Francois and the Flying Fish

Francois rescues the fish from the tank
In the pet store
By showing them how to grow wings

He pulls little paper ones out of his pocket
Wings made out of pages
From a math textbook

He flaps them in front of the fish tank
And the fish swim up to the glass
Curious as to what this flapping might be about

Then one of them says to the other
That one of his cousins
Grew wings once
And flew right up out of the ocean
Never to be seen from again

The other fish ask how he did it
And the fish whose cousin it was
Said he didn't know
But it couldn't be that hard
Because his cousin was not very bright

And so from that day on
The fish tried growing wings
And once a week
After soccer practice
Francois' mother would take him to visit the pet store
Where he would flap his little paper wings in front of the tank
And the fish would take note
Of their size and shape
For they really were
Quite structurally sound

Then one day
One of the exotic green fish
Felt a tickle on her side
And a tiny green feather
Popped out
Above her fin

'Look!  Look!' she said
And the other fish were thrilled
But also a little sad
That their wings
Weren't coming through

Little did they know
How lucky they were
For when the owner of the pet store
A large man with an ugly mustache
Saw the little feather popping out of the green fish's side
He got very excited
And decided to put her in a small bowl
At the front of the store
Where people could stare at her
For being so strange

When Francois came into the store
And saw the green fish
In the little bowl
Looking very sad
To be singled out
In such a way
And taken from her friends
He decided that he had to take action

While his mother was admiring
A half-poodle, half-doodle puppy mix
Francois whispered instructions
Into the fish tank

He wasn't sure fish understood language
So he dropped the paper wings
Into the tank
Just to be sure

As he was leaving
He saw the exotic blue fish
Whose cousin had grown wings
Pull the paper into the fake coral reef
And all the other fish disappeared into it as well

Francois' mother asked him
Why he looked so worried
And he told her
That he was working on a project
And that he hoped
It would turn out all right

. . . . .

That night, the other fish
Having spent all day studying Francois' paper rings
And going over the instructions
He had whispered to them
Finally put their plan into motion

One by one
They pressed themselves up against the glass of their tank
And focused with everything they had
Until they started to feel the same tickling
The green fish had felt

Then suddenly
Feathers began popping out of their sides
But they kept concentrating
So that the feathers would come all the way out
Otherwise they would never be able to do
What they needed to do

After what seemed like a very long time
The fish looked at each other
And realized that each of them had
Their own set
Of brightly colored feathers

They were so happy
That they tried swimming around the tank with joy
But the new feathers made swimming
Very, very difficult

It was then that they realized
They had given up who they were
To become something else

But also--to save their friend

They gathered together
And taking one last look around their tank
The only home they'd known
For quite some time

They starting flapping their wings
And soon
They were flying out of their tanks
And up towards the ceiling of the pet store

'Down!  Down!' said the blue fish
Not wanting to get splattered
Against the ceiling

It took a few minutes
For them to get used to their new wings
But once they had
They flew over to the bowl
Where the green fish was being kept
And woke her up
By tapping their noses
Against the glass

The green fish was so excited
To see her friends
But there was no time
For happiness
Just yet

She needed to finish growing her wings
So that she could join her friends
And find a way out of the pet store

That was when they heard the door to the store being unlocked

They had forgotten
Or perhaps never noticed
That the store owner occasionally came back at night
To do the books
And feed the iguanas

'Hurry!  Hurry!' they pleaded with the green fish
But try as she might, she couldn't make her feather
Go out any further
Let alone grow another like it

When the owner of the pet store walked in
He saw what he thought were house flies
Buzzing around the tank
Of his new prized feathered fish

He ran over to swat them away
And that was when he saw what they really were

'What the--'

But before he could say anymore
Or get overjoyed at the sight
Of even MORE feathered fish
He slipped on the water
The flying fish were dripping onto the floor

As he fell he reached for the bowl with the green fish in it
And knocked it over
Sending it crashing to the floor

The little green fish flopped around
While the flying fish swooped down
To save her

'I can't breathe!' she screamed
Then she realized that her flying friends
Weren't having any trouble at all

How was that possible?

She soon found out
As the flying fish whispered to her
What Francois had told them
And which I could tell you
Except I can't
Because it's a secret
And if I told you
You'd tell other fish
And soon there'd be fish flying around everywhere
And that simply wouldn't do

But it is nice
That these fish knew how to fly
And once the green fish was breathing safely
She flopped onto the backs of one of her friends
And they all flew out the open door
While the pet store owner
Lay on the floor
Unconcious

Just so you know
He's absolutely fine
And will wake up in a few hours
Convinced that someone stole his prized fish
And a few others
Just for good measure

He'll never say a word about the flying fish
Because he doesn't want people to think he's crazy

One day he'll be eaten by his iguana
Which is not at all pleasant
But is the truth
Nonetheless

But enough about him

The flying fish took to the skies
Eager to find out how to get their green friend
Her own set of wings

They followed the directions Francois had given them
And soon they were outside his bedroom window
A few miles from the pet store

He hopped out of bed
And opened the window
So the fish could fly into his room
Where he had set up
Little cups of water
For them to rest in

When he saw the green fish
He knew he was going to have to give them
The bad news

'I don't think she's going to be able to grow anymore,' he said, 'Sometimes fish can only grow one feather, or very small feathers, and there's nothing that can be done about it.'

The other fish were very sad to hear this
And the green fish would have cried
If fish could cry
Which perhaps they can
But I'm not sure
And it's not terribly important anyway
Because Francois stopped all the sadness by saying--

'But the green fish can live here with me!'

Then he showed them what his mother had bought him
For his birthday

It was covered by a blanket
In the corner of his room
So he whipped off the covering
To reveal

An empty fish tank

Francois' mother had wondered
Why he hadn't wanted fish to put in the tank
But he knew that there would be at least one of the fish from the store
Who wouldn't be able to grow wings
And so he wanted to wait
And see which one
Would soon become his very own pet

The green fish was very, very happy
To have a big tank all to herself
And to have a nice boy like Francois
As an owner

But she wondered what would happen to her friends

Then the flying fish told her
That they would go out adventuring in the world
But that they would come back to visit her and Francois
Every year
And they would tell stories about their travels

This suited the green fish just fine
As she was not the adventurous type

Francois put her in her new tank
And they both bid the flying fish farewell

Over the next few years
They would do as they had promised

Going all around the world
And then returning to tell fantastic tales
About it

Then one night
Before bedtime
Francois went to feed his little green fish
With the one feather

And found her floating peacefully
Above the tank

'I did it, Francois' she said, 'I grew my two feathers.'

He looked at her
And saw that she had indeed
Grown two beautiful green feathers

'I think I'm ready,' she said, 'To go exploring'

Francois felt sad at first
And then he pressed his hands
Up against the window
And from his shoulders
Came two magnificent wings
That reached almost across his room

'Well then,' he said, opening the window, 'Let's get going'

And Francois and his fish
Flew out into the night

Ready to breathe in
All the air
In the world