Not Even Ten Minutes

"Imagine getting your leg ripped off by a SHARK!!" Robbie dared his sister, turning with gleaming eyes away from the huge tank. His breath had left a mark on the plexiglas, and his hands were still pressed against it.

"That hardly ever happens, you know," Larissa replied, rolling her eyes as she pushed her squarish glasses higher up on the bridge of her nose, then added, "People just spread those stories because they're scared. Most sharks avoid humans if they can. And besides-- EW!! Don't be so gross."

"I bet it would hurt. A LOT," Robbie grinned.

Larissa rolled her eyes again, and the two continued walking along the corridor of Ripley's Aquarium, catching up to their Aunt Sarah. She had brought them here as a combined birthday present, seeing as their birthdays were only eight days apart. Larissa had just turned ten, and Robbie was now seven.

"What do you think, guys?" Aunt Sarah said.

"It's pretty cool," Larissa said casually, shrugging nonchalance.

Robbie shoved his sister's hip with both hands, "Oh my gosh, Larissa! You are such a snob. This is the best. Aunt Sarah, can I throw my sandwich into the stingray tank? I really want to see if they'll electrocute it. Like, ZAM! Turn it into toast!"

Aunt Sarah laughed before replying, "No, Robbie, you can't throw your sandwich in with the manta rays."

Robbie looked crestfallen. With a twinkle in her eye, his aunt glanced over her shoulder, then put one hand up to her mouth, cupping it as she bent down as if to let him in on a secret:

"But I hear there's a tank up ahead where you can actually stick your hand in the water and let the shrimp eat the dead skin off your fingers," She raised an eyebrow conspiratorially.

Robbie's eyes widened in horrified delight.

"That. Is. AWESOME! Come on, let's go!" He tore ahead, pushing through the crowd, leaving his sister and aunt smiling apologies and excusing themselves as they made their way forward. Finally, they emerged into a more open space at the end of the aquarium tunnel.

"There's where the shrimp are, I think," Larissa pointed towards a group of fascinated youngsters who were clustered around a low open tank. She looked for Robbie's head among them.

"Where's Robbie?" Aunt Sarah asked, her brows coming together in concern, "I don't see him."

Larissa couldn't either. They both approached the tank to get a closer look. Perhaps he was wedged right up front, crouching down to peer through the glass. He wasn't.

"Maybe he went to the gift shop," Larissa suggested. They both hurried towards the piles of stuffed marine animals and brightly-coloured racks of key chains and postcards, which would be a beacon of enticement to any child, especially a child like Robbie, with his insatiable joie de vivre.

"Robbie!" Aunt Sarah called, her voice sounding a bit strained, "Robbie James!"

A few nearby people turned their heads for a moment, then returned to their soft drinks and chit-chat. One young man approached.

"Hey there, Ma'am. Are you missing a member of your party?"

Larissa noticed he was wearing some kind of uniform; maybe he was one of the people who fed the fish. She thought it was strange that he used the word party. Did he know it was their birthdays? In any case, it was pretty clear they weren't having a party; now was no time to be playing games and eating cake. They needed to find her brother.

"Yes," Aunt Sarah said, craning her neck to see around the people in the crowd.

"It's my nephew; he's six."

"Let me help. I'll go tell Security." He raced off in the direction of the front desk.

"Robbie!" Aunt Sarah called again, and she was losing her calm. Seeing her on high alert made Larissa suddenly feel afraid, and she burst into tears.

"Oh, Honey," Aunt Sarah put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her in a quick hug of reassurance, "Don't worry, we'll find him."

Aunt Sarah led Larissa to a bench that was built out from the wall near the Gift Shop. Holding Larissa's hands, she asked, "Can you stay here? Don't go anywhere, okay? I'm going to go look in the shop."

Larissa sat still on the bench, her knees pressed together, her hands clasped tightly on her lap. Beside her was a plump woman wearing a peach-coloured sundress, offering cookies to the child that was with her, who looked to be about four years old. Probably the lady's grandson.

"Do you want one, Honey?" The woman held a chocolate chip cookie out to Larissa, who shook her head. "I heard your mama calling for your brother. I'm sorry he's run off on you. You must be pretty worried."

"She's not my mom. She's my aunt," Larissa knew that wasn't the point, but her brain was in a bit of a jumble. She stared straight in front of her.

"Oh, I see."

After a few moments, Larissa turned to the woman and said, "Um, actually, can I have one of those cookies?"

With a kind smile, the woman held open her Ziploc bag. Larissa carefully pulled out the biggest one and put it into the front pocket of her hoodie.

