A new friend for our adventure
After our encounter with the barracudas, Crunch and Nibble, we had made a new friend.
“Paulie, you’re a parrotfish, right?” asked Alex.
“Yup! My dad was a parrotfish, and my mom was a parrotfish, and that makes me a parrotfish, too,” replied Paulie.
“You’re pretty funny,” said Alex.
Paulie frowned. “You mean I’m funny looking.” Paulie was sad.
“No. That’s not what I meant,” Alex tried to explain. Paulie began to swim away.
“Where are you going?” I asked him.
Paulie said sadly, “Thanks for the help, but I guess you’re no different than the rest.”
He was swimming away slowly when I approached him. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
Paulie stopped and turned to face me. “Since I was a small fish, I’ve been made fun of because of the way I look,” he explained. I looked at him. I swam around and looked at him from both sides and from the back.
“Oh, I get it. It’s because you’re a fish, right?”
Paulie shook his head. I scratched mine. “Is it because you’re colorful?”
“No,” said Paulie. “It’s because of these.” He pointed to his large front teeth.
“What’s wrong with your teeth?” I asked.
“Well, if you haven’t noticed, not all parrotfish have teeth this big,” explained Paulie.
I looked at his teeth. “Hmmm,” I said, “I’d say you’re unique.”
Paulie was puzzled. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re special. You’re one of a kind.”
Paulie thought about what I’d said. Then he brightened up, “I can chomp more coral than other parrotfish.” He smiled, “Watch this.” He swam over to a section of coral and began chomping. He was right. Parrotfish eat coral and make sand out of it. He was eating more coral than any other parrotfish I had ever seen.
“Wow!” I shouted.
Paulie swam back over. “Did you see that?”
“I sure did,” I told him.
“Other fish make fun of me because of my large teeth. Those two meanies, Crunch and Nibble, have been teasing me and other fish for years.” He looked up at me, “Today was the first time they got a taste of their own medicine.” Paulie looked at me and Alex and asked, “So what are you two doing around here?”
“We’re on an adventure,” explained Alex. “We’re exploring the coral reef and then beyond to the open sea.”
Paulie did a somersault. “Wow! Can I go, too?” Before we could answer, Paulie continued, “I can swim real fast, and,” he swam under a nearby shell, half his body sticking out, “I can hide real well. You can’t see me! I’m over here!” He darted out from under the shell. “I can also find food.” He picked up the same shell he was hiding under.
“That’s a shell,” said Alex.
Paulie chomped on the shell, “Yeah, it tastes good, too.” He continued to munch on the shell.
I turned to Alex, “Well, we could use some protection on this adventure.” Alex smiled.
“Woohoo!” shouted Paulie as he swam in circles and in somersaults.
Tags: children, loggerhead, parrotfish, sea turtle, story
Posted by Dan under From Eartha | Permalink