Molly didn't spend all her time jumping and playing. Each day soon after sunrise the mullet school would gather and Molly would study and learn how to be a good mullet. There were so many things to do and learn! Swimming, and jumping, and looking for food could keep a mullet very busy!

Then one day while the school was in session on a shoal off Harkers Island Molly and some of her friends found their way into Captain Bob's gill net. This was a new experience! Some of the mullets used their jumping skills and leapt right over the cork line of the net. Molly saw some of her friends flip back into the water and go swimming away. One mullet even jumped out of Captain Bob's hands just as he was putting it in the boat. That excited the good Captain and his fisherman friends and they all laughed and slapped their sides!

Molly was placed in a plastic basket in the bottom of the boat. She and all her friends flipped and flopped and she thought that maybe she should have jumped over the side when she had the chance. But for now she was content to go for a boat ride and see more of this new world she had discovered.

The boat motor coughed and chugged and then roared to life as the Captain and the crew busied themselves with straightening the net and checking the morning's catch. One of the fishermen picked up Molly and exclaimed that she was "a beauty." That made Molly feel proud and happy and she had her little mullet smile on her face. Molly noticed the fisherman's hands were rough and scratchy on her scaly back. The fisherman said something about a frying pan, hush puppies, and slaw that Molly didn't understand, but it must have been nice as all the other fishermen nodded their heads and seemed to agree that this frying pan was a good idea.

In a few minutes Molly noticed the blinking light of the Cape Lookout lighthouse as the boat passed by. Molly had seen the light many times as she jumped and swam in the Bight with her friends. Now it slipped quickly out of sight as the boat slowed and glided out towards Shackelford Banks. Molly knew that some of her family, including one of her brothers, had gone to a school near Shackleford where they were engaged in the study of matters of great importance. She hoped that she might get to see them, and she became excited when one of the men pointed towards the beach and shouted,"Yonder one jumps!" The Captain gunned the motor and one of the men scrambled and tossed a big weight over the side and the net began to fly over the transom. The Captain turned the wheel and the boat skittered around in a big circle, then the crew talked happily as they pulled the net back on board.

Soon all the baskets were full and the men threw the other mullets on the deck where they flipped and flopped as scales and salt water flew in every direction. Molly didn't see anyone she recognized and was a little disappointed, but didn't think about it long when she heard the Captain say, "Time to head for home."

The motor roared again and the boat bounced in the swells as the Captain steered a course back past Cape Lookout, down the channel in front of Harkers Island, and on up Taylor's Creek to the fish house. There some more men picked up the baskets, while others used shovels to toss the fish into boxes that were piled on the dock. Molly caught a shiver down her mullet back when she saw men piling ice on the boxes in the fish house. Molly had seen ice once before and found she did not care for the way it made her scales feel all flat and icky. Molly knew that her smile would never be the same if she were to be placed under such a shovelful of ice. Just as she began to panic and think a frigid future lay in her forecast, Molly was pleased to feel the hands of the fisherman she had met before. Molly was delighted when he said, "You're coming home with me."

Now Molly could relax and smile again! The fisherman placed Molly and a few other mullets in a small box in the back of his pickup. Molly was surprised at the feeling she had as the truck sped down the highway and the wind rustled her scales. Molly was afraid that all this would make her scales come loose, but it lasted only a few minutes as the fisherman soon pulled the truck behind a small white house and stopped.

He took Molly and the box of mullets into the house and spoke to a nice lady Molly assumed to be a friend of his. The way the lady smiled told Molly that she liked the fisherman, but the lady's smile dropped when she saw the box of mullets. She said something to the fisherman about pork chops and pole beans and something called sweet potatoes. Molly wondered if the potatoes were what she smelled as the fisherman set the box near the kitchen sink. Whatever was cooking Molly didn't know, but when the lady said something about a freezer Molly became quite anxious. Surely she didn't give up swimming and jumping in Core Sound just to be put in a freezer!

The fisherman said something about not putting these mullets in the freezer and the lady said something else and they both began to talk at the same time and Molly couldn't understand all of what they said. All she knew was that later that day the lady took her and the others and placed them in a great big white box that had a light inside. The situation became quite spooky when the the door closed and the box became quiet and dark, and Molly noticed her bones beginning to get cold.

Some days later, Molly couldn't recall how long it had been, someone opened the door to the box and everything got really bright. Molly saw the fisherman and hoped that he had come to visit her, but he reached past her and picked up a box of chocolate ice cream. Just as he was shutting the door Molly noticed that standing next to him was a little girl and as the door closed the girl called out, "What kind of fish is that Daddy?"

Molly was delighted when the fisherman reached in, picked her up, and explained, "Sarah, this is a jumping mullet." She was all stiff and feeling chilled as he pulled her out of the box, but she felt better in an instant as the fisherman placed her in the hands of the little girl .

"This is my fishy," Sarah said, and Molly smiled her little mullet smile as the fisherman wrapped her in a towel which made her scales feel warm again. Molly was proud as Sarah paraded her around the house and introduced her to her friends who were visiting. "What a pretty mullet," they exclaimed, and each took a turn at holding her. Each of them handled her gently, but none was as nice as little Sarah, Molly's new friend.

Sarah took Molly all through the house, showing her toys and dolls that looked just like tiny people. Sarah even walked with Molly out into the yard and they both became excited when a big furry beast which Sarah called Miss Kitty seemed to take a keen interest in Molly's fins and belly. "Ouch!" Molly thought as Miss Kitty pulled out one of the scales near her tail. Only Sarah's quick action and kindness prevented a calamity as she picked up the scale and returned it to her dad and asked if he would please fix Molly's tail scale.

Molly knew that as long as she had a friend like Sarah she need not worry. After Sarah's dad did his best to patch her scale he opened the icebox and carefully placed Molly back next to the ice cream. Even when the door closed and the light winked out, she felt warm inside - because she knew Sarah would be back to play again someday.