Remarkably Bright Creatures

Marcellus thinks about the seahorse spawning and how newborn seahorses are so unlike newborn humans as well as the reliance human children have on their parents and how little he knows about octopus children. He remembers a game he likes to play with humans, where one will stop at his tank and he’ll stretch himself out and come close—but when the human runs off to bring back their friends, Marcellus runs away. He finds humans predictable, except for Tova.

Ethan picks up Tova to go to Charter Village after having spent the morning carefully grooming. He taps his fingers nervously in the car, and Tova compares him to Erik’s busy “honeybee hands” (68). While they drive, Tova fills in a crossword. They arrive at Charter Village, and Ethan is surprised to learn it’s Tova first time there. He sits in the reception area while Tova goes through Lars’s things and joins a tour of the facilities. The place is wealthy and well-maintained. Tova returns with a box and they get back in the car; Ethan notices that Tova has taken an application form for the home.

Marcellus considers the nature of the word cookie after being called a “smart cookie” by Dr. Santiago. Earlier, she and Terry gave Marcellus a latched box containing a crab and waited to see how he would open it. Marcellus got inside quickly and easily, which unnerved them. He reflects on his own superior intelligence compared to other creatures.

Cameron searches for a phone charger and meets Elizabeth. He thinks about how strange it is that his two best friends are building a life together. She asks him about his plans and derides his idea to live above the bar. She also comments on his Moth Sausage sweater and tells him Brad already threw his away. Later Cameron lies awake searching Katie’s social media and thinking about where he belongs. He gets up to explore the box of his mother’s things and finds memorabilia from her youth. The box also contains a bag of jewelry, which Cameron plans to sell, and an old Sowell Bay High School class ring with a photo wrapped around it. The photo is of Cameron’s mother and an unknown man.

Tova sits alone in a park where she used to picnic with her deceased husband, Will. She does her crossword and tries to solve a clue about the band “Blondie.” She remembers the way Erik listened to a Blondie cassette until it wore out. A man arrives to drink from a water fountain, but Tova tells him it’s broken; she offers him some of her water instead. He helps her fill in the crossword and realizes who she is; he introduces himself as Adam Wright and tells her that he went to school with Erik. At home, Tova does her laundry and considers Lars’s things that she retrieved from Charter Village. She considers turning his old bathrobe into cleaning rags, then sets it aside. She looks through his old photos and finds one of him and Erik on a sailboat, remembering that Lars taught Erik everything he knew about sailing. She hides the photo in her kitchen.

Marcellus considers the human propensity to discuss weather as if it’s always unexpected. He compares their conversations to speaking to jellyfish about air bubbles, though the jellyfish aren’t smart enough to respond. He observes the change in human clothes and the way they react to the incoming summer.

Tova meets Barb, one of the Knit-Wits, at the hairdresser, who asks her about Lars. Tova tells her about her trip to fetch Lars’s things, and they discuss Charter Village. At the aquarium, Tova looks around Terry’s office at his family photos and reflects on how her own photos of Erik’s life are missing. Terry offers his condolences for Lars, whom he heard about from Ethan, and then asks Tova to clean the front windows in preparation for a busy Fourth of July weekend. Tova sees a heavy clamp on Terry’s desk, and he tells her it’s to prevent Marcellus from getting out and eating the sea cucumbers. Tova uncomfortably tells him she doesn’t see how that’s possible. As Terry leaves, he advises her to be careful on the slippery floors.

Tova greets Marcellus and tells him that Terry suspects his escapes. Marcellus signals to her that he wants to shake hands, so she stands on a chair and opens the tank’s lid. Marcellus wraps his tentacle around her arm and pulls her close to the water, and they examine each other. He investigates her freshly done hair. Then Marcellus disappears back into his tank, only to return with Tova’s house key, which she lost a year before.

Marcellus explains his treasure hoard, which is made up of stray objects humans have left behind. He was attracted to Tova’s key because it matched one he had seen before on a corpse at the bottom of the ocean. He wishes he could collect everything from the dead human and give it to Tova, but he settles for returning her key.

