Chapter 5. 
   Aquatoo
   From “Stellar Graffiti”, Copyright 2001 Richard Allan Olson
 




   “I do not know how it is I have come to think thoughts like this.  Before tonight, I never really used to think about anything at all.  For my whole life, I had been a simple minded creature behaving solely from habit and instinct.  My only motives had been fear, hunger, and those activities having to do with basic self-preservation.  What has happened to make me suddenly aware like this, for the first time in my life?  Why am I now able to think, using ideas and words I have heard before, but could never understand or remember?  What event has changed me like this?  Was this supposed to happen to me?  I really don’t know.  It is very strange.   

   Along with understanding, I can now remember things.  Before tonight, the past had always been hidden from me.  All of my experiences were soon vanished from my memory, shortly after taking place, and lost in some clouded pool in my mind.  Now, that pool has become very clear, and for the first time I can see my whole past life, and recall places I have been, and things that have happened to me. 

   This strange new thing, memory, shows me life as it had once been, long ago.  For sun cycles I cannot count, I did little but swim about in the waters of the marsh, and eat of the snails and the insects, and bask upon the reeds, and burrow into the banks to safely sleep during the dark time.  These were things my instincts urged me to do.  I also knew, without true understanding, that I needed to be wary of danger at all times.  The waters of my marsh were also home to the dreaded Fang Fishes that prowled the deep and murky currents.  I remember, now, several of the times I had to avoid them, and even escape their attempts to eat me.  Once, a very large Fang Fish had appeared from out of the deep and suddenly charged at me.  I swam for the safety of the rocks as fast as I could, my chest pounding with fear.  The fish was able to sink its fang into the webbing of one of my hind paddles, but I found the strength to tear it free, and my life was saved as I reached a place behind the rocks.  The Fang Fishes were avoided much more carefully after this, but that specific event was soon forgotten, lost in the clouded pool of my mind.  The injury to my paddle, and the scar that it became, did not remind me, but only served to strengthen my instinct for being wary of danger. 

   “I now remember other unusual events in that life of daily forgetfulness.  Once every season, or so, I felt compelled to seek out a female of my kind.  I didn’t understand the reason for why I behaved as I did, swimming showy circles around the female for a very long time, until finally she accepted me and we shared a pleasant experience.  I behaved this way only because I knew, in a way much less than reason, that it was somehow a natural thing for me to do. 

   And I remember a very fearful day, indeed.  It was my first meeting with a Giant.  It seemed an impossible creature, then, as it came from the land, seized me with one limb, and lifted me high above the ground.  I struggled in the grip of this huge creature, terrified, as the Giant lumbered away from the marsh that was my home.

   But the Giant didn’t harm me.  It could have hurt me quite easily, if it wanted to, but it just would not do so, and I could not comprehend the reason for this.  Instead of harming me, the Giant seemed determined to offer me things to eat, like snails and insects, the very same things I had found to eat in the marsh.  At first I was cautious of the situation, because the Giant was still large enough to eat me himself, and this was a completely new and frightening experience.  In time, however, my hunger grew so strong that I was forced by my will to survive to eat the food.  The Giant never did eat me, or harm me in any way, and so after a very long time, I eventually learned how to NOT be fearful of him.

   The Giant often kept me inside a place made of sticks.  The sticks were close together and I could not get out of the place.  Then, one day, I happened to bump against the sticks, and part of them moved away from the rest, and suddenly I was able to get outside of the place.  The Giant was nowhere I could see, so I went off in search of the marsh.

   I crawled long and far, and finally found a place of water.  It was not like the marsh, but it was a good place to stay.  There were snails and insects, and thankfully, no Fang Fishes. 

   “Then one day, as I was foraging upon the bank, I came upon another Giant.  The fear came back to me again, the fear of the first Giant I had encountered.  However, because the first Giant never harmed me in any way, I had strangely learned how to not be fearful of the Giants anymore.  Like the first, this one also picked me up off the ground and took me away, and later gave me lots of things to eat. 

   I have seen the Giants make sounds with their mouths.  Now I realize they make these sounds so to give meaning to things and places.  This new Giant makes a sound that I have come to understand.  The sound is used to identify me.  ‘Aquatoo’ is the sound that represents me.  I am ‘Aquatoo’.  To the first Giant, I had been ‘Pal’.

   My new Giant calls herself ‘Luna’.  It was in her company that I discovered new things like the Big Water, a marsh so large, I cannot even see the bank on the other side.  The Giants move across this water inside a very large snail shell called a ‘boat’.   

   Yesterday I spent the sun cycle in a small, round pool.  Luna and her companions were out on the hill.  They were far away, but I could still see them.  Later I became hungry and went to find food.  The Giants were sleeping, but I found things to eat near where they slept. 

   Then, a while later, I just found myself… thinking.  Thinking and remembering.  These things were new to me.  Somehow, I had changed.  I still do not know how or why.  I decided to try to make Luna wake up.  I thought maybe SHE could tell me what was happening to me.  

   I climbed on top of her and started crawling around in circles.  After doing that for a while, Luna finally woke up and rolled over, and I fell to the ground. 

   “What?  Who?” said Luna.  Then she saw me.  “Oh, it’s you.  Well, what?  What is it?”  She rolled over again and started to go back to sleep, so I climbed back up onto her.  Then, she sat up and said, “What’s gotten into you?  Are you hungry, or something?”  

   I couldn’t answer with sounds like the Giants used, but I had learned the sound ‘No’, and I had seen them move their heads from side to side, together with the sound.  So, I moved my head from side to side so I could answer Luna’s question. 

   Luna’s eyes opened very wide when she saw what I did, and she stared at me.  Then she asked me the same question again.  “Are you HUNGRY, Aquatoo?”  I shook my head from side to side again, to answer, ‘No’.  Then Luna jumped up very fast and looked around her, then up at the sky, and then back down at me.  She crouched in front of me and said, “Dear mercy!  Aquatoo, do you know that I am speaking to you, right now?”  I understood her question, and I had learned that answering ‘Yes’ was the same thing as nodding the head up and down.  So, that is what I did. 

   Luna was very excited.  She fell backwards and grabbed one of her sleeping companions and shook him very hard. 

   “Milo!  Milo!  Wake UP!”  The other Giant sat up.  “What?” said Milo.  “What is it?”

   Luna dragged the other Giant, Milo, and sat him in front of me, and then she said, “Milo!  Watch THIS!  Watch!”  Then, she looked at me again, and said, “Aquatoo, I KNOW you can understand what I’m saying.  You DO understand, don’t you?” 

   I nodded up and down, for answering, ’Yes’. 

   Luna shook Milo again.  “Now watch THIS!  Aquatoo, are you… hungry?” 

   I shook my head, to answer, ’No’. 

   Milo stared at me, and his mouth fell open.  Then he started shouting.  “Viro!  Viro!  Wake up and get over here!”  Milo didn’t know it, but the other Giant, Viro, was already awake and standing right next to him.  Milo saw him and said, “There you are!  Viro!  Watch THIS!”  Then Milo turned to me again, and said, “Hey, Aquatoo.  Do you know which one of us is called… ‘Luna’?” 

   I nodded. 

   Milo grabbed Viro and shook him very hard, until Viro made him stop.  Then, Viro looked at me.  He said, “Aquatoo, if you know which one of us is ‘Luna’, then please show us where Luna is.”  That was an easy thing to do.  I just looked at the Giant named Luna, and crawled over to be next to her. 

   All three of the Giants were very excited.  They asked me many questions, and I answered them as well as I could.  I was happy because they knew I could think and understand.  THEY were happy, I think, for the very same reason.”