“Why doesn’t the eel eat the other fish?” was followed by “Do fish sleep?” “Can you eat kelp?” and other questions, all of which Brian answered with, Caddie thought, enormous patience considering the stupidity of most of them.

“Anyone else?” asked Brian when the raised hands had all been lowered. “How about the pretty girl in the third row. You look like you have a question.”

Caddie looked around, surprised that he would call on someone specifically. She was even more surprised a moment later when she realized that people had turned and were looking at her. She looked at Brian, floating behind the glass, and held a finger to her chest.

“Yes, you,” he said. “What would you like to know about the kelp forest?”

Knowing she was turning red, Caddie was thankful for the low lighting. However, the realization that a hundred people were waiting to hear what came out of her mouth made it impossible for her to think. She just sat there, shaking her head.

“Come on,” said the boy behind her. “Ask him something else about those queer fish, like do they take turns being the man.”

He and his buddy erupted in horsey laughter. Thankfully, the anger she felt at his remark helped Caddie focus her thoughts. “If you could be any animal that lives in the kelp forest, what would you be?” she said loudly.

There was some tittering from the crowd, but she saw Brian smile behind his mask. “That’s a good one,” he said. “I guess I would want to be a sea lion.”

“Why?” Caddie found herself saying.

“Because they don’t worry about anything,” said Brian. “They just play all the time. And when they’re not playing, they’re sleeping. I think that’s a pretty good life.”

The audience applauded as Brian thanked them for coming and waved good-bye. As they filed out, he rose out of view, until only the tips of his fins were visible. Then they too disappeared as, Caddie assumed, he got out of the tank.

She stood up, stretched, and left the animals of the kelp forest to do whatever it was they did when no one was around. Having already seen most of the aquarium, she returned to the second floor and checked out the remaining sights. It was as she was watching the bizarre-looking cuttlefish that she sensed someone standing too close to her and turned to see Brian there. The wet suit was gone, replaced by shorts and a T-shirt bearing the aquarium’s logo. His blond hair, cut short, stuck up in unruly spikes.

“Hi,” he said.

“You look different without your work clothes on,” Caddie said.

“I hope I didn’t embarrass you,” he said. “You just looked like you wanted to murder someone.”

“So you thought you’d poke me and see if I exploded?” she asked. “Nice.”