- Tubarina: Gummy! Gummy! Gummy! [bounce] There you are! Hey, d’you wanna play? Bring me the ball, Gummy. That’s it. Good Gummy. Uh, what’re you doing? Gummy! I thought you wanted to play with me.
- Marcello: He was playing with me, Tubarina.
- Tubarina: Marcello? What are you doing here?
- Marcello: I could ask you the same thing.
- Tubarina: It’d be a very silly question. I live here.
- Marcello: And it’s a silly question for me, too, because I live here.
- Tubarina: No, you don’t.
- Marcello: Yes, I do.
- Tubarina: Since when?
- Marcello: Haven’t your mom and dad told you?
- Tubarina: Told me what?
- Marcello: The surprise.
- Tubarina: What surprise?
- Marcello: The big surprise you’ll get when you talk to them. [to Gummy] My cousin Tubarina, she’s always so annoying!
- Tubarina: My cousin Marcello, he’s always so annoying!
- [knock on door]
- Shark King: Come.
- [door opens]
- Shark Queen: Tubarina, I was just about to come and see you.
- Shark King: Have you met Marcello yet?
- Tubarina: I have, Father. That’s what I wanted to ask you about.
- Shark Queen: We should’ve told her earlier, but we’ve been so busy organising this year’s Royal Ball.
- Shark King: Marcello will be staying with us for a little while.
- Tubarina: So he is living here!
- Shark King: And while he’s here, I know you will do everything to help him and make him feel at home. Correct?
- Tubarina: How long will I have to make him feel at home?
- Shark Queen: Just until his mother and father return from their journey.
- Shark King: The hammerhead sharks are touring the Farlands. They could be gone for some weeks.
- Tubarina: [shocked] Marcello will be here for weeks?
- Shark King: Possibly months.
- Tubarina: Months?
- Shark King: Maybe even uh…
- Tubarina: [whispering to herself] Oh, not years!
- Shark King: …no, just months.
- Tubarina: [sigh of relief] Months is bad enough.
- Shark Queen: You’ll have to excuse us, dear. We got so much to do for the Royal Ball tonight.
- Tubarina: [dejectedly] Yes, Mother.
- [door closes]
- Marcello: Told you I was living here with Tubarina.
- Tubarina: But you didn’t tell me about your mother and father being away.
- Marcello: You didn’t ask.
- Tubarina: We should be quiet. My mother and father are very busy planning the Royal Ball.
- Marcello: [mockingly] I know. I’m going.
- Tubarina: Children aren’t allowed.
- Marcello: Unless…
- Tubarina: Unless what?
- Marcello: [gestures to Tubarina, then whispers] Not telling!
- Tubarina: [to herself, frustrated] Oh! Stupid boy!
- Tubarina: It’s all arranged. We can stay here in my room during the Ball.
- Ester: A sea princess sleepover! What fun!
- Polvina: What about Marcello?
- Tubarina: Oh! Don’t remind me of him! Bad enough he’s living here now.
- Polvina: It’s only for a few months. It’s not forever.
- Tubarina: It will feel like forever.
- [door closes]
- Polvina: What is it, Ester?
- Ester: Do you know what it means to have the Royal Ball right here?
- Tubarina: Uhh, give us a clue?
- Ester: If we’re up here and the Ball is downstairs, we can sneak down and have a look!
- Polvina: That would be wonderful!
- Tubarina: I bet Marcello’s planning something too.
- Ester: Like what?
- Polvina: I bet he’s going to sneak into the ball too!
- Ester: But he won’t be the first prince or princess to do it!
- Polvina: Who’s first?
- Ester: Us! Because we’re going to beat him to it!
- [royal fanfare]
- Polvina: Everyone looks so grand!
- Shark King: [to kings and queens] Good evening, everyone.
- Shark Queen: [to kings and queens] Welcome to Shark Castle.
- Ester: And we’ll get an even closer look at them soon.
- Marcello: So will I.
- Ester: So you are going to sneak down into the ball.
- Marcello: And I don’t plan to get caught, like you will.
- Tubarina: We won’t be caught.
- Marcello: You’ll be caught, and I’ll be laughing!
- Tubarina: You won’t have time to laugh! You’ll be in too much trouble after they discover you!
- Marcello: My only trouble will be getting sick from laughing too much when they catch you!
- Polvina: Oh, why don’t we plan something together?
- Ester: And make sure none of us gets caught?
- Tubarina and Marcello: No way!
- Pointer: [growls]
- Tubarina and Marcello: [screams]
- Tubarina: Pointer? What are you doing here? This is my room.
- Shark King: Excellent, I see you’ve met your babysitter for tonight.
- Others: Babysitter?
- Shark King: As the Shark King, I can think of no other babysitter than Pointer. He’ll look after you perfectly.
- Tubarina: But Father, we don’t need a babysitter.
- Marcello: We’ll be no trouble, Uncle.
- Shark King: Of course you won’t, especially now that you have such an excellent minder. I must be returning to the Ball. Have a good night!
- Pointer: [growls]
- Ester: Go on, Tubarina. You’re the Shark Princess. Talk to him.
- Tubarina: About what?
- Polvina: About how we’re old enough to look after ourselves.
- Tubarina: [sighs uneasily] I’ll try. Er, Pointer?
- Pointer: [growls]
- Tubarina: This is really such a waste of your time. We don’t need a babysitter. We’ll be fine on our own.
- Pointer: [roars]
- Tubarina: [to others] Do you wanna know what he said?
- Ester: I think we’ve got it.
- Polvina: Everyone’s arrived. The Ball will be starting any moment.
- Ester: We’ll never get to see it now.
