The Pufferfish Who Couldn't Stop Puffing

8 pages · 6 min · ages 6+

Mrs. Puffer was the kindest fish in Sunny Lake, and the jumpiest. When something surprised her, she puffed. A pebble falling: puff. A snail burp: puff. Somebody saying “boo” by mistake: PUFF. And once she was puffed, she stayed puffed for ages, round and spiky as a sea urchin. Today, Mrs. Puffer had a very important job. A whale was coming to visit Sunny Lake, a real whale, for the very first time, and Mrs. Puffer had been chosen to swim out and say hello.

“I'm a bit nervous,” said Mrs. Puffer, fluttering her little fins. “Whales are so very big.” “I'll help you practise!” said Ollie. “I'll be the whale!” He swam round the corner, took a deep breath, and popped out with his gills spread wide. “Hello! I am the WHALE!” Puff! Mrs. Puffer blew up like a beach ball. She puffed so big and so fast that she got stuck in her own front door. “Oh dear,” she said, from somewhere inside the spikes.

Ollie pushed. Snip pulled. Nothing moved. “Maybe if you laugh, the air will come out,” said Ollie. He told her his best joke. “Why did the crab never share?” “Because he's shellfish!” shouted Snip, who had heard it before. Mrs. Puffer laughed. She laughed and laughed. But laughing only made her puff even more. Pop! She shot out of the doorway like a cork from a bottle and bounced away across the lake. Boing. Boing. Boing.

She floated up, up, up, all the way to the top of the lake, and bobbed there like a spiky balloon. “The whale is coming at lunchtime!” called Mrs. Puffer, from up at the surface. “I can't say hello like this!” Snip had an idea. “Cold water!” he said. “Cold water makes things shrink.” They fetched the coldest water from the deep spring at the bottom of the lake and poured it over her. Mrs. Puffer shivered. She shivered so hard that she surprised herself. And puffed.

The minnows tried fanning her with their tails. Swish, swish, swish. Mrs. Puffer spun round and round like a spinning top, and got dizzy, and puffed. Snip tried tickling her tummy, very gently. Puff. Nothing worked, and lunchtime was coming. Ollie didn't know what to do. His face kept smiling, because Ollie's face always smiled, whatever happened. But inside, Ollie felt as puffed-up and prickly as Mrs. Puffer.

Ollie swam to the only one in the lake who never, ever puffed. Mr. Snapper had sat on the same flat rock for a hundred years. Nothing surprised him. Not storms. Not pelicans. Not even Ollie. “Mr. Snapper,” said Ollie, “how do you stay so calm?” Mr. Snapper thought about it for a very long time. Ollie waited. Then Mr. Snapper breathed in, slowly, through his nose. And out, slowly, through his mouth, and one big round bubble floated up towards the sun. “Smell the seaweed,” said Mr. Snapper. “Blow the bubble.”

Ollie swam back up to Mrs. Puffer as fast as his little legs could kick. “Do this with me,” he said. “Smell the seaweed…” They breathed in, slowly, slowly. “…blow the bubble.” They breathed out, slowly, slowly. A bubble floated up. “Smell the seaweed… blow the bubble.” Another bubble. With every bubble, Mrs. Puffer got a little bit smaller, and a little bit less spiky, and a little bit less jumpy. Until she was round and smooth and beige again, and floating gently down.

At lunchtime, the whale arrived. It was the biggest thing anybody in Sunny Lake had ever seen. It opened its enormous mouth and sang hello, and the song was so deep and so loud that the whole lake shook. Snip jumped. The minnows jumped. Ollie jumped. Even Mr. Snapper's eyebrows went up. But Mrs. Puffer smelled the seaweed, and blew a bubble, and swam right up to the whale's big friendly eye. “Welcome to Sunny Lake,” she said. And she didn't puff one bit.