“Dory? Dory!” Mr. Ray said, peering over at her as she lay lifeless in the sand.
The kids gasped. “Is she dead?” asked Chickenfish, taking a closer look.
“No, she’s not dead!” snapped Mr. Ray. A few kids groaned, disappointed. “Give her some space, everybody.”
Dory moved slightly and she started to murmur. Nemo leaned in, trying to decipher her words. It was difficult to understand what she was saying, but it sounded like “Jewel of Morro Bay, California.”
Dory’s eyes slowly fluttered open as Mr. Ray, Marlin, Nemo, and the rest of the class stared down at her.
“I remembered something,” Dory gasped. In an instant, she was off the sea floor and frantically swimming in circles. “I remembered something! I actually remembered something! Something important!” She couldn’t believe it. Dory had never experienced a memory before!
★★★
Later that day, when Marlin came to pick Dory and Nemo up from school, Dory was still confused and excited by her memory, even though she couldn’t remember what it was. She scrunched up her face and batted her fins against her temples, trying as hard as she could to tap into it.
“Ugh ... I’m not sure anymore ... but I can still feel it. It’s ... it’s right there .... It’s still in there ....”
“All right,” said Marlin, ready to head home. “Thank you, Mr. Ray!”
Mr. Ray and the class looked at each other, concerned, and watched as the three swam off.
With Marlin and Nemo following behind, Dory continued to strain, searching her mind for the hidden memory.
“Okay, c’mon. Try to remember better. Don’t be such a Dory, Dory!” she muttered, closing her eyes and pressing her fins against her temples. “Ahhh ... I don’t remember ... It was something ... it was something about um, the um ...”
“The Jewel of Morro Bay, California?” offered Nemo, repeating the phrase he thought he’d heard Dory say earlier.
Dory gasped and her eyes popped wide open as a flood of memories whipped through her mind. She heard young fish playing and laughing and saw her parents singing “Just keep swimming.”
When she snapped back to the present moment, Dory raced ahead into the coral. “My family!” she said, thunderstruck. “My family! I REMEMBER MY FAMILY! They’re out there somewhere! I have to find them! Guys, you gotta help me! Guys? Hello? Guys, where are you?”
“Dory!” shouted Marlin.
Dory was flustered. She anxiously looked around for Marlin and Nemo. “My parents! I remember — them! My mom, my dad. I have a family!” said Dory excitedly. Then she gasped. “They don’t know where I am. Let’s go! We have to go!” Dory took off.
Marlin caught up to her and pulled her back. “Dory, no! No! This is crazy! Where exactly are you trying to go?”
“To the — to the ... gem of the ... Baltic?”
“The Jewel of Morro Bay, California,” said Nemo.
“Yes!” exclaimed Dory.
“No!” said Marlin. He continued to hold her back, preventing her from swimming away. “Dory, California’s all the way across the ocean.”
“Then we better get going! Come on!” she said, trying to break free from Marlin’s grasp.
“How come every time we’re on the edge of this reef, one of us is trying to leave? For once, can’t we just enjoy the view?” Marlin asked, frustrated.
Dory finally wiggled free, and she was upset. “How can you be talking about the view when I remembered my family?” She raced away again, but Marlin intercepted and slowly pushed her back to the safety of the reef.
“No, no! We’ve done our ocean travels. That part of our lives is over. The only reason you travel in the first place is so you don’t have to travel ever again,” said Marlin firmly. Then he lost his grip on Dory and slipped, falling face-first into the sand. He coughed, spitting sand out of his mouth.
“Please,” said Dory. “All I know is that I miss them. I really, really miss them. I didn’t know what that felt like ... Do you know what that feels like?”
She stared straight into Marlin’s eyes.
Marlin sighed and looked over at Nemo. He remembered how much his heart ached when Nemo had gotten lost the year before. “Yes,” he said softly. “I know what that feels like.”
Dory looked out at the vast open water sadly, and Marlin’s heart broke for his dear friend. He wouldn’t wish the feeling on anyone.
“I don’t want to forget this,” said Dory. “Somewhere — out there — is my family. Please, Marlin. I can’t find them on my own. I’ll forget. Please help me find my family.”
“Yeah, Dad,” said Nemo. “You can get us all the way across the ocean, right?”
“No,” Marlin said, and their faces fell. “But I know a guy.”
“多莉?多莉!”雷老師一邊說,一邊打量著多莉——她躺在沙地上,毫無生氣。
孩子們都屏住呼吸。“她死了嗎?”雞魚湊前看了一眼問道。
“不,她沒死!”雷老師呵斥道。幾個孩子失望地咕噥了下。“給她一點(diǎn)空間吧,各位。”
多莉微微一動,接著就咕噥起來。尼莫傾身上前,想要聽清楚她的話。她的話實(shí)在是不好懂,不過聽起來好像是“加利福尼亞的明珠莫羅灣”。
雷老師、馬林、尼莫和班上其他同學(xué)都在低頭凝視著多莉,她雙眼微微顫動,醒了過來。
“我想起了一件事。”多莉喘氣道。一轉(zhuǎn)眼,她便從海底翻身而起,瘋狂地轉(zhuǎn)圈游動。“我想起了一件事!我確實(shí)想起了一件事!一件很重要的事!”她覺得難以置信。她以前從未有過記憶這樣的體驗(yàn)!
