The fish came in with the curve of the wave. Surprised, he found himself lodged in the rocks and sand, caught on shore.
It was his curiosity that drew him too close to the edge of the water – the draw of the alluring world above his own. The strange water with the shining globe, and the mysterious fish that were clad in strange blocks of scales that hung loosely from their bones.
The same fish that swam on long split fins, upright instead of forward, as well as the funny, smaller ones that swam next to them on four long, thin fins, with an extra one sweeping out behind them. Those fish had funny scales, too; instead of the bright colors of the tall upright fish, they had scales the colors of the sand and rocks, and hung from their bodies like the fringed kelp of the ocean floor.
It was a world different than what the fish had always known – it seemed more open. Larger. Clearer. Brighter and far more exciting. Oh, he had been warned by his friends and family not to go beyond the edges of where the waves curled – that to do so was the risk of danger. But the draw had always been strong, and each day the fish had grown more courageous and daring as he swam closer to get a better view.
It seemed silly, to him, the danger. The world above seemed gentle and open for exploration.
After all, he sometimes saw the tall strange fish in the water, sometimes in proper scales that clung to their body as they slipped through the water – or other times, wearing large kelp bulbs on their backs that seemed to be their gills for breathing. And so, it had seemed to him, that if those fish could swim in his world – why couldn’t he swim in theirs?
Another wave reached for the fish to pull him back; but in the receding tide its grasp was too short. Panicked, the fish flopped and strained to reach the next wave – but couldn’t. He gulped at the strange, thin water around him. But instead of filling his lungs with cool relief, it felt like burning sand in his gills.
Again the sea reached for its friend, desperate to pull it home, but could only brush its fingertips over the fish’s lithe body. Panic mewling in its mind and veins, the fish jumped as best he could, hoping to push himself into closer range, but the effort was useless. The sand in his gills scraped and clawed, driving his terror deeper into him.
He knew, now, the truth behind his friends’ and family’s warnings of going to near the edge of the water, that it was dangerous and one that should be forgotten. It was cruel – hot and burning and made of thin, stifling water. He knew, now, that the world from which he’d come was no longer within his reach.
And yet, this new world was lovely. The blue of the water above him was brilliant, unlike any color he could find at home. The bright globe – though hot and searing on the his scales – was no longer diffused and shafted as it was beneath the water. It wasn’t broken and dappled – instead, it was a single light of breathtaking solitude. The sounds around him, though confusing and loud, were rich and beautiful, deeply unlike the yawning, boring, quiet that he was used to, punctuated by the occasional splash and whale song.
The fish’s panic receded, and dissolved into the call of the waves. He felt his breath returning to him has he let go of the desperation to breathe in the scratchy, thin water around him. The radiance and luster of the world around him felt like a shepherd.
A last dart of fear and longing slipped through the fish as he thought of his friends and family swimming in the cold, dark deep that was now just beyond his reach.
But, then, a cool current slipped over his scales. He was swimming again! He was certain of this, despite the rough tug and scrape of the sand and rocks beneath him. He smiled as he felt his gills slip into cool calmness as breath returned to him again; the bright globe above him no longer felt hot and greedy on his scales. Instead, it was as gentle as the velvet cool of his old world – just as he had always thought this world would be. The light around him became diffused, almost dim. Soft and tranquil.
He heard the sea cry out to him once more, begging him to swim towards it, but the fish ignored it, and chose, instead, the acceptance of his passage into this extraordinary world.
