Chapter 8
The dentist’s office was closed for the night. The tank was dark, and Nemo slept soundly in the tiki hut.
Jacques approached Nemo quietly and said, “Psst. Nemo.”
Nemo didn’t stir, so Jacques threw a small pebble at him. Still no response from Nemo. Jacques threw another pebble at him, but the little fish slept on. In frustration, Jacques threw a whole bunch of pebbles.
Nemo woke with a start.
“Follow me,” Jacques told the new fish. He led Nemo to the center of the tank, which was lit up by the red gleam of the fake lava flow.
Nemo heard a strange low chanting, then saw something moving behind the tiki heads. Bubbles, Gurgle, then Bloat surfaced from behind the heads.
Jacques and Nemo began the long climb up the face of the volcano. As he passed by Deb and Peach, Nemo was given a ceremonial whack with the kelp fronds they held.
Then, at the peak of the volcano, Nemo saw Gill floating silently.
“State your name,” Gill told Nemo.
“N-N-Nemo,” the scared fish stammered. “Brother Bloat, proceed,” said Gill. “Nemo. Newcomer of orange and white,”Bloat said solemnly. “You have been called forth to the summit of Mount Wannahockaloogie to join with us in the fraternal bonds of tankhood.”
Nemo had no idea what Bloat was saying. “Huh?” he asked.
“We want you in our club, kid,” Peach said. “If you are able to swim through… the Ring of Fire!” Bloat said dramatically.
Nemo looked around, confused.
Bloat gave Jacques a stern look and whispered to him, “Turn on the Ring of Fire.” At that moment, a wall of bubbles rose out of the volcano.
Gill motioned to Nemo to swim through the bubbles to him.
Nemo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He hesitated, then swam with all his might. He swam through the Ring of Fire, bumping right into Gill.
Gill gave Nemo a big smile and lifted him high over his head. “From this moment on, you will now be known as Shark Bait,” he said.
“Okay.” Gill added to the rest of the Tank Gang. “Shark Bait’s one of us now, agreed?” The whole tank agreed.
“And we can’t send him off to his death. Darla’s coming in five days,” Gill said. “So we’re gonna get him outta here. We’re gonna help him escape.”
“Escape?” Nemo squeaked. “Really?”
“We’re all gonna escape,” Gill said.
All the fish laughed. “Not another one of your escape plans,” Gurgle said.
“Sorry, but they just never work,” Deb added.
“Yeah, why should this be any different?” Bloat asked.
Gill turned serious and pointed to Nemo. “’Cause we’ve got him.”
Nemo gulped. “Me?” he asked.
Gill put his fin around Nemo. “You see that filter? You’re the only one small enough to get in and out of that thing,” Gill said.
Nemo started to feel the pressure.
“What we need you to do,” Gill said, “is take a pebble inside there and jam the gears. You do that, and this tank’s gonna get filthier and filthier by the minute. Pretty soon the dentist’ll have to clean the tank himself—and when he does, he’ll take us out of the tank, put us in individual bags; then we’ll roll ourselves down the counter, out of the window, off the awning, into the bushes, across the street, and into the harbor.
“Who’s with me?” Gill asked, turning to the rest of the Tank Gang.
Everyone raised a fin in agreement, except Gurgle. “I think you’re nuts! No offense, kid, but you’re not the best swimmer,” he said.
“He’s fine. He can do this!” Gill said. “So, Shark Bait, what do you think?”
Nemo looked around at all the friends he’d made and thought about seeing his father again. “Let’s do it,” he said with a smile.