"Thanks," she said. She sat back against the wall, and looked over towards the gift shop where she saw Aunt Sarah standing with her arms crossed, talking to two security guards. Her aunt nodded, then one of the guards left, saying something into his walkie-talkie as he made his way towards the Exit door. The other one stayed with her aunt, and they both came quickly towards Larissa.

"He's not in there either. Larissa, I'm going to walk back through the tunnel. You stay here, okay?" Aunt Sarah nodded her head towards the security guard, adding, "This is Joyce, She's going to wait here with you."

Joyce smiled sympathetically at Larissa, who shot to her feet.

"No!" She exclaimed, her eyes welling with tears again, "No. I want to come with you."

Aunt Sarah considered for a moment, then took hold of Larissa's hand.

"Okay. Let's go."

"I'll check the washroom," said Joyce, striding purposefully off in that direction.

Larrissa felt herself being pulled back towards the tunnel, and she had to half-run to keep up with her aunt. Even though they were moving quickly, the whole world around them seemed to be going in slow motion. They passed small groups of people, and Larissa felt as though she was seeing them through a dreamy fog. Happy families were smiling through the plexiglass at floating turtles and colourful fish. A small child clapped with delight when a pulsing jellyfish swam right by her face.

How could they? Larissa thought. They are acting like nothing is wrong.

Larissa felt an impulsive flash of unreasonable anger, and she could hear a rush of blood in her ears. She must have been giving them all a death-stare, because the child's affronted mother put a protective hand on her head, giving Larissa a "what's your problem?" look.

Larissa didn't care. She hurried past with her aunt, noticing that her shoulder was a little sore from being pulled along.

Her heart pounded, and her mind started racing. No, no, no, she told herself. No, don't think it.

But she couldn't help thinking it. She pulled her hand free from Aunt Sarah's grasp so she could press both her hands to her ears. It was useless; she couldn't smother the voice in her head:

What if a kidnapper took Robbie?

A series of images bombarded her. Robbie, thrown over a stranger's shoulder being carried away, unconscious. Robbie in a dark room, banging on a door. Robbie sitting on the ground with his arms wrapped around his knees, crying and scared. Robbie's mother sinking into a chair when Aunt Sarah would tell her the news. Robbie, gone forever.

Aunt Sarah abruptly changed course, rushing over to the entry of a small adjacent room full of smaller aquariums. She peered inside, and called, "Robbie!"

No answer.

A boy who wasn't her brother looked over, and Larissa suddenly imagined she was seeing Robbie's bright face. She knew this boy was a stranger, but now she could almost hear Robbie's laugh, and she wished that he would just jump out from around the corner and say, "BOO!"

She thought of the shark tank, where they had stood not even ten minutes ago, when his eyes had sparkled with glee as he gave her the disturbing image of a gruesome shark attack. He was always saying things just to get a reaction out of her, and she often found it infuriating. But right now, Larissa would give anything for him to pester her with his imaginative teasing. She yearned to see the look of satisfied delight that took over his face whenever he got a rise out of her.

As they neared the shark tank, and Aunt Sarah called out again.

"Robbie!"

In front of the glass stood a boy with a head of messy brown hair. He looked over his shoulder towards them, and pointed at a grey reef shark moving gracefully through the water.

"Aunt Sarah! Larissa! Look at how big THAT one it!"

Robbie's eyes shone with fascination, his smile wide across his face.

"Robbie! Oh thank God, Robbie," Aunt Sarah reached her nephew and pulled him into a crushing embrace. Larissa said nothing, feeling a lump in her throat as she took in the sight of her brother, safe in front of her.

"Robbie James!" Aunt Sarah's voice was now stern, and she held him out from her at arm's length.

"What were you thinking? Why did you run off like that? You had me and your sister scared to death. We didn't know where you were, and we were so worried about you!" Although she was cross, the relief was obvious in her voice as she chastised Robbie.

He dropped his chin to his chest. "I'm sorry, Aunt Sarah. I couldn't find you when I got to the shrimp, so I came back to look."

Aunt Sarah hugged him hard, then stood up.

"Come on," she said, "we'd better go tell everybody that we found you."

Before leaving, Aunt Sarah turned towards the giant tank, and watched the enormous fish glide past, a mere three feet away through the plexiglass. Larissa heard her murmur to the shark, "and here I thought that seeing you would be the scariest thing I'd experience today."

Robbie turned to look at Larissa, abashed. His head still lowered, he looked up at her with his big brown eyes.

"Are you mad at me too?"

Larissa didn't answer for a moment, still in a bit of a daze.

"No," she croaked, then cleared her throat, "No, Robbie. But never do that again, okay?"

"Okay."

Larissa reached into her front pocket and pulled out the chocolate chip cookie.

"Here," she said, holding it out with a smile, "your favourite."

Robbie smiled back. Then they both turned, and followed Aunt Sarah out of the dark tunnel.