Free The Japanese Devil Fish Girl by Robert Rankin

the Ripper,’ said George.
     
    ‘Precisely. And several displaying wounds thought to have been inflicted by surgical instruments. And every murder within a stone’s throw of the London Hospital.’
     
    ‘A surgeon?’ said George.
     
    Professor Coffin shook his head. ‘Not according to Mr Treves. Mr Treves says Joseph Merrick did them. He says that Mr Merrick confessed to him whilst drunken with champagne.’
     
    ‘A sensational tale,’ said Laloo.
     
    ‘And one that will never find its way before the public,’ said Professor Coffin, in a whisper. ‘Mr Merrick is the darling of the gentry and in failing health. He will die loved and that will be how history will record him.’
     
    ‘But—’ went George.
     
    ‘I did not say it was “just”,’ said Professor Coffin, ‘only that that is how it will be.’
     
    There was a certain silence then, each man alone with his thoughts.
     
    ‘Of course,’ said the tattooed dwarf, ‘we all know what the greatest attraction in the world would be , if anyone could attain it.’
     
    ‘Ah,’ said Laloo.
     
    And Professor Coffin nodded.
     
    ‘What is it, then?’ asked George. ‘What might this be?’
     
    ‘A legend,’ said Professor Coffin. ‘A tall tale told in pot-rooms.’
     
    ‘I know of a man who claims that he saw Her,’ said Laloo. ‘Or claims that he knows of a man who did, or suchlike.’
     
    ‘What is it?’ George asked once again.
     
    ‘I heard,’ said the dwarf, ‘that Barnum 3 is even now in negotiations. That he hopes to present Her in London before the Queen’s Jubilee.’
     
    ‘What is it?’ asked George. Once more. Again.
     
    ‘I have heard that you cannot gaze upon Her without the use of special goggles,’ said Jo Jo, the Russian Dog-Faced Boy. ‘That Her glance can turn you to stone just like the Medusa’s.’
     
    ‘If someone does not tell me at once,’ said George, ‘I will be forced to start a fight.’
     
    ‘Then out of the window you will go,’ said the armless Mr Untham.
     
    ‘Someone tell me, please.’
     
    ‘She is known by many names,’ said Laloo, ‘and there are many tales regarding Her origins. Some say that She is an unnatural prodigy, a genuine chimera of woman and of fish.’
     
    ‘A mermaid?’ said George. ‘A genuine mermaid?’
     
    ‘Not a mermaid,’ said the dwarf. ‘Although there is the involvement of fish. She is the last survivor of Atlantis. She breathes through gills but walks upon two legs.’
     
    ‘Atlantis,’ went Mr Untham. ‘Plah. She was born from an alchemist’s vat. Created by the last of all the Magi. Grown in a girl-shaped vase and brought to life by words drawn from the Grimoire of Moses.’
     
    George glanced to Professor Coffin.
     
    Professor Coffin shrugged. ‘There are many, many theories,’ he said, ‘but all agree that She does exist somewhere. And that She is the most wonderful creature in all of the universe. They call Her the Japanese Devil Fish Girl.’
     
    ‘They call Her Sayito,’ said the dwarf.
     

10
     
    E ventually they returned to Hounslow Heath, somewhat mellow from drink. As the air within the showman’s wagon was once more ill-favoured by Martian taint, the professor pulled out blankets and suggested to George that as the night was warm, they should bivouac on the roof.
     
    A deal of alcohol-induced comedy climbing up there concluded with the two of them side by side and flat upon their backs, gazing up at the stars.
     
    ‘You knew,’ said George. ‘And do not deny that you did.’
     
    ‘I assume you refer to the Japanese Devil Fish Girl,’ Professor Coffin said.
     
    ‘You knew that She is known as Sayito. And because Macmoyster Farl said that I would one day open The Book of Sayito and meet Her , you took me to that very alehouse and steered the conversation around to that very subject.’
     
    ‘You give me credit for subtlety and subversiveness that I would be proud to possess.’
     
    ‘So it is all just a