第 8 章
夜晚,牙醫(yī)的辦公室關(guān)門了。水族箱里黑乎乎的,尼莫在提基小屋里睡得正香。
蝦蝦靜悄悄地靠近尼莫說(shuō):“喂,尼莫。”
尼莫沒(méi)醒,于是蝦蝦朝他扔了一小塊鵝卵石。尼莫還是沒(méi)有反應(yīng)。蝦蝦又朝他扔了一塊鵝卵石,但是這條小魚繼續(xù)大睡。無(wú)奈的蝦蝦扔了一把鵝卵石。
尼莫猛然驚醒。
“跟我來(lái)。”蝦蝦對(duì)這條新來(lái)的魚說(shuō)。他帶著尼莫來(lái)到魚缸中央,假的巖漿發(fā)出紅色的微光,把這兒照亮。
尼莫聽到奇怪的、輕輕的喊叫聲,然后看見提基頭像后面有東西在動(dòng)。泡泡,膽小鬼,還有豬豬從頭像后面出現(xiàn)。
蝦蝦和尼莫開始在火山壁上慢慢地爬行。尼莫經(jīng)過(guò)漂漂和小桃時(shí),他們用手里的海藻葉子禮節(jié)性地打了他一下。
然后,在火山頂上,尼莫看見吉哥安靜地游著。
“報(bào)上名來(lái)。”吉哥告訴尼莫。
“尼—尼—尼莫,”嚇壞了的尼莫結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說(shuō)。“豬豬祭司,繼續(xù)。”吉哥說(shuō)。“黃底白條的新人,尼莫,”豬豬莊重地說(shuō),“魚缸幫兄弟會(huì)在瓦納胡克落基山山頂邀請(qǐng)你入幫。”
尼莫對(duì)豬豬的話一頭霧水。“啊?”他問(wèn)。
“我們想讓你加入,孩子。”小桃說(shuō)。“只要你能游過(guò)……火焰環(huán)!” 豬豬夸張地說(shuō)。
尼莫環(huán)顧四周,迷惑不解。
豬豬嚴(yán)肅地看了蝦蝦一眼,小聲地對(duì)他說(shuō):“打開火焰環(huán)。”這時(shí),很多泡泡從火山里冒了出來(lái)。
吉哥示意尼莫穿過(guò)泡泡,游到他身邊。
尼莫深吸了一口氣,閉上眼睛。他猶豫了一下,然后竭盡全力地游了過(guò)去。他沖過(guò)火焰環(huán),正好撞到了吉哥身上。
吉哥對(duì)尼莫報(bào)以燦爛的笑容,把他高高舉過(guò)頭頂。“從這一刻起,你就叫鯊魚餌。”他說(shuō)。
“好了,”吉哥對(duì)魚缸幫的其他人補(bǔ)充說(shuō),“鯊魚餌現(xiàn)在是我們的一員了,同意嗎?”所有人都表示同意。
“我們不能讓他去送死。達(dá)拉五天后就來(lái)了,”吉哥說(shuō),“所以我們要讓他離開這兒。我們要幫他逃走。”
“逃走?”尼莫尖叫道,“真的?”
“我們?nèi)家幼摺?rdquo;吉哥說(shuō)。
所有的魚大笑。“不要再搞逃亡計(jì)劃了。”膽小鬼說(shuō)。
“對(duì)不起,只是那些從來(lái)都不管用。”漂漂補(bǔ)充道。
“是的,這次能有什么不同呢?”豬豬問(wèn)。
吉哥嚴(yán)肅地轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身,指著尼莫說(shuō)道:“因?yàn)檫@次我們有他。”
尼莫倒吸了一口氣。“我?”他問(wèn)。
吉哥用他的鰭摟住尼莫。“看見那個(gè)過(guò)濾器了嗎?你足夠小,是唯一能鉆進(jìn)去還能鉆出來(lái)的。”吉哥說(shuō)。
尼莫開始感到有壓力。
“我們需要你做的是,”吉哥說(shuō),“把一顆鵝卵石放進(jìn)去,卡住齒輪。那樣之后,水族箱很快就會(huì)變得越來(lái)越臟。用不了多久,牙醫(yī)就得自己清洗水族箱——他清洗的時(shí)候,會(huì)把我們從水族箱里拿出來(lái),一個(gè)個(gè)放進(jìn)袋子里;然后,我們會(huì)滾下桌子,鉆出窗戶,掉下雨棚,鉆進(jìn)灌木叢,穿過(guò)馬路,跳入海港。”
“誰(shuí)支持我?”吉哥問(wèn),轉(zhuǎn)向魚缸幫的其他魚。
大家都舉起一只鰭表示同意,除了膽小鬼。“我覺得你們都瘋了!不是冒犯,孩子,不過(guò)你游得實(shí)在不怎么樣。”他說(shuō)。
“他可以。他能做到!”吉哥說(shuō),“所以,鯊魚餌,你覺得怎么樣?”
尼莫看著周圍所有的朋友,想著再次見到自己的父親。“我們就這么干吧。”他微笑著說(shuō)。