Makoona by John Morano

Author:John Morano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grey Gecko Press
Published: 2017-01-17T05:00:00+00:00

“If I stay here and talk to you, you’ll get a much better cleaning,” he said. “It’s a sad reefality of the practice, but when the boss is around, all the cleaners become more gilligent.”

“Ah, it’s only natural.”

“Is it? You’d think they wouldn’t need the extra inducement, that there wouldn’t be another level they could rise to, that they’d always clean the best they could, but that’s just not the way it is anymore. Today, there’s no pride in one’s craft.” Paykak turned from Binti and shouted, “Hey, open your eyes! I can see that leech from here. Come on, fish. Suck ’em up!”

“Maybe if they were happier,” Binti mumbled as two gobies trimmed plaque from her beak.

“Happier? Who could be happier? Is there a more noble occupation for a fish than this? What other job can you do and be on a perpetual meal break at the same time? All they have to do is eat.” Again, Paykak turned from Binti. “Pus! I see pus! Make it disappear!”

“Well, you’re kinda tough on them, Paykak.”

“Tough? Me, tough? I’ll tell you what tough is. When I swam to my first cleaning station way out on the edge of the reef, every day I had to swim into the current, both ways. Why, I . . .”

“How could that be? Into the current both ways?”

“It’s a rather technical tidal event, just trust me on this. Like I was saying . . . Oh, yeah. Tough. Let me tell you, I earned this lateral stripe by being tough, swimming over a rock all day with no help and no fish waiting in line, flashing this blue stripe until you’re so tired you turn belly up and start floating to the surface. Then the only one who stops in for a cleaning is an ill-tempered reef shark who just ate a sprayed angelfish. You know what happens to a shark who just ate a sprayed angelfish?”

“No. I don’t eat angelfish, sprayed or otherwise.”

“Me either, but I’ll tell you what happens. It makes the shark twitch. You want to go inside the mouth of a twitching reef shark? Ever seen those teeth up close and fishonal?”

“Ah, no. And I don’t really want to.”

“That’s my point. And once you get into that twitching teeth trap, you know what you find? Nothing. There’s next to nothing ’cause those pain in the tailfin—”

“Paykak!”

“I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to use the t-word. Gee, you’d think I could keep it clean.” The goby laughed. “Heeh, heeh . . . get it? I’m a cleaner, but I used a dirty word. Heeh, heeh, that’s pretty funny.”

Binti laughed, more out of awkwardness than amusement. She was starting to wonder about her friend.

“Okay, let me finish. There’s nothing in the shark’s mouth because of those scab remoras. For years, they’ve been cutting into my business. They’re the biggest suck-ups in the sea. Sharks wind up with their own private cleaners attached to them night and day. How can you compete with that? It’s not right.

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