A Visit to the Aquarium

by Katie Humphries

Ed Fuchs leaned against the gray wooden exterior of the Seattle Aquarium, hands stuffed inside the pockets of a black windbreaker, waiting for his daughter to arrive. It was a cold and drizzly November day, perfect for a cigarette. Chunky seagulls were circling overhead, their cries either optimistic and playful or foreboding and grating, depending on one’s mood. Ed jangled the keys in his sweatpants and brought an invisible cigarette up to his mouth with his right hand and inhaled. The air smelled of brine and popcorn.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his ex-wife’s silver Mercedes approach the aquarium. Celeste pulled in front of the building and parked illegally in a handicapped spot. She was dressed for work in a black suit and silk blouse; enormous pink sunglasses adorned her heart-shaped face. She looked like a forty-year-old Hello Kitty. The passenger window descended, and their thirteen-year-old daughter, Kelsey, waved at Ed with a look of relief on her face. The lyrics to “Constant Craving,” by K.D. Lang mixed with Celeste’s musky perfume poured out of the car window. Ed’s stomach tightened. Celeste, long strawberry-blonde hair falling over one shoulder, pressed Kelsey back and leaned forward to speak.

“I’ll pick her up at five, on my way home.”

Ed continued to lean against the wall, saying nothing.

“Ed?” Celeste asked.

Her hair looked blonder than usual, and she was no longer wearing her wedding ring. He reached down and twisted his.

“Ed,” she repeated.

He slowly looked up at his wife’s beautiful face and marveled at his hatred. Twenty years ago, Celeste had been his favorite person. For the first ten years of their marriage, Ed was incapable of making an important decision without consulting her first. Even after Kelsey was born, he’d think about her perfectly round ass when he was at work and get an erection. As little as three years ago, he couldn’t fall asleep until she kissed him good night.

But then life had gotten onerous, and they found their strength not in each other but in themselves. Ed lost his engineering job and was unable to find anything which he felt was appropriate. He’d been unemployed now for almost two years. This led to a depression, which jumpstarted an old crutch from his tumultuous teenage years—shoplifting. Celeste focused her energy at work since she was now the primary breadwinner. As she rose among the ranks at Cuttleworth and Cheever, LLC, Ed began stealing candy, hand weights, and tropical fish. One Sunday afternoon at the downtown Seattle Petco, he got arrested for stealing a 250-dollar aquarium pump and filter. When he called Celeste to bail him out, she refused. The less control he had over his life, the more he began to despise his wife.

He now found himself imagining his hands around her neck, choking her into eternal quiet, at least once a month. At this very moment, while he was lying to her that everything was “Okay,” he was visualizing a large city bus with squeaky brakes plowing into her illegally parked Mercedes. The fact that love could turn so quickly into hate was perhaps more troubling to him than the end of their marriage had been.

Kelsey emerged from the passenger-side door and shoved it shut with her left hip. She leaned into the window with a good-bye kiss for her mother, and pivoted back towards her father, tripping over her shoelaces. She laughed and looked up at Ed, who took one look at the constellation of freckles on her round face and removed himself from the cold wall. 

“Hey, there,” Ed said to his daughter, smiling.

“Father,” she replied, nodding and reaching up to hug him, dark purple backpack lagging behind her.

She smelled of strawberries and baby powder deodorant. “You look taller,” Ed mumbled into her hair.

“Since two weeks ago?”

“Yeah.”

“Mom wishes I would stop growing.”

“Oh, don’t do that. Our family could use a giant.” He smiled and put his wiry arm around her shoulders. They walked into the dark aquarium together. 

§

The walls inside were covered in wood, dotted with blue and green photos of beavers, seals, and anemone. At the ticket kiosk, Ed pulled out crinkly bills from a worn leather wallet and paid for their tickets. They entered a room containing a massive circular aquarium full of fish. The air smelled of ammonia and saltwater; aquarium pumps gurgled peacefully in the background. 

