Angela and I stepped off the tram and made our way to the Deep Creatures shop. The air hadn’t been recycled lately, so there was the foul stench that filled our nostrils on the way here.
“I think they’ve done some remodeling. I hope they have a wider selection this time.”
I glanced into my notebook and loaded up DC’s inventory and scanned it.
“Tube worms, tailor crab, vampire octopus, and a new breed of angler.”
I refreshed the page and more creatures were added.
“I guess they’re updating as we speak.”
Angela had already gone through the door, and beckoned me to follow.
Thirty years ago, my father came to this same store, right when they started business. The public release of pressurized tanks had changed the fish market forever. He bought massive tanks that would fit inside our basement and installed only black lighting. Deep-sea fish are incredibly unattractive and creepy. Whenever I’d go down into the basement it was as if I had taken an expressway to the deep. The tank glowed with bioluminescent lights and every so often a maw of teeth would approach the glass and scare the hell out of me.
Today, Angela, my stepsister and biologist, discovered the tank and was immediately upset that it wasn’t being used.
“This could hold a giant squid!” she’d say. And go on and on about what other monstrosity could be held in there. The beauty I found in goldfish and catfish, she saw as feeder fish, and nothing more.
“Come in! Come in!” she hollered to me, “They have Goblin shark!”
I stepped in and felt the same way I did 30 years ago. Surrounded by darkness, pulsing lights, and teeth of the creatures from the deep.
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