Cameron shows up at the bar and asks Al to rent his apartment. However, the man turns him down for his antics and unreliability. Al examines the Sowell Bay class ring and tells Cameron his mother used to live there; his aunt Jeanne once went to pick her up. Later, Cameron searches for his mother’s graduating class online. He discovers the ring has the engraving “EELS.” He finds a photo of his mother with the man from his own photo and learns more about him: His name is Simon Brinks, and he’s a rich real estate developer in Seattle. Elizabeth enters, and Cameron tells her about his discovery. He’s convinced Simon Brinks is his father and plans to go find him, though he’s not interested in building a relationship—he only wants to get some money. Cameron books a last-minute flight to Seattle.

Tova sits at home and sees the stray cat—now named Cat—enter through a loose screen door. She considers getting some glue to fix it, then remembers throwing away the clamp for Marcellus’s tank. She invites Cat to join her for breakfast. At the aquarium, Tova cleans the edges of Marcellus’s enclosure. She talks to him about Will and the Knit-Wits. Marcellus expresses an interest in her birthmark, and she tells him Erik once tried to draw the same one on himself. She tells him about Erik and wonders if Marcellus misses the sea. She tells him about how she and Erik argued about a broken Dala Horse that had belonged to her mother and how she forced Erik to take a summer job, which she believes led to his death. As she stretches to clean farther along the tank, her stool slips and she falls. The stool has become damaged, and Tova tries to fix it but sees that she’s missing a part. Marcellus quickly escapes from his tank and goes beneath a cabinet, where he retrieves the missing piece.

The next day, Tova realizes her ankle is damaged from the fall. She calls a doctor and books an appointment for the next day. The receptionist makes her promise not to go to work that evening. She calls Terry to explain, omitting the fact that her fall happened while at work.

Cameron arrives in Seattle, but his luggage containing his mother’s jewelry is missing. A man named Elliot starts talking to him, attempts to make friends, and helps Cameron file a claim for his missing suitcase. Cameron finds the man’s company irritating, but they’re stuck together in the queue, so they discuss their families. Cameron tells him he’s come to see his dad in Sowell Bay. While waiting, he calls Aunt Jeanne and tells her about his plan to find his father and his lost suitcase. She agrees to loan him $2000. Elliot tells Cameron he knows someone with a camper van to sell, which would give Cameron a place to stay and transportation at once.

Tova remembers an eight-legged crab Erik once rescued and insisted on keeping as a pet. Tova feels a kinship with the damaged crab as she tries to manage with one foot in a cast. The doctor has told her to stay off her feet for six weeks. One of the Knit-Wits, Janice, stops by to check on Tova and bring her a casserole. She tells Tova that they’re planning a celebration for another Knit-Wit, Mary Ann, who is moving away. Before she leaves, Janice gives Tova a cell phone, so she can call for help if needed. As Tova prepares the casserole for dinner, the cell phone begins buzzing and startles Tova into dropping her food on the floor. She spends the evening with Cat and thinks about the other Knit-Wits’ families and about Will’s death. Then she decides to fill out the application to Charter Village.

Cameron drives in his new, dilapidated camper van toward Sowell Bay. When he arrives, everything seems to be closed. Searching for a way to kill time before searching for Simon Brinks, he goes to the Shop-Way for coffee and meets Ethan, whom he calls “Red Beard.” Ethan offers Cameron breakfast and learns he’s in town looking for his father. Cameron tells Ethan he plays guitar in Moth Sausage, and Ethan pretends to recognize the band to tease him. After Cameron is fed, he goes back to his camper van and sees that one of the tires has gone flat. Ethan sees the van and comes outside to introduce himself.

Marcellus notices fingerprints accumulating on the glass in Tova’s absence. He explains his three separate hearts; his “organ,” or central, heart stops while he swims. However, it skipped when Tova fell even though he was not swimming. He hopes she will return soon.