As Kelsey and Ed approached the exhibit, they saw silver salmon, brown rockfish, and spiky lingcod gliding around the perimeter. Ed envied the superiority and blankness in their black eyes. Skates and bottom feeders hid along the bottom, partially covered by sand. With their penchant for keeping their unmotivated heads in the sand, Ed suspected these creatures were the aquatic equivalent of depressives. He himself was an out-of-work, divorced engineer who got to see his daughter once every two weeks. He spent much of his time searching for jobs on the Internet, watching Law & Order, Criminal Intent reruns, and convincing himself not to smoke. So, when his therapist suggested he find a hobby, something to add purpose to his life, an image of the skates buried under synthetic sand popped into his mind. His home aquarium project began in earnest a few months ago. That and his daughter were the only joys in his life.

Kelsey ran up to the enclosure and pressed her hands against the glass. Ed followed. He could see her breath in a circle on the surface. Every few seconds, a dogfish cruised by. 

“Dad, look, look, the dogfish!” she pointed.

“Yep. Looks just like a shark, doesn’t it?”

“Remember that aquarium in Atlanta? They had an entire tank of dogfish.”

Ed’s breath caught. “I do remember that … that was a long time ago. You couldn’t have been more than three.”

“I remember every aquarium trip we’ve ever been on.”

His entire body warmed and relaxed. He stared at the fish a few more seconds and wondered how much a dogfish would cost. He reached over and took Kelsey’s hand in his and squeezed it three times. Though Kelsey’s eyes remained on the exhibit, she squeezed back four times, whispering under her breath, “On your mark, get set, go!” They pressed each other’s hands one more time, at the exact same moment, and let go. 

Ed recalled the initiation of the hand squeeze tradition. Kelsey had been two years old, and he was dropping her off at Miss Beem’s Daycare for the first time. Though she had been oblivious in the car on the way there, singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and clapping her chubby, freckled hands in the car seat, once they arrived, Kelsey became quiet as death. As he unbuckled her and removed her from the car, she babbled, “Daddy, where dis be? Where I go?” Ed felt like Abraham leading Isaac to slaughter, and it required an alarming amount of self-control not to flee the scene and return home with his daughter, spurning daycare forever.

Something he and Celeste had read in a parenting book about the power of distraction came to him at that very moment and saved the day. Ed devised a game on the spot for letting go of his daughter’s hand, and because Kelsey adored him, she followed his lead. Each time he dropped her off at daycare from then on, she’d release his hand and run inside as soon as they both said, “Go!” 

“Okay, what’s next on the agenda?” Kelsey asked.

“How about the otters?”

“Oooh, my faves! River or sea?”

“Let’s do river first. They do lots of cavorting.”

“Cavorting it is.” She ran ahead of him up the ramp to the outdoor exhibit.

Ed watched her, hands in pockets, jangling his keys. She ran like he did, left foot slightly pigeon-toed, arms akimbo, a run full of joy and wonder but devoid of coordination. Her red curls bounced up and down; she was wearing jeans and a yellow school hoody. He used to bemoan the fact that Kelsey resembled his lanky, awkward family, rather than Celeste’s graceful, athletic stock, but he now saw that as a benefit. Kelsey wouldn’t have the distraction of great beauty to steer her away from her inner gifts.

Ed found Kelsey leaning over the glass enclosure of the otter pool, calling to Mo and Jill, the jovial river otters. They loved to ham it up for the crowd by pushing each other under water, stealing food from each other, and chasing one other around the circular enclosure. The smell of bleach and saltwater permeated the air. Ed fake smoked while he considered his next move.

“Hey, Kels, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

She turned towards him, “Yeah?”

“I need you to help me do something today.”

His and Celeste’s parenting plan very clearly outlined activities he was not permitted to engage in with Kelsey. The one at the top of the list, the one he’d previously been arrested for, the one that was the nail in the coffin of his marriage … was theft. He was required to attend weekly therapy sessions (which he was doing diligently), and he was not to steal anything (which he was not doing diligently). If he got arrested once more, he’d lose the little bit of custody that he had. He held this knowledge in his head, while at the same time feeling an overwhelming need to complete the home aquarium project in his condo across the street.

