Gazooks

Lord of the Deep and World's Greatest Tickle Monster!

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The Aquarium

By Beth

Posted Oct 30, 2006

The Laughing Gull rocked back and forth on the open ocean. It was out fishing for crabs 20 miles off the coast of Oregon. Captain Murphy and his crew had been having a bad season and desperately needed the money. They voted to stay out here and brave the storm, despite all the warnings.

Unfortunately, the storm had overtaken them quicker than they had planned. They had barely managed to bring anything in and the storm was growing worse. As Captain Murphy looked out over the ocean, he watched as the waves gradually increased in proportion to the brewing storm winds. Dark storm clouds covered the night sky, periodically blocking the full moon�s rays, and he realized it was time to go home.

"Raise the net!" Captain Murphy called to his crew.

Six men scrambled across the wet deck as waves crashed over the railings. The first mate activated the winch. It groaned as it slowly brought the fishing net up to the surface over the starboard side. Captain Murphy watched it rise, hoping they would be able to bring in one last haul so their trip wasn�t a complete loss. Then the winch suddenly stopped, and the boat lurched starboard. The first mate tried to start up the winch a couple times. The winch just groaned in protest, not moving.

Captain Murphy looked down into the water to see if the net was caught on something. He stared in disbelief as two giant yellow eyes stared back up at him.

Dr. John Alexander awoke to sound of his bedside phone ringing.

"Hello?" he said, still half asleep.

"John?" the voice on the other end replied. "Something remarkable has been brought in. I need you down here right away."

"What?" John replied, rising from his bed. He recognized the excited voice of his colleague, Dr. Benjamin Wilde on the other end. Dr. Alexander looked at his alarm clock. The red LCD display said 3:00am. "It�s 3 o�clock in the morning. What�s so important that it can�t wait until morning, Ben?"

"It�s too amazing to explain over the phone. In fact, you wouldn�t believe me if I told you. You have to come down and see it for yourself," Ben replied anxiously.

"This better not be like the time you found that mermaid," John sighed impatiently.

"John, you�re never going to let that go. It was a simple mistake," Dr. Wilde replied. "This time you won�t be disappointed."

John thought about it for a moment. Though Ben would be the first to jump on any lunatic�s offer to bring something in to the aquarium, no matter how fantastic the discovery could be, he sometimes stumbled upon something genuine.

"Alright, I�ll be there in a half hour," he replied reluctantly.

Dr. Alexander pulled up to the dark aquarium entrance a half-hour later. He parked his car in his usual spot and entered the facility. Dr. Wilde was waiting for him inside.

"John, thank you for coming down," Ben replied, excited as a kid on Christmas morning.

"This better be good, Ben," Dr. Alexander replied, a yawn escaping his lips.

The two men walked to the back of the aquarium to the outside tanks. A grizzly man stood by the largest tank. His features were worn by years of the elements from the open sea. He reminded John of the Gordon�s Fisherman.

"Dr. Alexander," Ben offered. "This is Captain Murphy."

"Captain," John replied, as the Captain nodded. "What do you have for us?"

"I left it in the net. It�s out cold and I didn�t want to risk losing it," the captain replied.

The captain walked out towards his fishing boat that was docked at the aquarium�s pier. Both men followed him. Hanging off the side of the boat was a large fishing net, half submerged in the water. Dr. Alexander could see the net was moving from the dozens of remaining crabs trapped inside. As they moved closer, he could see there was something else in the net.

Ben shined the flashlight he had been carrying at the net. The beam followed from the top of the net, down into the water. There was definitely a large mass trapped inside. Then they saw it; a tentacle. Ben moved closer to shine more light on the creature. More and more tentacles became apparent as they studied the creature closer.

"It�s incredible," Ben commented to the captain.

"Yes. I�m not sure what it is other than a sea monster," the captain replied. "I haven�t seen a squid this large before and none of it�s arms have the usual suckers. They all have flippers at the end instead."

"It�s not a squid," John replied, taking the flashlight from Ben�s hand. John flashed the light down into the water and counted several more tentacles dangling below. "It�s got more than 10 arms, and it�s larger than any squid I�ve ever heard of."

"So you�re interested?" the captain asked.

"How much do you want for it?" Ben asked.

John pulled Ben aside and whispered, "What are you doing? We don�t have the funding to buy this thing? Let alone a tank big enough to store it."

"Come on, John," Ben pleaded. "This is a scientific marvel. Can you imagine diagnosing a new species? Besides, we could modify one of the whale tanks and put it on display. People would come from miles around to view it. We�d make our money back in no time."

John looked at the creature. He had definitely never seen such a monster before, and he would enjoy the challenge of studying a new species.

"Alright, Ben," Dr. Alexander conceded. "Make him an offer."

Two months later�

The school bus passed the final curve toward the aquarium. Mrs. Fletcher stood up from her seat at the front of the bus.

"Now class," the teacher said, trying to balance her back against the seat as the bus hit a bump in the road. "After the tour, you�ll have an hour to study the exhibits on your own for your science report."

