Anthony's Aquatic Adventure

The day had started out innocently enough, Anthony woke up in his racecar bed, almost unable to contain his excitement, as today he was going to spend the whole day at the aquarium with his daycare. He put on his favorite shirt, the one with a shark on it and his jeans with the one hole on the knee because he fell while climbing a tree.

“Anthony, honey, are you sure you want to wear those jeans? They’re all ripped!” his grandmother had tutted, but they were in too much of a rush to change, so off to school he went, dressed in a shirt that barely fit that had a faded shark on it and jeans that were torn and very obviously needed a belt.

All of the children at his daycare were buzzing with excitement. It was mayhem as his teachers and parent chaperones were attempting to herd the children onto the buses but eventually all of the children were safely sitting in their seats, squirming and giggling as they waited for the bus to move.

The aquarium was approximately a 2-hour drive, which was plenty of time for five children to cry, three children to somehow lose their bags, and seven children to exclaim that they HAD to use the bathroom. The adults were frazzled by the time they arrived, but Anthony was too excited to notice. He had decided that his one goal today was to touch a shark.

For as long as four-year-old Anthony could remember, all he had ever wanted to do was to pet a shark, and for the first time in his short life, he felt he finally had the chance and he was not going to let this opportunity pass him by.

Anthony was a chronic rule-follower so adults rarely worried too much about him wandering off so even the parent chaperones seemed nonplussed when he asked to go to the bathroom that was right next to the shark exhibit.

“Of course, Tony, don’t forget to wash your hands and come right back here when you’re done!”

Anthony nodded solemnly, shaking a little, as he was nervous to ignore an adult’s orders but this was too important to him to care.

It was at this moment that Elenore, the youngest child in attendance on this field trip, grabbed a fish from the touch tank in the next room and threw it on another child and almost instantaneously the entire aquarium became mayhem.

Anthony heard the commotion and took that opportunity to sneak into the door marked “Danger! Employees Only!” although he only chose that door because he saw the word shark, which is one of the few words he could read.

He opened the door, which opened with surprisingly little force. The door instantly closed behind him and he wasn’t tall enough to turn on a light and even if he was, it was too dark in the room for him to be able to see where the light switch was. He cried out and started banging on the door, but it was a heavy door and there was a lot of commotion outside the room. Eventually he grew exhausted from hitting the door and crying and he ended up passed out on the floor, dried tears lining his face.

He had no way of knowing how long he had been asleep, but he suspected it had been a while because he heard no sounds outside the door. He half-heartedly tried banging on the door again, but even his young mind knew he wouldn’t be heard.

Anthony was a bright child who loved playing hide and seek so he was used to hiding in the dark and finding his way out of small spaces. There was just enough light in the room that he could make out a door at the other end of the room that he hadn’t noticed previously. It was locked but there was a key hanging next to the door that was just above his reach. He jumped as high as he could, but to no avail. He noticed a mop leaning against the wall and used it knock the key down then placed the key in the lock. He heard a click and felt the door unlock. He squealed in excitement and eagerly opened the door.

Anthony truly couldn’t believe his eyes. He was IN the shark exhibition. He was not 10 feet away from an actual shark that he could actually touch. He sucked in his breath and ran to the tank with an outstretched hand. He reached down as far as he could, but no shark came to him and his arm wasn’t long enough to touch the water. He shut his eyes tight, willing himself not to cry, but despite his best efforts, a single tear slid down his face. He looked around for something to stand on and eventually found a box he slid to the side of the tank. He stood on the box on his tiptoes and stretched his hand as far as he could until he could just barely touch the water. Before he could register what was happening, he lost his footing and fell into the water with a loud splash.

Luckily Anthony had just learned to swim that summer, but he wasn’t a very strong swimmer. He flailed his arms and screamed “help!” even though he knew no one was coming. He looked desperately for something to grab onto when he glimpsed something he almost didn’t believe.

Anthony’s eyes widened as they registered the small tentacle that was just within his reach. He grabbed the tentacle and he was able to pull himself up just enough to grab the top of the tank. At this point he was loudly sobbing and gasping for air but once he was able to catch his breath, he realized it was a small, pink octopus that had saved him.

Before he even realized he was doing it, he was laughing uncontrollably at the antics of his newfound friend. After several minutes of almost manic laughter, he calmed down long enough to thank his new pal and look for where the octopus had come from. He finally spotted a small, empty tank in the corner of the room that had a picture of an octopus next to it.

“OH! That’s where you live, isn’t it? Do you need help getting back home?”

He waited patiently for an answer but once he remembered that animals couldn’t speak his language, Anthony picked up the octopus and put him back in his home. He sighed contentedly then looked away for his own way out.

He searched the room the best he could with the little light he had but he couldn’t find any way that he could leave the room he was currently in. He started to cry again, this time quietly because he was fatigued and frightened.

Several minutes passed before he heard a sound he didn’t recognize and turned to look at the origin of the sound. It was the octopus sliding himself out of his enclosure. Mesmerized, Anthony stared at the octopus as he made himself as small as he could possibly could and slid out of the side of the tank and slithered his way towards the door.

