the sea dwellers (chapter 6)

 June 14, 2010

   I wake up to a ringing noise, only to find that it is my alarm clock. Nora and Melanie are next to me, shaking me awake. ''Wake up, Anna,'' Nora screams at the top of her lungs. I nudge Nora hard in the ribs. 

   I sneak a peek at the clock and find that it is already lunchtime! I had slept in so late! I scurry down to lunch with Nora and Melanie. Rosemarie is having lunch with us. She has brought her baby sister, Adrienne. Adrienne is only a year old, and the cutest sea dweller ever! I snuggle with her, then eat up my lunch. 

   After lunch, I go to the house next door, wearing a disguise so I won't be recognized. We are supposed to have new neighbors. I can't wait to see what they are like!

On the doorstep of that house, I am greeted by a woman who looks like Lulu Cuckoldry from the concert. I know that she is Evaporata, the witch, but I don't say anything. I don't want her to find out my real identity. 

    ''Hi! I'm Katy from across the street. I'm your new neighbor. You must be Lulu Cuckoldry. I heard you sing at the concert,'' I say, making up the name of Katy so she won't know who I am. [It's hard ruling the entire sea and being so popular!] 

    ''Why thank you, Katy dear! I am a professional singer, so I have a lot of fans just like you! Won't you please come inside? I hope you like my house. It's a mess, but that's because I just moved in,'' she says. 

     I follow Evaporata into her house. Boxes are everywhere. I ask if I can look around, and she says that I can. 

I enter what seems to be a storage room and find a lot of things, including a book on hypnotism and an evil-looking contraption, a ray-gun which says ''Destroyatron'' on it. I also find X-ray goggles. I know that they were exactly what I needed for my really big plan, but I couldn't launch it without the help of Melanie and Nora. 

     I glance at a clock, and notice that it is lunchtime. I tell Evaporata that I will be back and bring my sisters. 

     I go back home and tel my sisters about the plan. They make up names and agree to help out. We eat our lunches, then go to Evaporata's house again.

     ''Why hello Katy,'' Evaporata says. '' I see you have brought your sisters! Will you two introduce yourselves?

      ''I'm Elizabeth and this is Shelly,'' says Nora. Apparently, she made up the name of Elizabeth and Melanie made up the name Shelly. 

     Evaporata invites us all inside. Once she goes back to whatever she was doing, I take Nora and Melanie and take them to the room which I was in. We find the goggles, the hypnotism book, and the evil ray-gun which says ''Destroyatron'' on it. Then, I whisper a plan in each of their ears. Nora and Melanie grin and agree to my  ''genius'' plan. 

      We put the plan into action. Nora rushes into Evaporata's living room. She taps the witch on the shoulder. 

     '' Ms. Cuckoldry, '' she says, smiling sweetly. ''There's this super-cool looking gadget in a room in your house, and can you pleeeease tell me all about it?'' Evaporata is charmed into taking Nora into the storage room, where Melanie and I are hiding. Melanie is reading about hypnotism, and I am wearing the X-ray goggles and studying the evil ray-gun which says ''Destroyatron'' on it. I look at each circuit carefully, deciding which ones gad the most significance. Those circuits are the ones I want the witch to destroy! 

    Melanie gives me a secret signal, a poke in the ribs, and I poke her back. Nora and the witch are entering! I whisper something about the main circuits in the evil ray-gun which says ''Destroyatron'' on it to Melanie, and she takes notes about them. She looks at the hypnotism book to refresh her memory on how to hypnotize people [or sea dwellers]. 

     The witch opens the door. Nora is right beside her. Melanie casually walks out and says,''Hello, Ms. Cuckoldry! I've been waiting for you all this time. Won't you sit down, so I can ask you about yourself? I'm doing a career report for my summer school, and I decided to interview a famous singer like you. 

     Evaporata sits down in a chair, and Melanie sits down next to her. Melanie starts out by asking normal interview questions so Evaporata won't get suspicious. Then, once the witch is relaxed, Melanie begins with the hypnotism. She manages to get Evaporata to go over to her ''Destroyatron'' and blow the most important circuits, while Nora and I take pictures and videos to show the public. 

     Melanie gets Evaporata back to normal, and Nora sets up a video camera on a tripod. I count to three very quietly. Once I say ''three'', we rip off our disguises. ''You are defeated, Evaporata Landlubber!'' we scream in unison. So far, things are going exactly according to my plans!

     ''Not so fast, Princesses of the Sea!'' shouts Evaporata. She goes to her ''Destroyatron'' and presses the ''target lock'' button. Thinking that it still works, she presses the ''fire'' button. She looks puzzled when nothing seems to happen. She looks inside it and finds that she blew some circuits. Whe tries to fix them, but Melanie and I set things up so that whenever she fixes a circuit, another one will get blown. While the witch fumbles ofver the circuits, the three of us gather the cameras and escape to Rosemarie's house, the last place the witch would expect us to be. 

       At Rosemarie's house, we have a hearty dinner and show off our videos and pictures. Nora takes our tape and puts it in Rosemarie's VCR player. We all laugh at the part when Melanie hypnotizes the witch. Then, we take our footage to the Sea Dweller Police Force Headquarters [or the SDPFH]. They watch our video and examine the pictures, then call the local TV station. Soon, we see our video on the late-night news. We are so pleased with ourselves! 

     While I watch our video on the news, I feel my heart swell up with pride. Everyone has to fit in somewhere, and I know I fit in the very best when I am underwater, even if I hadn't lived all my life there.