A Dead One Is Easier To Handle

Sweezus can see the Georgette just above him.

Blee-oosh! His head breaks the surface. Water runs off it.

There he is! says Mary-Emily. Eeuw! What have you got there?

Sweezus takes the second most massive breath he has ever taken, before answering.

Dunno, says Sweezus. He climbs on board the Georgette.

Andrew Dempster bends down to look at the red thing that Sweezus is clutching.

It drips drops of red dye on the deck.

Tch! says Mary-Margaret, fetching a sponge from a locker.

Sweezus looks disappointed. It's just a strip of red paper, disintegrating rapidly.

Baby Pierre looks up from the note book in which he has been writing:

NATURE IS PROFLIGATE

( yes, he can spell)

Is it a ruby sea dragon? asks Baby Pierre, still not quite focused.

I wish, says Sweezus, but no.

That looks like Ageless's submersible, says Baby Pierre, coming closer. After the pirate destroyed it.

That would be THE most awesome coincidence, says Sweezus.

Let me see, says Mary-Emily. It looks like one of those red patty pans they use for the morning tea cupcakes at the Visitor Centre on Woody Island.

(and she would know)

Mary-Margaret leans in closer to look at the patty pan in question.

Yes, she says. There must be plenty of them in the ocean.

Would you mind chucking it overboard, says Ed Dempster. It's making a mess of the deck, and its slippery.

Wait, says Baby Pierre. Don't do it yet. I want to draw it.

Sweezus likes this idea. He holds the red paper out over the ship's rail and squeezes, so it won't drip and annoy all the Dempsters.

Squeeeeze. Drip drip drip. Red drops in the ocean.

Growl.

What was that? And why is it hard in the middle?

He stops squeezing, and places the squeeze-shaped red paper on a locker.

Everyone stares, transfixed, as Sweezus unwraps the paper.

Oh no!

A tiny ruby sea dragon, breathing its last, seconds from expiring.

You killed it, says Baby Pierre. It must have been hiding in the paper.

Sweezus can hardly deny it.

On the other hand, it is a perfectly formed specimen, not like the bodiless one Ageless brought back.

And a dead one is easier to handle.

Mary-Emily opens the tupperware and gets out the tuna sandwiches, of which she has made far too many.