Anthony rubbed his eyes in disbelief and then realized what the octopus was actually doing. The octopus slid under the door and a few seconds later, the door opened. Without hesitation, Anthony ran out of the door, terrified it might close again.

He was right, as soon as he ran out of the room, the door slammed behind him, leaving both Anthony and the octopus on the other side. Anthony didn’t know much about octopi, but he did know that most animals who lived in water needed water to breathe.

Desperately, he searched for somewhere to put his new friend in, but he was despondent to find that he couldn’t reach anywhere that the octopus would fit. While he was searching, Anthony thought about what he would call the octopus who saved his life.

“I don’t know where to put you, Ollie” Anthony sobbed, sure that his pal would die.

Luckily for Anthony, Ollie had his own survival in mind and slipped into a tank in the middle of the room, the tank with the other octopi.

“YOU FOUND YOUR FRIENDS!” Anthony shouted, jubilant for the moment.

Now that Anthony’s current predicament was solved, he turned his attention back to his original goal-he was still determined to touch a shark. He looked around for signs that might point to a shark tank, ideally a small tank with a small shark, but he didn’t really care, he felt that all sharks were created equal and that they all wanted to be his friend.

He walked down a long hallway, lined with pictures of whales, sharks, and dolphins. He touched the wall, picturing his teachers telling him not to touch, only to look, but they weren’t there so he chose to ignore their warnings.

He ended up by the touch tank and he decided to take a break to touch some other animals. He giggled as a manta ray swam to his fingers until he remembered that he was alone and scared and really just wanted his mommy.

Suddenly nothing else mattered, not even touching a shark.

Anthony scanned the room for a phone, but he couldn’t find one. He then decided to find his sole friend in this aquarium, Ollie the Lifesaving Octopus, but his sense of direction was still developing and it was dark. He tried to retrace his steps until he heard footsteps and he quickly hid in a photo-booth kiosk, his heart racing faster than he could ever remember.

“ANTHONY! Are you in here, buddy?”

Anthony didn’t recognize the voice, but he certainly recognized his name. He took a deep breath and shakily ran out of the kiosk, mustering enough confidence as he could to scream, “HERE I AM!”

It was instant chaos as soon as Anthony announced himself. Anthony was shocked to find out how many people were currently in the aquarium and they all rushed to him as soon as he revealed himself.

There were a lot of voices, but Anthony only cared about one. He ran into his mother’s arms and dissolved into breathless, desperate sobs while clinging to her as if his life depended on it.

“Oh, honey, I was so worried about you! What have you been doing here all night?!”

“Mommy, I was saved by an octopus but I didn’t get to touch a shark!”

With this realization that he didn’t achieve the one goal he had, he started shaking and crying.

While Anthony’s mother tried her best to comfort her son, the rest of the adults in the room tried to interpret what Anthony meant by saying he was saved by an octopus.

A gentleman with a kind face stooped to Anthony’s level and gently asked him to tell him about the octopus.

“I was locked in a room by the sharks and Ollie the Octopus saved me from the water then opened the door for me!”

Every adult in the room muttered to themselves and each other. It was difficult for Anthony to decipher what they were saying, but he did hear the words, “impossible” and “what an imagination!”.

The kind gentleman reached out his hand and asked Anthony if he would introduce him to Ollie.

Anthony nodded excitedly and said he was with the other jellyfish.

The entirety of Anthony’s search party followed Anthony and the kind gentleman, surprisingly quiet for a group that was very obviously buzzing with adrenaline.

The gentleman led Anthony to the jellyfish exhibit and asked if Ollie was in there.

Anthony scanned the tank and sadly exclaimed that his friend was not there. He squeezed his eyes tight, willing himself not to cry, but sure he would never see his friend again.

There was a palpable moment of silence while everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, the gentleman knelt next to Anthony and asked where Ollie saved him and Anthony lit up saying, “OH! Of COURSE he went back to his bedroom! That’s where I like to sleep, too!!”

It was suddenly as if Anthony was guided by his friend and he ran back to the restricted area, effortlessly leading the adults to his hideout, as if it were completely natural to him now.

He heard a cacophony of shouts from the rest of the group (“slow down!” “don’t run!” “please stay with mommy, baby!”) but he was so sure he would find his friend that he didn’t care. He didn’t stop until he reached the door, then looked at the kind gentleman expectantly, as if he knew he would open the door for him.

Wordlessly, the man grabbed Anthony’s hand and opened the door and turned on the light.

Anthony screamed in delight when he spotted Ollie in his tank and he could have sworn he saw him wave and maybe even wink at him.

He was entirely too wrapped up in his reunion with Ollie that he barely heard the adults discussing the impossibility of Anthony being saved by a quarantined octopus.

“We may truly never know what occurred tonight, but I am SO glad my baby is safe!” Anthony’s mom exclaimed, wrapping her arms tightly around her son. “Let’s go home, baby!”

Anthony happily grabbed his mother’s hand, anxious to get back to his own bedroom.