He knew he only had ten minutes in which to get to
school. However, Samuel intended to see
his favourite fish that morning. He had
always stopped to spend some time with his friend. That morning was no different.
On the way to Future Stars Primary, there was a
stream. Its source of water was a spring
which was located about one hundred metres away. From the face of a rock it cascaded into a
small waterfall and then meandered its way into a fairly large pool. The water was so clear that one could easily
see the thousands of fish swimming there.
This was Sam’s favourite spot in the whole world. These were his fish and right in that pool
was his favourite fish: a large, black, fantail molly. He decided he would stop just long enough to
see his friend and then hurry on to school.
Sam rested his school bag at the foot of a tree and
then stooped at the edge of the pool. As
if by magic the fish appeared. He pushed
his finger in the water and the fish swam near to investigate. Sam had discovered that as long as he kept
his finger still the fish would come nearer and nearer and nibble at it. This had given him a strange thrill. He had also found out that when he moved his
finger around in the water the molly would follow it. Oh, what excitement he had received from
this! No wonder he felt that this was
his pool and his fish.
Samuel stayed by the pool a little longer and then as
he was about to leave, a thought occurred to him. It struck him like a thunderbolt and made him
shudder. “This fish is so friendly. What if someone passes by when I am at school
and captures it.” The thought tugged at
his heart. He really could not bear the
idea of not seeing his friend ever again.
He decided on a course of action. “I am going to capture him first and keep him
for myself. Nobody will get him,” he
thought. Oblivious to time and school he
decided to put his plan into action. He
looked around for a container and soon found one. He wended his way back to the
water edge. His friendly fish appeared
as usual. He put his finger in the pool
and his friend came close to nibble it.
Slowly with the next hand he brought the container up behind the fish. Then, quickly and expertly, he made a smooth
dip. The fish was caught. There was his friend swimming in the
container. He was darting this way and
that way trying to get out. He had lost
his freedom. No longer did he have the
wide opened pool. Now his movement was restricted to this old rusty tin.
Sam hid the can and hurried on to school. He knew he would be late and he was aware of
what happened to pupils who arrived at school late. He did not mind that for now he knew that the
fantail molly was his. Well, needless to
say he was flogged for his tardiness.
The entire class had a good laugh but he also knew that he would have
the last laugh. When they go to the
stream looking for Fantail they would not see him. Fantail was now his.
All through that day Sam found it difficult to think
about anything other than his molly. He
wondered about his action and how it affected Fantail. “I have taken away his freedom. He trusted me and I betrayed him. I tricked Fantail and captured him in that
old rusty can. How could I have been so
cruel and unkind?” He really felt bad
about the trouble he had caused his friend.
He was so deep in his thoughts that he did not realise
that the class had gone unusually quiet.
Everybody, including the teacher was staring at him.
“Please answer the question, Samuel,” commanded Mr.
Bright. “You are keeping back the whole
class and wasting my time. For the
entire morning all you have done is merely dream your life away. Come on, answer the question before I lose my
patience, boy.”
“What... what question, Sir?” he stammered, suddenly
confused and bemused. “I didn’t hear
what you asked.”
“The question was, boy, what are you dreaming about,”
repeated the teacher.
“Fantail, Sir, I was dreaming about Fantail, Sir,” he
replied with a far away look upon his face.
“I only did it to protect him from the other boys.”
“Who is Fantail and what did you do?” inquired Mr.
Bright. But that was as far as Samuel
was prepared to go. He felt that he had
already said too much. He knew what he
must do as soon as school was dismissed.
Yes, he had definitely made up his mind.
He was going to give back Fantail his freedom.
Stewart Russell © 1999
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