“Marlin will come find me. Marlin will come find me,” Dory chanted in the dark. Suddenly, the light streamed in as the lid of the cooler was opened and she was dropped into a small tank. Dory paced as she looked around. She noticed the room was full of tanks.
Two marine center staffers approached, and one plunged a net into Dory’s tank. “I’m glad we found this one.” The other reached his hand in and clipped an orange tag to Dory’s fin.
“Huh? What’s happening? Help!” groaned Dory as the two staffers left the room.
Dory didn’t notice that behind her, an inspirational poster on the wall had come to life! A large orange, seven-legged octopus emerged from the picture. He had camouflaged himself to look like a kitten holding on to a rope.
Dory continued to pace nervously as the octopus slinked over to her tank. He watched her spin a few times before reaching in and suctioning himself to her tag.
“Hey, you. Spinner!” he said.
“Oh, thank goodness!” said Dory. “Hi, I’m Dory. I’m —”
“Name’s Hank,” he said. Then he looked at her. “How sick are you?”
“Sick?” Dory asked, alarmed. “I’m sick?”
“Why else would you be in Quarantine?”
“Oh, no. How long do I have? I have to find my family!” said Dory.
“All right, now — don’t get hysterical,” he said gruffly. Then he spotted her tag. “Uh-oh. Not good.”
“What? What is it? What happened?” Dory asked anxiously.
Hank pointed to her tag, and Dory turned to see it. She gasped. “What’s that?”
“That there is bad news,” said Hank. “It’s a transport tag — for fish who can’t cut it inside the Institute. They get transferred to permanent digs. An aquarium.” Then Hank leaned in and whispered gravely, “In Cleveland.”
“Cleveland?” Dory said, gasping. “No, I can’t go to the Cleveland! I have to get to the Jewel of Morro Bay, California, and find my family —”
“That’s this place,” said Hank, interrupting her. “The Marine Life Institute. The Jewel of Morro Bay, California. You’re here.”
Dory couldn’t believe it! “You mean I’m from here?” Then it dawned on her. “I’m from here!” she repeated.
Hank tapped on the glass of her tank. “So, what exhibit are you from?”
“Wait, I’m from an exhibit? Which one? I have to get there.”
Hank sighed. “That’s a hard one, kid. Unless ...” His voice trailed off. Then he said, “Nah, it’d never work. It’s too crazy.”
“What do you mean? Just tell me! I’m okay with crazy,” said Dory.
“You know, I could see that,” Hank agreed. “Well, there’s one thing I can think of to help you get to your family.” He started moving one of his tentacles toward the tag on her fin. “If I just take —”
Dory suddenly moved out of reach. “Yes! Great idea! You take me to find them! Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Uh — no. If I just take your tag, I can take your place on the transport truck. Then you can go back inside and find your family. All you have to do is give me the tag.”
“What tag?” Then Dory gasped. “There’s a tag on my fin!”
Hank squinted, trying to figure her out. “How could you forget you have a tag on your fin?” he asked, confused.
“Oh, no. I’m sorry. I suffer from short-term memory loss,” Dory explained.
“You don’t remember what we were talking about?” asked Hank.
“Not a clue. What were we talking about?” asked Dory.
Hank thought for a moment and saw an opportunity to get what he wanted. “You were about to give me your tag,” he said.
“Well, I kinda like my tag. Why do you want it?”
“So I CAN GO TO —” Hank paused, wrapping his tentacles around the tank to pull it closer. Then he whispered, “So I can go to Cleveland.” He was getting frustrated.
“Cleveland? Hmm. I hear good things about Cleveland. Why do you want to go?” asked Dory.
“Because if I stay here, I’m gonna get released back to the ocean! And I have extremely unpleasant memories of that place! I just want to live in a glass box, alone. It’s all I want!” Hank said, reaching for her tag. “So give me your tag!”
Dory flicked him away. “Hey, man, don’t touch my tag.”
Hank sighed. He slumped into the sink, looked around, and spotted a coffeepot. He grabbed it and guzzled down the little bit of coffee that was left inside.
“Look, I don’t work here. It’s not like I have a map of this place,” he said.
“A map,” said Dory. “Great! You can take me to a map, and I can figure out where my parents are. Oh, boy.”
“All right. If I get you to your family, will you give me —”
“I don’t have much ... Um ... how about if I give you this tag?” she offered.
Hank stuck the empty coffeepot into Dory’s tank and scooped her up along with some water. “Great idea,” he said sarcastically. Then he carried the coffeepot toward the door, with Dory swishing inside.
“馬林會(huì)來找我的。馬林會(huì)來找我的。”多莉在黑暗中反復(fù)地念叨著。突然,隨著冷卻器的蓋子被打開,一束光亮射了進(jìn)來,她被放入了一個(gè)小水箱里。多莉一邊緩緩地游動(dòng)一邊四處張望,她發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)房間里都是水箱。
兩名海洋中心的工作員工走了過來,其中一人將一個(gè)網(wǎng)兜伸進(jìn)了多莉的水箱。“真高興我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了這條魚。”另一人將手伸了進(jìn)去,把一個(gè)橙色的標(biāo)簽夾在了多莉的魚鰭上。
“哈?這是怎么了?救命!”兩名員工離開了房間時(shí),多莉呻吟道。
多莉沒有注意到,就在她的身后,墻上一幅極富靈感的海報(bào)突然動(dòng)了起來!一只橙色的七爪大章魚從海報(bào)上爬了出來。剛才他把自己偽裝成了一只抓著繩子的小貓。
這只章魚朝她的水箱偷偷地溜過來時(shí),多莉還在焦慮地來回游動(dòng)。他盯著她轉(zhuǎn)了好幾次圈,然后靠過去,被她的標(biāo)簽給吸引住了。
“嘿,你。轉(zhuǎn)圈圈的!”他說。
“啊,謝天謝地!”多莉說。“嗨,我是多莉。我是——”
“在下漢克。”他說。然后望著她,繼續(xù)問道:“你病得有多重?”