"This is stupid," Heather whispered to me.

"I know," I whispered back. "Who wants to spend a Friday afternoon here?"

"I�m going to leave after the tour," Heather smiled. "I got all I needed to do my report on sea horses back at the library."

"I couldn�t make it there this morning," I replied, disappointed. "I�m going to have to stay here all night!"

The bus lurched forward as it stopped in the parking lot.

"Don�t forget to come by my house when you�re done," Heather replied, as she stood up.

The class grudgingly exited the school bus and meandered their way into the aquarium. No one liked coming to this place. It was out-dated and under-funded. Most of the sea life here consisted of animals that wouldn�t perform at Sea World or had been injured. I looked at the fish tanks in the entranceway. The fish even looked bored.

We all sat thru the tour guide�s speech and the cheesy promotional video highlighting the exhibits. I was half asleep when I heard the tail end of the video say, "And be sure to check out our Lord of the Deep exhibit in the west wing."

"What is that exhibit about?" I asked Heather.

Heather whispered back, "Some giant octopus they found."

"Octopus?" I replied, interested. I happened to pick an octopus for my paper�s subject, and a giant one would definitely make my paper more exciting.

"I�ve seen it," Tracy chimed in from behind.

Heather and I turned around. "Tell us about it," I asked Tracy.

Tracy�s face suddenly turned white. "My sister and I were here a month ago when it first opened. It looked safe enough. A group of boys walked by first and it barely looked alive, but when my sister and I passed by." She stopped talking and stared off into space.

"Well?" I urged her.

"It had these huge yellow eyes that seemed to fix on us and it came right up to the tank wall. It made me nervous, so I pulled my sister back five feet. They way it looked at us�I could have sworn it smiled at us. We ran right out of there."

"I wonder what set it off," I replied.

"We�ll never know," Heather replied. "They closed the exhibit because it frightened too many patrons."

"Oh," I replied, disappointed.

"Thank goodness," Tracy commented.

We followed the tour guide around for a half-hour and then Mrs. Fletcher let us roam around the aquarium on our own. I walked down the halls, taking notes whenever I read a mention of anything having to do with an octopus. I was disappointed I wasn�t able to see the giant octopus. That would have made this trip 100 times more interesting.

As I was walking along, I passed a long hallway and stopped. A red rope blocked the entrance to a side hallway. As I looked down the corridor, at the very end was a second roped-off area. I could make out a sign with a green octopus and the words Lord of the Deep.

�I bet there�s still some info I could write down from the exhibit,� I thought, slipping under the rope.

No one saw me enter the corridor, but I kept looking behind me to make sure I wasn�t discovered. I reached the closed exhibit easily and began taking notes. The reader board told me how the creature was recently discovered off the coast and donated by a local fisherman in the interest of science. There were pictures of the fishing boat and a little map, but other than that, the board didn�t say much. I looked up at the empty tank and thought about what Tracy had said. How it seemed so interested in her. Even though it would be terrifying to be so close to it, I wished I could have seen it.

A woman�s voice over an intercom interrupted the quiet of the empty exhibit. "The aquarium will be closing in 10 minutes."

Everyone would be leaving soon. I started to think. They had to move the monster somewhere in the facility. It couldn�t have been too far; a creature that size would be hard to move. I looked at the tank again. With it empty, I was able to see the back and noticed a porthole. Perhaps it led to the other tank?

To the left of me was a door marked "Employees Only." It seemed to lead towards the back of the tank. Curiosity got the best of me and I opened it slowly. Inside was dark, but I found a light switch. The overhead fluorescent lights flickered for a moment before half of them came on. There were several doors as I made my way down the hallway. Finally, I found one marked "Lab."

I went inside and looked around. The walls were lined with fish tanks of various sizes. The lights were turned off so the fish could sleep, but a few small fluorescent lights remained on to dimly light the lab. I walked carefully thru the room, looking into each of the tanks. Some tanks were filled with tropical fish; one even had a small shark. Towards the back, I noticed a giant tank. I walked up to it cautiously.

The tank�s water appeared black and I couldn�t see anything inside. To the side of the tank was an emergency box. I pulled it open and grabbed the flashlight, shining it into the tank. I saw a couple of bubbles, but not much else. I moved in closer, and put my face up to the tank, hoping to be able to see something.

Suddenly, a large yellow eye appeared at the tank�s wall. Surprised, I let out a quick scream, jumping back from the tank. The eye was as tall as me and blinked sleepily a couple times before narrowing its focus on me. I watched the tank water swirl about. I caught a glimpse of several tentacles grazing the tank wall before a second eye appeared. The creature�s gaze relaxed its focus on me and looked around the room.