- Marcello: We definitely won’t get to see it with old Fangface watching us.
- Tubarina: Only my father would get a shark like him as a babysitter!
- Pointer: [growls]
- Ester: What can we do?
- Polvina: There’s only one thing for it. If we want to see the Royal Ball, we’ll have to work together.
- Tubarina and Marcello: I suppose…
- Ester: But we’ll have to get around him first. Gummy, take this and see if Pointer will play with you.
- Marcello: Good idea! A diversion!
- Gummy: [gurgles]
- Pointer: [pops ball, growls]
- Tubarina: So much for that idea.
- Polvina: Humph. He could have just said “no thank you”.
- Ester: We can’t do anything with him watching. We might as well just go to sleep.
- Marcello: Hey, that could be it!
- Tubarina: What’s it? We don’t want to go to sleep.
- Marcello: But we can try and make him go to sleep.
- Polvina: Do sharks sleep?
- Tubarina: They do go into a dreamy state.
- Ester: That’s all we need. So, what do we have to do?
- Marcello: Just do like I do. [yawn] I’m so sleepy!
- Tubarina: [yawns] And so am I!
- Girls and Marcello: [yawning]
- Pointer: [yawns, then growls]
- Ester: One more time. All together.
- Girls and Marcello: [yawning]
- Pointer: [yawns, then begins snoring]
- Polvina: We did it!
- Tubarina: [whispering] Gummy!
- Gummy: [snoring]
- Tubarina: Gummy!
- Gummy: [snoring]
- Marcello: Let’s just go.
- Ester: Because the shark might wake up any moment.
- Ester: We sneak in through the window, we have a look, we sneak out and back upstairs.
- Tubarina and Marcello: Got it!
- Tubarina: Do you have to say everything I say?
- Marcello: I said it first.
- Tubarina: You did not!
- Polvina: Will you two cut it out?
- Ester: Come on and go carefully!
- [kings and queens chattering]
- Polvina: Wow. It’s even more beautiful than I thought it would be!
- Ester: It is! But…
- Polvina: But what?
- Tubarina: Isn’t it…
- Marcello: …sort of…
- Ester: …boring?
- Tubarina: No music is being played.
- [Penguin Queen yawns]
- Ester: No one’s dancing.
- Marcello: No one’s even talking much.
- Ester: And I can’t see a smile anywhere.
- Tubarina: No one’s having any fun!
- Polvina: It can’t be boring! It’s the Royal Ball!
- Tubarina: Oh, what a waste! Let’s go!
- [royal fanfare]
- Ester: Wait a minute! Maybe something will happen now!
- [Pointer wakes up and growls]
- Shark King: Hello, kings and queens of Salacia. Welcome to the Royal Ball.
- Shark Queen: It’s a great honour to see ya’all here.
- [applause]
- Ester: [to Tubarina] Sorry. I was wrong. It’s just starchy old speeches.
- Tubarina: Let’s get out of here while everyone’s looking at my mother and father.
- [screams]
- Pointer: [growling]
- Ester: Uh oh. I think we’re in trouble!
- Shark Queen: Oh my!
- Shark King: Pointer? Pointer, what’s the matter?
- Shark Queen: Why aren’t you upstairs looking after the princesses?
- Pointer: [roars]
- Girls and Marcello: [gasp]
- Ester: He’s spotted us!
- Marcello: We’ll never get out of here.
- Polvina: Your father’s going to be so cross!
- Tubarina: Not if we disappear!
- Marcello: Disappear? How’re we gonna just disappear?
- Tubarina: Watch this, cousin! [flicks switch off]
- [confused hubbub]
- Shark King: Will somebody turn on the lights, please? [lights go back on] Thank you. Now, who is responsible for this? [statue cracks and breaks, Pointer growling] Pointer, what’s come over you? Are you feeling alright?
- [Starfish Queen laughs, followed by Penguin Queen and everyone else]
- Shark Queen: Thank you, Pointer. For the first time tonight, people seem to be enjoying themselves.
- Shark King: You’re right, they are too. Wonderful work, Pointer, you’re a hit!
- Shark Queen: Music, please!
- Shark King: [laughing with others]
- [music plays]
- Ester: Made it!
- Tubarina: And nobody saw us. So I did make us disappear.
- Marcello: Well, you got lucky.
- Polvina: Listen!
- Ester: Everyone’s laughing!
- Tubarina: And there’s music!
- Polvina: The Royal Ball doesn’t sound boring anymore.
- Tubarina: It sounds like the kings and queens are actually having fun!
- Ester: Do you think we did that?
- Marcello: We probably did, thanks to me.
- Tubarina: You?
- Marcello: It was my idea to sneak into the Ball and have a look.
- Tubarina: We had that idea too!
- Marcello: You’d never have made it if I didn’t know how to trick the babysitter.
- Tubarina: And you’d have been in big trouble if I didn’t know how to switch off the lights!
- Polvina: Why don’t we just agree that you both did a good job?
- Tubarina and Marcello: Alright. [shocked] Stop repeating me! You did it again!
- Gummy: [gurgling]
- Polvina: I think Gummy has a good suggestion. Let’s play chase ball.
- Ester: Or would you two rather argue the whole night?
- Tubarina and Marcello: Probably! [laughing]
- Ester: Great. I’m glad that’s settled.
- Polvina: Ester, Gummy, let’s see how good these cousins are at chasing!
- Tubarina: What do you think, cousin? Can we catch ’em?
- Marcello: I can, as long as you don’t slow me down!
- Tubarina: Me slow you?
- Marcello: Got you again!
- Tubarina: Oh! To think I’ve got to put up with him for months! Watch out Marcello, I’ll show you who’s slow!