Chapter  3
“Daddy! Help me!” Nemo shouted, realizing that he was in danger.
Marlin shook himself out of his daze. “Coming, Nemo!”
Mr. Ray led the other children to safety. Marlin started toward Nemo. A second diver suddenly appeared. He grabbed for Marlin. Marlin darted away, but he couldn’t get around the diver. He couldn’t get closer to Nemo. He could only watch as the first diver’s net fell over his little son.
“No!” Marlin screamed. “Nemo!”
Nemo was being pulled to the surface of the water… farther and farther away…
The divers disappeared into the boat. Marlin raced toward it, but the boat’s motor started and the force of the propeller pushed him back.
Still, Marlin swam with all his might. If he could just catch up… just get closer… maybe he could save Nemo.
Above the surface, the boat rocked from side to side in the choppy water. Splash! A diver’s mask fell overboard.
Marlin swam as fast as he could in the boat’s wake, but the boat sped ahead, leaving him behind. Soon it was just a speck on the horizon. And then it completely disappeared.
“Nemo! No!” Marlin shouted. He ducked underwater. “Has anybody seen a boat? Please? A white boat?” he called to a school of passing fish. “They took my son! Help me!”
No one answered. They just kept swimming, bumping into Marlin as they rushed along.
One of the fish bumped him a little too hard and he was knocked down to the ocean floor.
Dazed, Marlin looked up to see a regal blue tang fish rushing over to him.
“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t see you! Sir, are you okay?” the blue tang asked.
“He’s gone.” Marlin groaned. “They took him away. I have to find the boat.”
“A boat?” the blue tang asked. “Hey, I’ve seen a boat.”
Marlin perked up a bit. “You have?” he asked.
“Uh-huh,” the fish said. “And it passed by not too long ago.”
“A white one?” Marlin asked.
The blue tang stuck out her fin and said, “Hi. I’m Dory.”
“Where?” Marlin said, ignoring Dory’s greeting. “Which way?”
“Oh!” said Dory. “It went this way! Follow me.”
Dory led Marlin away from the reef, toward the open ocean.
“Thank you so much,” said Marlin.
“No problem,” Dory said, swimming along quickly.
Bit by bit, she slowed down. She glanced back at Marlin with a strange expression. Then she sped up. She swerved all around.
Is she trying to lose me? Marlin wondered. Finally, Dory hid behind a giant plant. Marlin swam past. Then she darted out and swam the other way.
Marlin spied her and spun around, too. “Will you quit it? I’m trying to swim here.”
“What? The ocean isn’t big enough for you?” Dory cried. “Stop following me, okay?”
Marlin was totally confused. “What are you talking about? You’re showing me which way the boat went.”
Dory bobbed excitedly. “A boat? Hey, I’ve seen a boat. It passed by not too long ago. It—it went… um, this way! Follow me!” “Wait a minute!” Marlin cried. “What is going on? You already told me which way the boat was going!”
“I did?” Dory looked embarrassed. “Oh, no! I’m so sorry. See, I suffer from short-term memory loss. I forget things almost instantly. It runs in my family. At least I think it does. Uh… hmm, where are they?”
She gazed into the distance, trying to remember. Then she looked at Marlin. “Can I help you?”
“You’re wasting my time. I have to find my son,” Marlin said.
Marlin turned tail to leave. But instead of swimming away, he could only gasp.
He was face to face with a very large shark!