Land of the Yellow Sea

Chapter 4. THE LAND OF THE YELLOW SEA

"Hello," she said, imagining a person was approaching the bench. She decided to have an imaginary conversation.

"Do you know where the nearest sweetshop is? I could do with a bag of Fish Gums, a fistful of Crab Bars and a can of Shark Fizz."

"Yes," said the imaginary man she had conjured up. He was a very smart business man in a dark blue pinstriped suit. "They've got Jellyfishbabies too." The man then gave Rose a quite complicated description of how to get to the sweetshop.

"Oh, is that where it is? At the bottom of Seashell Street just off Angelfish Avenue, first on the left down Dolphin Drive?"

"That's right," said the imaginary man. "It's not as far as it sounds."

"Thank you, sir. I'll just have a nice little sit down and I'll make my way there soon."

"Very good then," said the man. "Goodbye, young lady. Have a nice day."

"Yes, I will. You too, and goodbye, sir."

The imaginary business man walked off and faded from Rose's mind.

Rose enjoyed her little conversation. It made her feel less lonely. At least for a few minutes. Then she noticed something just over her shoulder. She could see a few letters etched into the back of the stone bench.

Rose immediately stood up and took a closer look at the bench. She realised it was covered in a light pasting of white stone paste. She wondered if maybe there was some seagull fish in this strange land.

She picked up a stone off the path and used it to start to brush off the stone paste. It came off surprisingly easily and revealed the following words:

Please enjoy this bench.

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Anderson.

The fastest fish in the Land of the Yellow Sea.

Rose didn't think that Paul Anderson could really be a fish. She thought his description must have had another meaning. Maybe he was an excellent swimmer. Something like that. However, she did think that the world she was in may well be called the Land of the Yellow Sea. The water all about her was tinged yellow. Yes this other world must be the Land of the Yellow Sea. Or at least the Land of the Yellow Sea was part of it.

She sat back on the bench, wondering what to do next...

Then she spied an unusual sight.

Coming along the path towards her were a pair of large blue fish about her size. But they weren't swimming horizontally, they were swimming vertically as if they were seahorses. Rose stared fascinated. Stranger still, it looked as if they were having a conversation. But the moment they noticed her look at them, they stopped. They dipped their bodies forwards, and began to swim horizontally like normal fish.

Rose thought they would continue like this. But when they reached her, the two of them leaned themselves backwards into a vertical position. They turned and faced her. They really did look intelligent. Maybe they really were having a conversation.

"Hello," she said. "My name's Rose."

The fish turned and faced one another, then turned back to look at her.

One of them opened its mouth, and Rose thought it was about to speak.

But all that happened was that a stream of bubbles escaped from its mouth and streamed upwards.

The other fish then did the self-same thing.

"Can you speak?" asked Rose.

The fish turned and faced one another once again.

But soon turned and faced forwards down the path. Then, once again, dipped themselves down into a horizontal position and swam off, keeping just a few feet above the path.

They must be clever. Otherwise why would they stay on the path?

Rose got off the bench and headed off in the same direction as the fish, attempting to follow them. But they were fast swimmers and Rose was soon left completely alone.

Rose became very sad and lonely. She wanted to go home. But she couldn't. If only someone would turn up and help her. She began to cry and kicked a stone angrily. Then she continued to stomp her way down a smooth stone path lined with liberal clumps of green shrubs. A path she was sure she had already been on. What a birthday!

But it seemed someone needed her help more than she needed theirs...

"Help! Let me out of here!" sounded a voice, startling Rose who stopped sharply in her tracks.

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I hope you enjoyed this Chapter. I welcome any votes, comments or constructive criticisms (style, spelling, grammar and punctuation errors).

T. J. P. CAMPBELL.