THE AQUARIUM FIELD TRIP

Right on the dot of 10 A.M., the three school buses parked in front of the Dallas World Aquarium. Wiggling and giggling in their seats, the second graders eagerly waited to exit their bus. By 10:15 A.M., approximately forty-five students and three teachers formed a long line stretching and snaking the full length of the block in front of the building.

Because several students expressed that they had to use the restroom, Jill started to feel anxious and stressed. Immediately, closing her eyes, Jill counted to ten which allowed her to remain calm.

Subsequently, Jill whispered, "Please be patient. We will be inside shortly."

At last, two of three buses were completely empty. Keeping a watchful eye on the students on her bus and the activity taking place in front of the aquarium, Jill acted like a teacher but she wasn't. In fact, she was Holly's aunt. On the school's field trip to the aquarium, Jill was a volunteer chaperone filling in for her sister who had to work. At 10:20 A.M., the third and last bus allowed their students to disembark.

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Once inside the aquarium, the students were divided into groups of four. Mrs. Shell, one of the second-grade teachers assigned a volunteer to each group.

Mrs. Shell announced, "Billie, Charlie, Carol, and Holly, your chaperone will be Miss Jill. Stay close to her and she will guide you through the aquarium. Be sure to give your sack lunch to your chaperone. Your sack lunch will be stored in her backpack. Please! Please be on your best behavior."

Since Jill was familiar with the Dallas World Aquarium, she escorted her four students to the restrooms making it their first stop on their tour. Jill smiled thinking that it was a wise decision in preparation for their tour.

Exiting the restrooms, on the wall, a large poster of a stingray was displayed. Holly, Carol, and Charlie were looking at the poster. Billie joined them and had an idea

"Our group should be called the Stingrays," chimed Billie.

Jill exclaimed, "That's a great name for our group Billie!"

All four of Jill's students nodded their heads in unison agreeing to their group's name.

Jill said, "Okay, Stingrays, we are going to view different oceans found around the world. We are going to see jellyfish, colorful tropical fish, seahorses, large fish, sharks, Japanese crabs, and more. Then, we will have a close encounter with the penguins watching them being fed. If we have time, we will see the manatee."

Jill lead her group to the Indo-Pacific exhibit tank. Holly and Charlie were mesmerized by the zebra angelfish. Billie liked the pot-belly seahorse. Carol was impressed by the blackeye goby.

At the Japanese exhibit tank, Jill pointed out the spotted eel, the blotch anthias, the powder-brown tang, and the wrought iron butterflyfish.

Wondering off to the Fiji tank, Carol was delighted by the pink skunk clownfish. Following Carol's lead, Jill along with the other three students walked across to the Fiji tank. The students were intrigued by all the clownfish in the tank that were playing hide and seek with Jill's group. Watching the tomato clownfish and the spinefoot foxface swim all around the tank, the Fiji exhibit proved to be a big hit with the students.

Between Australia and New Zealand, Lord Howe Island was Jill's favorite exhibit. Guiding her four students to the Lord Howe Island tank, she pointed out the painted goldie anthias. Charlie identified the blue fish that has rings around its eyes that looked like the fish was wearing glasses. Jill revealed that the fish was a spectacle angelfish. Billie, Carol, Charlie, and Holly thought that was a funny name for a fish.

With the announcement that they were about to feed the penguins, Jill asked her group, the Stingrays, "Are you ready to see the penguins?"

In unison, Jill's group nodded their heads, yes.

Exiting the door that leads outside to the South African penguins, a large group of students was beginning to gather around and listened to the aquarium trainer and feeder.

Since Holly didn't want to feed the penguins, Carol volunteered to feed them. Carol threw a sardine into the water and two penguins jumped in after it. Seeing the fun Carol had, naturally, Billie and Charlie each wanted and managed to take their turn feeding the penguins.

After watching and feeding the penguins, their stomachs were beginning to rumble and growl. It was nearing lunchtime. Leading the way through the Mundo Maya which features a walk-through tank, Jill's students were excited to see the stingrays, sharks, Yucatan Peninsula sea turtles, and catfish.

As a matter of fact, Billie was watching the stingrays. Amazingly, when Holly made eye contact with a catfish, she was so surprised that she jumped, and at the same time, the catfish was so startled that it jumped too. Watching Holly and the catfish, two of the students, Charlie and Carol were astonished and amazed by the simultaneous jumping.

Continuing their tour of the aquarium, Jill's group, the Stingrays, stopped to watch the manatee. While watching, Charlie accidentally hit the alarm. Not knowing that it was a false alarm, everyone began quietly and quickly exiting the building.

Outside of the Dallas World Aquarium, the students were directed to their school buses that were parked across the street.

Miraculously, the aquarium was evacuated in a timely manner. With the students safely on their school buses, the fire trucks arrived. On the top floor of the aquarium, there really was a fire. The Dallas Fire Department's firemen were able to extinguish it.

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At the front of the bus, Jill's group sat and ate their lunch chatting and laughing about their aquarium adventure.

"Have you ever touched a stingray?" Jill questioned.

The group responded, "No!"

"On my last trip to the Dallas Children's Aquarium, there was a touch tank that allowed you to feed and pet the stingrays!" exclaimed Jill.

Excitedly, Holly gushed, "We should suggest going to the Children's Aquarium for next year's field trip!"

Jill's group, the Stingrays, nodded their heads in agreement.

Writer's notes: This story is dedicated to my children and grandchildren and entered into the Aquarium challenge.

While this is a fictional story, there were some truths and some imaginative changes that were incorporated into this tale.

As always, thank you for reading.