“An Army farm? You mean…th-they grow urchins? For the Army? Adam began to think that leaving the manta wasn’t such a good idea after all. “What do you do here?”
“Iiiiii’mmmmm aaaaa faaaaarrrrmerrrr. Lllllleeeettlllleeees’sssss mmmyyyyyyy naaaame-,” here Lettles the starfish stuttered, which sounded most bizarre to Adam’s ears considering how slowly the starfish already spoke, “-eerrrr, Iiii meeannn nnummmbeeeerr Twwwooo Fiiivveeee Eeeiiighhhht Twooooo.”
“You don’t have to give my your number, Lettles. I’m not with the Army.”
“But Iiiii saaawww yooouuu coooooommme dowwwwnnnn froooommm theeee mmmmmaaaaannnttttaaaa tooooo iiiinnnssspeeecct mmmmmyyyy wwwooorrrrk.”
“No,” Adam corrected, “I came down because Admiral Pinch left. He is holding me on board. I escaped.” At this, Lettles gasped and each of his five appendages curled up to cover its mouth, forgetting that he was using two of those appendages to prop itself up. The starfish fell right over onto its back. Adam moved to help Lettles.
“Yyyyoooouuu hhhaaavveee toooooo llleeeaavvveee. Yoooouuuu’rrrree aaaaa ddaaannngggeeerrr toooo uussss allll.”
“I’m not going anywhere yet. I’m waiting for a friend of mine who will know what to do.” Adam nervously peeked out into the open water beyond the cover of the kelp. No sign of Spot. He darted a glance up towards the manta. It didn’t seem to be moving – yet. He hoped Spot hurried.
“Aaarreeee yoouuuuu trrryyyiinngg toooo gggeeett hooommmmmee?” asked Lettles from behind him. The question surprised Adam. He was trying to get home and he wondered how Lettles could know that. But then he remembered that everyone thought he was water-folk and home was Tiskaloo. Adam was slow to respond and when he finally did he simply said, “Yes, I am.”
“Wwwwwweeeeelll, Tisskaaaaloooo’sss nooot thaaat farrrr awwwaaayyyy. Iiiifff yooouuuu cuuut throoouuuugh theeee fooorrressstt, thhhhaaaat iisss…”
“I’m not-” Adam began, then figured it would be too dangerous to explain otherwise.
Jason Preu 