★★★
當(dāng)天晚些時候,馬林去學(xué)校接多莉和尼莫時,多莉盡管已經(jīng)不記得什么了,但還在為自己的記憶而感到既困惑又激動。她皺著眉頭,雙鰭敲打著太陽穴,努力地想要敲出這段記憶。
“呃……雖然我不是很確定……但我仍然感覺得到……就在這里……還在這里……”
“好吧,”馬林說著,準(zhǔn)備回家,“謝謝你,雷老師!”
雷老師和班上的同學(xué)面面相覷,憂心忡忡地望著他們?nèi)齻€游走了。
馬林和尼莫跟在后面,多莉還在堅持不懈,想要找回腦海中隱藏的那段記憶。
“好了,來吧。再好好想想。別這么多莉了,多莉!”她嘟囔道,閉上眼睛,雙鰭壓著太陽穴。“啊……我記不起來了……是什么……是關(guān)于什么的,呃……”
“加利福尼亞的明珠莫羅灣?”尼莫提醒道,重復(fù)了之前他覺得多莉所說過的話語。
多莉屏住呼吸,雙目圓瞪,記憶如洪水般猛地涌入了她的腦海之中。她聽見小魚們嬉戲的笑聲,看見了她父母唱著“不停地游啊游”。
很快多莉回轉(zhuǎn)神來,向前沖進(jìn)了珊瑚叢里。“我的家人!”她大吃一驚地說。“我的家人!我記起了我的家人!他們在別處的某個地方!我必須找到他們!伙計們,你們得幫幫我!伙計們?喂?伙計們,你們在哪兒?”
“多莉!”馬林喊道。
多莉慌張起來。她焦慮地四處尋找馬林和尼莫。“我的父母!我想起——他們了!我的媽媽,我的爸爸。我有家人!”多莉激動地說。她上氣不接下氣地說道:“他們不知道我在哪里。我們出發(fā)吧!我們必須得出發(fā)了!”多莉起身便走。
馬林抓住她,一把拉了回來。“多莉,不行!不行!這太瘋狂了!你到底想去哪里?”
“去那個——那個……波羅的海的明珠……?”
“加利福尼亞的明珠莫羅灣。”尼莫說。
“對的!”多莉呼叫道。
“不行!”馬林說。他繼續(xù)把她往回拽,想要阻止她游走。“多莉,去加利福尼亞必須得穿越整個大洋。”
“那我們現(xiàn)在就得出發(fā)了!快點(diǎn)!”她說著,想要從馬林的掌控中掙脫出來。
“為什么每次來到這個暗礁邊上,我們當(dāng)中的一個就會想著離開?我們就不能有一次好好欣賞一下風(fēng)景嗎?”馬林灰心喪氣地問道。
多莉終于擺脫了束縛,她心煩意亂。“我才想起了我的家人,你這會兒聊什么風(fēng)景?”她又沖了出去,可馬林?jǐn)r住了她,慢慢地把她拉回到了暗礁上的安全地帶。
“不行,不行!我們已經(jīng)跨洋旅行過了。那段經(jīng)歷已經(jīng)結(jié)束。你一開始旅行的唯一理由就是不必再去旅行。”馬林堅定地說道??蛇@次他沒能抓牢多莉,滑了一跤,一臉?biāo)ぴ诹松车厣?。他咳嗽幾聲,吐出了嘴中的沙子?br />
“求求你了,”多莉說,“我只知道我很想念他們。我真的,真的很想念他們。我以前從來都不知道那是種什么感受……你知道那是種什么樣的感受嗎?”
她直勾勾地盯著馬林的雙眼。
馬林嘆了口氣,低頭望了望尼莫。他想起了去年尼莫走丟之時的那種心痛感覺。“是的,”他柔聲說道,“我知道那是一種什么樣的感受。”
多莉憂傷地望著汪洋大海,馬林也為他親愛的朋友而感到傷心難過。他真希望誰也不要有那種感受。
“我不想忘記這個,”多莉說,“外面——某個地方——有我的家人。求求你了,馬林。我獨(dú)自沒法找到他們。我會忘事。求求你幫我找到我的家人吧。”
“是啊,爸爸,”尼莫說,“你可以帶著我們一路穿越大洋, 對吧?”
“不行,”馬林說道,他們的臉色頓時變得陰沉,“不過我知道有個家伙可以。”