“Okaaaay.” She turned away from the otters and studied her father.

Ed nodded towards a dark corner nearby. “Let’s go over there.”

He gently tapped her shoulder and led her to the corner near the café. It was 9:15 a.m., and the aquarium was still quiet. The crowds would not appear for at least another hour. Ed looked up at the ceiling and scanned for security cameras. He’d been researching the security system of the aquarium for weeks. He knew where every security camera was, what each employee’s territory was, and the timing of most employee breaks. 

“Dad, what’s going on?”

Ed leaned down to look his daughter in the eye. “You know how I asked you to bring your backpack?”

Kelsey pushed a chuck of red hair behind her right ear and blinked. “Yes.”

“We’re going to need that in about fifteen minutes.”

Her eyes widened; she quickly scanned left to right. “For what?”

“A shark.” Ed jingled the keys in his pockets.

Kelsey looked around again and inhaled. “Dad.”

“Yes?”

“What are you talking about?” she whispered, eyes squinting.

Ed relaxed his shoulders and breathed deeply. They had to look above reproach in case the camera above was recording them. He spoke more softly now. “Sweetheart, I need you to help me borrow a small shark from this aquarium.”

“Borrow?”

Ed nodded his head from side to side and rolled his eyes, “Well, technically, we’re going to steal it, but …”

“Dad, honestly.” She looked directly into his eyes and then down at her feet. She crossed her arms and tapped her right foot. She was breathing heavily and thinking. Finally, she said, “If you get caught, you’ll go to jail.”

“We won’t get caught.”

She rolled her eyes. “And what happens to me? Wouldn’t I be an accessory?”

“No, no, you’re a minor. I’ve got that worked out. You’d have to say I forced you.”

“Well, you did,” she sighed again and scratched her freckled nose. “Why do you want a shark?”

“For my aquarium.”

“What aquarium?”

“I’ve got a home aquarium in my condo.”

Kelsey’s arms flopped against her legs, slapping her jeans. She looked around from side to side. Her eyes expanded to the size of silver dollar pancakes. “What!?”

“I’ve been working on it for two months now.” Ed looked from side to side, “I have everything I need except for a shark. They’ve got three small epaulette sharks here, and I just need one.”

“Oh my God. Mom was right.” She looked down at her feet.

Ed placed his hand gently on her back and guided her up the ramp towards the tide pools where the epaulettes were. They only had ten minutes now. “What was Mom right about?”

“That you’re …” She paused and considered her words, “Ya know …”

“No, what?” They stopped in front of a small tide pool about twenty feet long and six feet wide. There was another tide pool, similar in shape and size, about thirty feet away.

“Well, obsessed.”

“Obsessed?” Ed was confused. “Do you mean depressed?”

“She says you get obsessed, and that’s why you were such a good engineer.” Ed decided to let this comment go for the time being.

“Kels, listen to me. Do you see that tide pool over there? The one with the tall skinny kid standing behind it?” She looked to where he was pointing. “Yeah.”

Ed looked back up at two security cameras in the ceiling. “We’ve got six minutes to go over there, distract that kid, and grab the shark.”

Kelsey exhaled, rolled her eyes, and hunched forward. She looked up at the security cameras, and then at the skinny kid at the other pool. Ed wasn’t sure exactly what was going through her mind, but he could tell by her stance and resigned expression that she was going to help him. They were both task-oriented people.

“So, if we do this, I assume we’re taking the shark straight back to your place.”

“Yes.” 

“Then, I get to see your condo?”

She’d been asking to see his condominium for a year, but he was only legally permitted to spend time with her in public venues, according to the custody agreement. “Yes, of course. We’ll have lunch.”

She stared at him for a few seconds, blinked, and said, “Okay, fine. I’ll do it. But you better get me a burger or something.”

Ed blinked and smiled. “How about fish and chips?” 

Kelsey rolled her eyes and laughed a hearty laugh. “You are the worst.” 

