Lilly’s Pets – A Fish Called Blackbeard
Gillian Rogerson
Copyright 2014 by Gillian Rogerson
CHAPTER 1
This was my very last chance.
I had to do it this time.
I just had to.
I picked up my last hoop and aimed it towards the skittle. I closed my eyes and threw it.
A loud cheer at my side made my ears wobble.
“You did it! Finally!” Mum said.
“Lilly did it!” my little sister, Flossie, waved her chubby arms in the air.
We were at the school fair and I’d been on the hoopla stall for ages.
I’d spent all my pocket money. But it was worth it.
I’d won. And I knew exactly what I wanted as a prize.
Mr Carter was in charge of the stall. He was a teacher at the school.
He said, “Which prize do you want, Lilly?”
My hand shot out and I pointed to a glass bowl. “I’d like a fish, please.”
“Which one?” Mr Carter asked.
There were two fish in the bowl. One was swimming gently round and round. The other was whizzing around like it was in a washing machine.
“I’ll take the crazy one,” I told Mr Carter.
Mr Carter nodded. “That’s the boy, the other is a girl.”
Dad walked over to join us. He had a huge toy monkey under his arm. He must have won it somewhere.
He grinned when he saw what I’d won. “A fish! Wow! Lilly, your first ever pet.”
Mr Carter put the boy fish in a bag with some water and handed it to me.
I peered closer at him. “Look! He’s got a black ring around his eye. He looks like a pirate. I’m going to call him Blackbeard.”
“Good name. We’ll have to get him a tank and some food,” Dad said.
“Can we go to the pet shop?” I asked hopefully.
Dad nodded.
Mum sighed. “I’m not going with you. I’ll take Flossie home.”
Mum didn’t like pets. She said they smell disgusting and make a mess.
Flossie smells disgusting sometimes, and she makes a mess. But Mum likes her.
Mum took hold of Flossie’s hand and walked away.
I followed Dad to the car, clutching the plastic bag tightly. I didn’t want Blackbeard to leap out and drop down a drain or something.
The toy monkey was so big that it had to sit in the passenger seat.
As we drove away Dad looked at me through the rear view mirror and said, “Has Blackbeard spoken to you yet?”
I shook my head. “I’m sure he will soon. He might be shy.”
I looked down at my little fish and smiled.
Animals talked to me. And I talked to animals.
Chapter 2
When we arrived at the pet shop I ran through the door and over to Olive.
Olive owns the pet shop. She knows that I can talk to animals. I don’t tell everyone. I’m sure some people would laugh if they knew.
I held up the plastic bag and said, “Look, Olive. What do you think? My first ever pet. He’s called Blackbeard.”
Olive chuckled. “Has he spoken to you yet?”
I shook my head again. “I think he’s shy.”
I hoped he was shy. I hoped that he would talk to me soon.
Dad followed me up to the counter. He said, “Hello, Olive. I see you’ve met our new family member. We need a fish tank for him. And food. Perhaps some toys too.”
Olive pointed towards the back of the shop and said, “Follow me.”
Dad and Olive walked away. I decided to introduce Blackbeard to my friends in the pet shop.
I held him up to the snakes.
The biggest snake licked his lips so I quickly walked away.
I showed him to Harvey, the tortoise.
“Can he fly?” Harvey asked.
“No, but he can swim,” I said.
Harvey sighed, “I wish I could fly.”
I took Blackbeard over to Monty, the mouse.
Monty pressed his nose against the bag and shouted, “Hello in there!”
Blackbeard didn’t say anything. He just stared at Monty.
“Can he talk?” Monty asked.
“I don’t know,” I said quietly.
I was beginning to get worried.
Could Blackbeard talk?
What if he could talk, but just didn’t want to talk to me?
My tummy felt all sad inside as I looked at the little fish.
Chapter 3
Dad bought a huge tank, a big bag of fish food, lots of toys and two books about fish.
He sighed when he put his card in the machine to pay for everything.
Olive looked at me. “Are you okay, Lilly? You look very sad.”
“I don’t think Blackbeard wants to talk to me,” I said.
Olive smiled. “Give him time. Once he’s in his new fish tank he’ll probably start chatting away to you.”
That must be it! Blackbeard didn’t like being in a small plastic bag. I wouldn’t either.
Olive helped Dad carry everything to the car. We were soon on our way home.
I pointed out lots of things to Blackbeard on the way home.
“That’s my school.”
“That’s where we get pizza from. Have you ever had pizza?”
“That’s the park I go to. I like going on the swings best.”
When we got home Dad called out to Mum to help him with everything. Mum’s eyebrows nearly shot off her face when she saw how big the fish tank was.
“It’s like a swimming pool!” she gasped.
Mum and Dad put everything in the dining room.
Flossie ran up to me and held her arms out. “Give me fish!” she demanded.
“No, he’s not a toy,” I held the bag higher.
Flossie glared at me. I would have to keep her away from Blackbeard.
It took Dad forever to get the tank ready. I helped him put in the toys.
There was a little silver pirate ship. A pink sparkly bridge. A skull’s head with red stones where the eyes should be. And lots of bumpy rocks.
The tank looked great.
“I wish I was a fish,” I said to Dad.
“Me too,” he said.
Dad lifted up the plastic bag and held it over the tank. He carefully opened the top and lowered it into the water.
Blackbeard wiggled his tail and then he shot out of the bag.
He zoomed around the tank.
In and out of the pirate ship.
Over and under the bridge.
Up and around the skull.
And round and round the rocks.
He swam to the edge of the tank and looked at me.
I smiled and said, “Do you like your new home?”
Blackbeard finally spoke. He said, “No! No! No! Get me out!”
