.
A clownfish.
It leapt out of the sea and landed on the rock.
Shen Dong stood rooted to the spot, his mouth agape.
The clownfish waved its tail and wriggled to find a comfortable position before laying still like before.
But after three seconds it appear to frighten and jumped up from the rock.
Don’t let it escape!
That was the only thought in Shen Dong’s mind as he grabbed for the fish. Unlike the times before, the clownfish struggled and Shen Dong had to use his other hand to try to contain it.
Shen Dong wobbled, unstable on the rocks, then had to use a hand to steady himself, giving the clownfish a chance to escape. It took that chance and shot out between his fingers and dropped into the sea.
“Shit!” Shen Dong looked furiously at the water but couldn’t find the fish. He looked and looked then eventually retreated back to onto the cliff.
His shorts and shoes were soaked through and as he went to take them off, there came a splash from behind him.
It wasn’t the sound of a wave crashing against the rocks, no, it was clearly the sound of something coming out of the water.
Shen Dong stood still. A chill went down him.
If it was just a fish, the sound wouldn’t have been that big. If anything, it had to be something more the size of a shark or dolphin.
But sharks don’t jump out of the water and dolphins wouldn’t come in this close to the cliffs to play.
“Don’t go!” shouted an angry voice from the water.
Shen Dong shivered.