Ed leaned down closer to her face to deliver the plan. “There’s no one at the tide pool except for that guy, Noah. You distract him, then I’ll lift the shark out of the water with a net and deposit him in your backpack.”

“You have a net?”

“Yes, here inside my jacket.”

Kelsey shook her head back and forth and winced: “Won’t the shark die in my backpack?”

“No. Epaulette sharks are anoxic, which means they can go without oxygen for up to an hour. After I get him in the backpack, we will walk calmly but quickly out the entrance door. Got it?” 

“Yes.”

§

They proceeded to the tide pool thirty feet away and surveyed the area. The pool was kidney shaped; artificial palm trees lined the back of it. Two security cameras hung above the pool from the ceiling beam. Ed knew that there was a two-foot blind spot a few inches to the right of the center of the pool. This is where he and Kelsey stood and smiled at Noah, the earnest aquarium employee. Noah was tall, extremely thin, with shaggy brown hair and pimples on his chin. The pool water was turquoise, and the floor was covered in sand, large and small rocks, and pieces of artificial wood. There were orange and red starfish dotting the rocks, along with the occasional purple anemone. Silver dollar fish, orange and blue danios, and one juvenile epaulette shark, gray with black stripes, circled the pool. The hum of aquarium pumps permeated the air, causing a peaceful, calming sound. Ed and Kelsey were the only visitors at the tide pool.

Ed asked Noah several questions about starfish behavior and how many fish the epaulettes ate in a day. Noah, who had a mild lisp, answered each carefully. After reaching inside her backpack for a snack while Noah was explaining that an “epaulette is a military decoration or badge that one might see on a uniform,” Kelsey dropped a chocolate chip granola bar into the tide pool. “Good girl,” Ed thought, “just as we planned.”

Noah’s eyes, partially covered by dark brown bangs, expanded; his hands sprang to his head. “Oh my. That’s not good at all. That is not fish fare. I’ve got to go get my supervisor.”

“Well, I can just get it out,” said Kelsey, leaning over the water.

“No, no, don’t do that. There’s a protocol we have to follow. I’ll be right back.” 

Noah scrambled off towards the opposite side of the building. 

Ed waited until Noah was out of sight, looked up at the cameras in the ceiling, glanced at Kelsey, and nodded. Kelsey then walked around the perimeter of the half-moon tide pool in order to obscure her father’s actions, just as they’d discussed. Ed removed a black, collapsible net from inside his windbreaker. With one shake of his hand, he snapped it out to full extension, about two feet, and placed it into the water. He waited for the shark to approach. 

The shark swam towards Ed, coolly and methodically. The epaulette shark, generally regarded to be a cute, amiable-looking shark, really resembles a large, de-legged salamander. This particular shark was eighteen inches long, not yet a full-grown adult male, light brown and gray, with dark bands of black running vertically along its body. Black spots, which become larger in adulthood, were starting to develop along its body and head. The shark’s largest black spot, the epaulette, was the size of a half-dollar, and was situated behind his right pectoral fin. There was no epaulette behind the left pectoral fin—an aberration. Ed wondered if this was the reason the shark ended up in an aquarium. Small whiskers, similar to those of a catfish, were growing underneath his mouth. The shark approached an orange rock to the left of Ed’s left hand and appeared to tiptoe over it, looking more like a reptile than a fish. Then, he swam directly into the net. 

Ed whispered, “Kelsey, now,” and she walked backwards towards him, backpack open, while he lifted the net slowly and quietly out of the water. A small, gentle splash of water could be heard as the net exited the water. Ed deposited the wet, whiskered creature into the top of Kelsey’s purple backpack, zipped it up, removed it from her shoulders, and gently transferred it to his own back. He then folded up the net and placed it back inside his jacket. The whole theft took less than three minutes. No one saw a thing.

They walked briskly towards the aquarium exit. The only person who noticed them was the ticket taker who said, “Leaving so soon?”