Chapter 4
Dad said, “Did he just speak? All I can hear are the sounds of bubbles coming from his mouth.”
My eyes felt tingly, like I was going to cry. I looked up at Dad and said, “He doesn’t like it! He doesn’t want to be here!”
A tear rolled down my face. Dad wiped it away.
“I’m sure there’s a reason why he doesn’t like his tank. Does he want us to take some of the toys out? Why don’t you have a chat with him? I’ll leave you alone for a while.”
Dad walked out of the dining room leaving me alone with Blackbeard.
The little fish looked cross. I didn’t even know fish could look cross.
“Can you tell me what you don’t like? Is it the pirate ship? The skull? Is there too much water?” I asked.
Blackbeard sighed. He slowly swam arou
nd the tank and came back to me. He said, “The tank is lovely. The ship and everything else is wonderful. But there’s something missing.”
“What? Do you want some more toys? Do you need some food?” I asked.
Blackbeard shook his little head. “It’s her. My girlfriend. She isn’t here.”
“Who’s your girlfriend?” I asked.
“The fish who was with me earlier, in the glass bowl. She’s called Sally. We’ve been together forever. I love her,” Blackbeard said. “Where is she?”
I blinked. I didn’t know fish could be in love. I was finding out a lot about fish today.
“She’s still at the fair. Or she might not be. Someone might have won her and taken her home,” I explained.
Blackbeard let out a shriek. “No! I can’t lose her! You have to find her. Please!”
“I’ll try,” I said.
How was I going to find her?
Chapter 5
Dad came back into the dining room. “Everything sorted out?” he asked.
I told him about Blackbeard’s girlfriend.
“We have to find her, Dad,” I said.
Dad looked at his watch. “The school fair will be closing in five minutes. Come on, let’s go!”
Dad raced out of the house. I dashed after him.
We jumped into the car and zoomed away.
Two minutes later we were running through the school gates. I ran over to the hoopla stall. Mr Carter was clearing everything away.
“The fish! The girl fish! Where is she?” I gasped.
Mr Carter smiled. “Did you want to win another fish, Lilly? I’m sorry, but she’s just been won.”
Dad caught up with me. “Who won her? It’s important that we know. I’ll explain later.”
Mr Carter pointed to a family that were just leaving through the school gates.
“They won her,” he said.
Dad grabbed my hand and we ran over to the family. There was a mum, a dad and a little boy. The boy was holding a plastic bag with the girl fish in.
Dad quickly explained to the family about Blackbeard and his girlfriend. He didn’t tell them I could talk to animals, he said that Blackbeard looked lonely.
“Would you mind if we took your fish? I’ll pay you for it,” Dad said.
The mum and dad smiled and looked like they were going to say yes. But the little boy glared at us. He looked just like Flossie when she was in a bad mood. He pulled the bag closer to his chest and said, “No! My fish.”
The adults just stood there looking at the little boy.
I noticed something on his jumper. I grabbed Dad’s arm and pointed.
Dad grinned. He knew what I’d seen. He nodded at me.
“I think I’ve got something that you might like. I won’t be a moment,” Dad said and he jogged towards our car.
He came back with the big stuffed monkey. The little boy’s eyes lit up.
Dad held the monkey out to him and said, “You can have this monkey, if we can have your fish.”
The little boy nodded and held the plastic bag out.
“He loves monkeys, just loves them!” the mum said.
“I know. I can see them on his jumper,” I said. “Thank you for the fish.”
The little boy hugged the monkey. It was almost bigger than him.
“Time to go home,” Dad said.
I looked down at the girl fish.
I had a horrible thought.
Blackbeard loved her.
But what if she didn’t love him?
Chapter 6
We arrived home. I took the girl fish into the dining room and over to the tank.
When Blackbeard saw her he screamed with joy and did three somersaults.
Dad put the girl fish into the tank.
I heard Blackbeard say, “Sally! You’re here! I thought I’d never see you again.”
Then I heard the girl fish say, “Stop talking and give me a kiss!”
My cheeks suddenly felt warm.
I did not want to see the two fish kissing.
“I think they want to be alone, Dad,” I said.
Dad looked down at the fish and smiled. “I think they do. Let’s go and tell your mum the good news.”
“What good news?” I said.
“That you’ve now got two pets!” Dad said with a laugh.
“You can tell her,” I said.
Dad looked down at me and said, “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy having two pets.”
I shrugged. “I am. But they don’t need me. They’ve hardly spoken to me.”
Just at that moment Blackbeard called out, “Lilly! Hey Lilly!”
I turned around to look at him.
“Thanks so much for bringing Sally back to me. And thank you for the tank. I think we’re going to love living here.”
Sally added, “Yes, thank you so much. Do come back and talk to us soon.”
I smiled. My heart felt all floaty and warm.
“I will do,” I said.
I liked having pets. And I liked talking to them.
I wondered if Mum would let me have some more.
A Note From The Author
I’ve always loved reading and creating my own stories and I’ve been greatly inspired by my own children and the young children that I work with. I get lots of story ideas from books, people around me and things I see on television or at the cinema. When I was little one of my favourite films was Doctor Dolittle. I loved that he could talk to animals and help them. I remember I used to talk to our pet dog, but he never spoke back to me. I really enjoyed writing this story about Lilly and about how she talks to animals. I think it’s fun to look at animals and imagine what they are thinking.
You can see all my books on my website. You can also sign up for my newsletter so that I can keep you informed of special offers and free books:
www.gillianrogerson.net
Kind regards
Gillian
Lilly’s Pets
A Fish Called Blackbeard
GILLIAN ROGERSON
www.gillianrogerson.net
Copyright 2014 by Gillian Rogerson
Cover image copyright Vectorstock.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, electronically or mechanical without permission from the author.