“???”多莉驚恐地問道,“我病了嗎?”
“不然你為什么會(huì)在隔離檢疫所?”
“啊,不。我還能活多久?我必須得找到我的家人!”多莉說。
“好了,現(xiàn)在——別歇斯底里了,”他粗聲說道,然后瞥見了她的標(biāo)簽,“啊哈。不妙啊。”
“什么?怎么了?發(fā)生什么事了?”多莉緊張地問。
漢克指了指她的標(biāo)簽,多莉隨之扭頭看了一眼。她倒吸一口冷氣:“那是什么?”
“那個(gè)就是壞消息,”漢克說。“這是運(yùn)輸標(biāo)簽——貼在那些不能再待在研究所里的魚身上。他們得被運(yùn)送到永久居住地去。一家水族館。”然后漢克傾身上前,嚴(yán)肅地低語道:“在克利夫蘭市。”
“克利夫蘭市?”多莉氣喘吁吁地說道。“不行,我不能去克利夫蘭!我得去加利福尼亞的明珠莫羅灣,去找我的家人——”
“這里就是啊,”漢克打斷她,說道,“海洋生物研究所。就是加利福尼亞的明珠莫羅灣。你就在這里啊。”
多莉聽了簡直不敢相信!“你的意思是,我就來自這里?”然后她醒悟過來。“我來自這里!”她重復(fù)道。
漢克敲了敲她的水箱。“那么,你是來自哪個(gè)展廳?”
“等等,我來自哪個(gè)展廳?哪一個(gè)呢?我必須得去那里。”
漢克嘆了口氣。“那可不是件容易的事,孩子。除非……”他的聲音漸漸小了下來,“不成,這可行不通。這太瘋狂了。”
“你是什么意思?快點(diǎn)告訴我!我不怕瘋狂。”多莉說。
“要知道,這點(diǎn)我倒是看出來了,”漢克承認(rèn)道,“好吧,我想到有種方法可以幫你找到你的家人。”他擺動(dòng)著自己的一只觸角,指了指她魚鰭上的標(biāo)簽。“只要我能拿——”
多莉突然閃到漢克碰不到的地方。“對的!好主意!你帶我去找他們!為什么我就沒有想到呢?”
“呃——不是。只要我拿走你的標(biāo)簽,我就可以代替你上運(yùn)輸車。然后你就可以回到里面去找你的家人。你要做的就是把那個(gè)標(biāo)簽給我。”
“什么標(biāo)簽?”然后多莉屏氣道,“我的鰭上有個(gè)標(biāo)簽!”
漢克瞇著眼,想要弄明白她是怎么回事。“你怎么會(huì)忘了自己的鰭上有個(gè)標(biāo)簽?”他困惑不解地問道。
“啊,不。對不起,我有短時(shí)記憶喪失癥。”多莉解釋道。
“你不記得我們剛才聊了什么嗎?”漢克問。
“一點(diǎn)兒也不記得了。我們剛才聊了什么?”多莉問。
漢克思索了一會(huì)兒,發(fā)現(xiàn)可以趁機(jī)得到他想要的東西。“你打算把你的標(biāo)簽給我。”他說。
“喔,我還挺喜歡我的標(biāo)簽。你為什么想要它?”
“這樣我就可以去——”漢克停頓了一下,用他的觸角纏住水箱將其挪近了一些。然后他低語道:“這樣我就可以去克利夫蘭市了。”他有些不耐煩起來。
“克利夫蘭市?嗯。我聽說克利夫蘭市不錯(cuò)。你為什么想去那里?”多莉問道。
“因?yàn)槿绻掖谶@里,就會(huì)被放歸海洋!我對那地方有著很不愉快的回憶!我只想生活在玻璃箱里,獨(dú)自一個(gè)人。這就是我想要的!”漢克說著,伸手去拿她的標(biāo)簽,“就把標(biāo)簽給我吧!”
多莉輕輕躲過:“嘿,老兄,別碰我的標(biāo)簽。”
漢克嘆了口氣。他滑落到水槽里,四處張望,然后看見了一個(gè)咖啡壺。他一把將它抓起,喝光了里面剩下的一點(diǎn)咖啡。
“你瞧,我不在這里工作。雖說我沒有這個(gè)地方的地圖。” 他說。
“地圖,”多莉說,“好極了!你可以帶我去找張地圖,這樣我就知道我父母在哪里了。啊,好家伙。”
“好吧。要是我?guī)湍阏业郊胰?,你可不可以給我——”
“我沒什么東西……呃……我把這個(gè)標(biāo)簽給你怎么樣?”她提議道。
漢克將空咖啡壺伸進(jìn)多莉的水箱,把她連水一起舀了出來。“好主意。”他挖苦道。接著他拿起咖啡壺朝著門口爬去,多莉在壺里隨著晃動(dòng)沙沙作響。