* Author : Michelle Goldsmith

* Narrator : Dawn Meredith

* Host : Aidan Doyle

* Audio Producer : Peter Wood

*

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First appeared in Review of Australian Fiction.

Part of our Aurealis Month, celebrating the Australian Aurealis Awards.

The Jellyfish Collector

by Michelle E. Goldsmith

“Where do you think they keep their brains?” Eva asks. “They have to have one somewhere, don’t they?”

She stands motionless beside her younger sister, Fiona, the two of them staring past their own reflections and into the tank beyond. On the other side of the glass drift dozens of moon jellyfish, gently pulsating in the water as though dancing to imperceptible music.

“Don’t know,” says Fiona, squinting into the tank as if the jellies might be hiding their brains in some hidden corner. They hold her attention for a few seconds longer before her gaze begins to dart around the darkened room. “Do you think they have a mermaid here?” Fiona combs a hand through her long red-gold hair. “Do you think I could be a mermaid?” She doesn’t even wait for Eva’s answer before scurrying off. “First one to spot a shark wins!”

Eva remains, mesmerised by the jellies, watching their transparent, alien forms glow with the changing colours of the ultra violet backlight.

They are so beautiful. Hypnotic. She leans closer, sure she can hear a slight humming, too musical to be the sound of an aquarium filter, coming from behind the glass.

A hand comes to rest on her shoulder and she looks up. Her father is standing beside her.

“Fascinating creatures, aren’t they?” He smiles. “So strange and ancient. Did you know that creatures like these have been living in the oceans for hundreds of millions of years? Yet we still don’t know that much about them. How they came to be, why they swarm.”

He winks. “Maybe one day you’ll be the one to find out.”

Eva listens, rapt, as her father tells her more, keenly absorbing every skerrick of knowledge, collecting and storing them like shells combed from a beach. She wants to know everything about the jellies and their world.

Eventually, they move on to the next display, where a large jar of yellowish fluid contains a preserved box jellyfish. Eva’s father reads aloud. “Traditionally thought to lack a conventional brain and, therefore, complex behaviour, the box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri, has been found to posses a specialised eye and has proven adept at visually oriented navigation.”

“What does that mean?” asks Eva.

“It means they’re smarter than we think.” Eva’s father looks up from the label and glances around. “Now where has that sister of yours got to?”

He sets off towards a tank on the far side of the room, where Fiona has been momentarily entranced by schools of tiny, brightly coloured fish darting to and fro like living jewels.

If Eva had her way, they would spend every weekend exploring the many wonders of the aquarium, lost in an ethereal, submarine world of alien creatures and endless possibility. Nevertheless, the red exit lights soon flicker on and her father’s voice calls to her. “Come on Eva! The aquarium’s closing up for the night and these poor people want to go home. You wouldn’t want to get locked inside!”

Eva is sure that she would, but before she can find a good hiding place a staff member appears to usher her out.

Her father ruffles her hair. “Don’t worry. We can come back again soon.”