I breathed deeply, trying to calm my fear and looked at the tank. The lab technicians wouldn�t have the monster in here so close to them unless they felt safe from harm. I braved a couple steps closer. The monster concentrated on me again and seemed to smile at my boldness. Its stare was hypnotic and I found myself drawn to it. The monster�s smile was becoming more apparent and grew every step I came closer. When I was about five feet from the tank, it raised a tentacle to the tank wall, which made a loud �thud� sound as it hit the glass. I stopped, startled. I looked at the ivy leaf shaped hand. It was green like ivy and was about four feet across and six feet long. My heart was beating a mile a minute, but I reasoned it was still safe, took a deep breath, and continued to walk towards it. The monster watched as I tentatively reached out for the tank and touched the glass up to its hand. It looked at my hand and then at me.

"I wonder what you think of me?" I asked in thought, not really expecting an answer.

The monster�s expression changed, almost as if it understood me. I took my hand off the glass, confused and a little nervous. The monster smiled again and continued to stare at me. At the same time, unknown to me at that moment, the creature had discovered an opportunity. In their haste to get started with their weekend plans, one of the lab technicians forgot to close the lid to the monster�s tank, leaving it partially open. While the monster�s gaze had distracted me, it had been working the tank�s lid until it was completely open. Now, the monster was easily slipping one of its tentacles over the tank edge and down slowly towards me.

I suddenly felt something was wrong, but I couldn�t tell what. Then I heard water dripping, steadily, from my left. I turned just in time to see a tentacle hand open up to grab me. I screamed as the hand closed around me and pulled me up into the air.

The monster swam to the top of the tank and pulled its head above the water. Then it unfolded its hand and laid me out on its palm. The hand became like a giant green hammock as it cupped gently around me.

"I think you�re cute," the monster answered me slowly, with a deep male voice.

I was so dumbfounded that he spoke that I replied, "You can speak?"

The monster chuckled at the obvious and replied, "Yes." Then he asked, "What�s your name, little one?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and replied, "Beth. What�s yours?"

His toothless mouth grinned, "I�m Gazooks�Lord of the Deep." Then his smile turned more mischievous as he started to look me over and he added, "And the world�s greatest tickle monster."

"You�re what?" was all I could utter at his pronouncement before a tentacle wrapped around my ankles. Then another knocked my shoes off one at a time and then my socks. I was still in shock and just stared in anticipation as the tip slowly came up to my bare feet. I watched the tip wiggle carefully over my left foot. It didn�t immediately occur to me that I was being tickled until I heard myself start to giggle.

Once I realized I was giggling, it seemed to tickle even more. "Ha-ha-ha! Cut it out!" I laughed as he tickled my feet as he pleased. I tried reaching down to block the tentacle, but I couldn�t sit up from the reclining position he had laid me in. I held my sides and laughed even harder as the monster just smiled and kept on alternating between my feet, sometimes tickling both at the same time.

"I�m glad you came to visit me, Beth," Gazooks commented over my laughter. "They�ve kept me locked up for over two months. It�s been torture seeing all the pretty girls, but having none to tickle."

He kept me giggling as he brought me up closer to his face. He gently nudged up my blouse, revealing my stomach. He smiled again and started rubbing my stomach with another tentacle. I squealed like a little girl as the tentacle rubbed back and forth and then in circles over my skin. This one I could reach, and I instinctively tried to push it away as it moved over to my side and up under my shirt towards my ribs. Unfortunately, I had no effect on it and it glided over me as it pleased. Gazooks teased me more for trying to stop him by moving up under my left underarm. I screamed with laughter as he hit an extremely ticklish spot on me. He concentrated his tickles there for a good 20 seconds, making me laugh louder than I ever thought I could. Then my laughter subsided a bit as he pulled away, moving down towards my stomach again. He focused on drawing circles around my belly button and then brought another tentacle back to tickle my feet.

This pattern continued for several minutes until my breath became short and my skin a light pink. Gazooks withdrew his tickling tentacles and let me rest in his open palm. He looked down at me mischievously, proud of his handiwork. I breathed deeply, wondering how long it would be before he would start up again.

"You should have warned me you were so ticklish," he commented, watching me breathe.

"You didn�t give me much of a chance," I replied, finally catching my breath.

Gazooks chuckled, running a tentacle over the top of my feet in thought.

"Are you going to tickle me again?" I asked.

"Would you like that?" he asked, playfully.

I thought about what had just happened. Now that I could breathe normally again, I felt very relaxed. It was exhilarating laughing that much. A little more might be fun.

"Maybe, a little," I smiled.

Gazooks chuckled, pleased that I wanted to play with him. I felt his hand grip me firmly again as he said, "Where would you like me to tickle you first?"

I awoke the next morning to Gazooks tickling me lightly on my feet to wake me. Sunlight was showing thru the lab windows. I had fallen asleep while resting between tickles sometime during the night. He smiled at me and said, "You have to go before they find you here."

He lowered me down to the ground and sank slowly back down into the tank. We looked at each other thru the glass for a moment before he smiled and then closed his eyes. I watched him curl his tentacles underneath his body at the bottom of the tank before turning around to leave. As I made my way back out of the lab, I couldn�t believe I had just spent the night with a tickle monster. Then I wondered how I would be able to arrange another visit next weekend.