Shiny Fish

By: Selma Ortiz

“What do you think they’re saying?” Felipe asked, his tiny face pressed up against the glass. “Bloop, bloop,” he mimicked the fish as they swam by. 

Iris squished her cheeks together, and in a funny voice, she said, “Hello, how was your day?”

Felipe giggled. They kept looking. There was a pretty blue and yellow fish that caught their attention. Every fishy had more fishies following it of the same color, except for that one. Iris was only thinking of how shiny its scales were, but Felipe looked sad.

“What’s wrong?” said Iris, tilting her head to the side.

He poked his finger to the glass and pointed at the blue and yellow fish.

“It’s all alone,” he said. 

“No, look at all the other fishies!”

Felipe didn’t know how to explain it to her. He tried to think of the words, but then something more worrying popped into his mind, and he forgot about the fish altogether.

His eyes grew big. “Are you gonna leave me?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe,” Iris responded. “When I’m big, my mom says I’ll want a boyfriend. I might go with him.”

“Oh, well…I won’t leave you!” he yelled.

And she giggled, “You’re silly.”

But he was serious. At that moment, he believed he would follow Iris forever. And in that second of clarity, he reached his hand out and grabbed hers.  

Art by Nadia Perry