“Yep, we’ve got a busy day,” Ed replied as they walked past. Kelsey smiled at the man over her shoulder and waved.

§

The walk across the busy street and up a few blocks to Ed’s condominium building, Puget Sound Court, was uneventful. Once they arrived inside the building and boarded the elevator, Ed and Kelsey began to relax. Kelsey exhaled a deep breath and looked around the elevator to survey the situation. “Are there any cameras in here?”

“I don’t think so,” he whispered back. 

The elevator doors opened, and they walked out. Ed noticed Kelsey scanning the hallway, taking in the dark green carpet and scuffed white walls. The smell of curry hung in the air, probably from his neighbor’s take-out. Ed’s condominium complex was clean and safe, but it was not as posh as Celeste’s home in the suburbs. His condo itself was bare but messy, furnished mostly with Ikea and a few castoffs from their old house before the divorce.

Ed unlocked the door, and they entered his living space. His heart raced as Kelsey looked around. He smelled three-day-old garbage, old coffee grinds, and rotting strawberries that needed to be taken out. His blinds were closed, so the room was dark, except for a blue glow emanating from the right side of the room. As he looked upon his home, with his daughter standing next to him, he began to feel anxious. What had seemed like a coup, securing a one-bedroom condominium so close to the water years ago, now seemed unsuitable for a thirteen-year-old girl.

“Dad,” Kelsey crossed the room and opened a blind, “turn on the lights. We’ve got to get the shark situated.”

“Oh, yeah. Okay.” He walked over to the wall on his right and turned on the overhead lights, illuminating the spacious family room. 

The window in front of them faced the street. There was a low sofa to the right of the window against the wall, a card table and folding chair in the middle of the room, and along the back wall of the room, which was to their right, stood a one-hundred-gallon saltwater tank, the source of the blue glow. The tank was positioned on top of Ed’s rustic reclaimed wood desk from Restoration Hardware. The only sounds in the room were the clicking of the refrigerator from the kitchen and the gurgling of the bubbles from the aquarium. Kelsey gasped.

She and Ed ran over to the aquarium together. While she examined the contents of the aquarium, Ed removed the shark from his backpack.

“This is amazing,” she whispered.

“Kels, can you get the top?” Ed nodded at the screen, which she removed deftly.

He very carefully deposited the epaulette into his aquarium. At first, the shark didn’t move, and began to sink to the bottom. Kelsey gasped again. Ed knew these sharks could survive outside of water for one hour, but he began to sweat. Suddenly, the shark shimmied and awoke. His eyes opened; his fins and tail became erect, and he began to explore the bottom of the aquarium. Ed had bought artificial caves, rocks, and crevasses for the shark to explore, which he immediately took to.

Kelsey stood closer to the aquarium and pressed her nose against it. “I see some wrasses, some royal blue tangs … an Emperor angelfish.” 

Ed moved closer and stood about three inches to her right, “Yes, and a few eels.”

“Yuk.”

“Do you see the ray?” He pointed at the bottom of the tank, where a light brown ray was sticking halfway out of the sand.

She turned to her father with wide eyes. “OMG, you have a ray?”

Ed put his arm around her shoulder, and they watched the world inside his aquarium for a while. Everything was silent except for the serene aquarium pump, the occasional refrigerator clicks, and Kelsey’s breathing. He could still smell her strawberry shampoo. “Maybe everything will be okay, Ed thought. 

“Of course.”

“Dad, look at our shark.” The epaulette tiptoed over a stick—then, he tried to go inside a small cave. “He looks happy.”

“That he does,” Ed replied. 

For the second time that day—the first time being when he’d hugged his daughter after her arrival that morning—Ed felt at peace. Sure, his condo was inferior to their old house. Sure, he was unemployed. But maybe all his struggles the past few years had brought him to this point. He had created a near impossible task—a one-hundred-gallon saltwater tank with exotic fish … and a shark. In a condominium.

Ed pulled Kelsey tighter. She rested her head on his shoulder. Smiling, they watched the small shark circle the aquarium as sirens began to sound in the distance.

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