Underwater Adventure

Teri and Rodrigo reluctantly left the magical fairies to their argument over the perfect type of sprinkles for a birthday cake, and headed off for the birthday lunch. Rodrigo’s mom had fixed his favorite food, he and Teri scarfed down the taquitos, chips with delicious homemade salsa, and licked their fingers clean after devouring honey drizzled sopapillas.

As they were finishing off the last bits Rodrigo noticed a package wrapped in brown paper sitting on the counter.

“What is this Ma?” He inquired.

She smiled saying, “Ah, you’ll have to wait until Papa gets home to find out. Remember he worked the night shift last night. He had to stay longer to help with an issue, he should be here soon.”

Rodrigo picked up the square package looking at all sides. It was not heavy but it wasn’t light either. After checking out everything he could from the outside he shook it gently, hoping that might reveal something to him, but it told him nothing.

“Well, what is it?” Teri asked.

“I’m not sure, but I can’t wait to find out!”

“It has to be a birthday present, some kind of toy right?”

“Yes, but what toy? Or maybe it’s something yummy to eat, or tools so I can build things!”

Teri and Rodrigo stared at the box making guesses on what could be inside until they heard the front door open.

Rodrigo ran to his dad, David, and gave him a hug. His dad picked him up and swung him around singing happy birthday as he did.

Rodrigo smiled and giggled, nearly falling over from dizziness and happiness when his dad set him on solid ground again. Rodrigo pulled his dad into the kitchen jumping and pointing excitedly he boomed, “What is it dad? Can I open it now?”

Laughing, his dad picked up the package, “I have no idea what it is. It came from your uncle a few days ago with a note that said ‘I found these and thought of you and Rodrigo. Hope you enjoy it.’”

“Wow! Uncle Mateo sent this, he knows about me!”

Chuckling his dad replied, “Of course he knows about you silly, just because you haven’t been able to meet him doesn’t mean he doesn’t know about you. Now, should we open it up and see what it is?”

Giddy with excitement Rodrigo said, “Let’s do it together!”

“Ok!” His dad said, handing Rodrigo the opposite end, “on three, 1…2…3!”

“This is exciting,” babbled Teri as Rodrigo and David pulled the last of the brown paper off the box. David pulled out a knife and carefully cut the tape holding the lid closed.

“Go ahead Rodrigo, you open it up!”

Rodrigo, full of anticipation, pulled the lid off quickly. All he saw at first was bubble wrap, and underneath it various colors shown through, blues, yellows, grays, and reds. Rodrigo pulled it all out of the box and began unwrapping the layers. Setting on the table in front of them now were all kinds of creatures from the sea, a blue whale, octopus, crab, sea horse, shark, and various others. There was also a boat, submersible, and several scuba divers with gear that could be removed. They were not new for sure, there were some scratches and spots where the colored paint had worn away, some were sun faded and splotches of rust showed through on any metal.

Rodrigo bounced with pure joy as he picked up each toy and examined it.

David smiled from ear to ear and gently touched each one as he marveled. “My goodness I haven’t thought about these in years, I can’t believe he still had them. Rodrigo, these were mine and Mateo’s favorite toys when we were about your age. We would spend hours with them having the most grand adventures exploring the oceans. Last time I wrote to Mateo I told him how you had become fascinated with all water creatures. He must have dug these out of an old forgotten box.”

“I love them Pa!” Rodrigo said with true pleasure.

Teri picked up a sea turtle and gushed, “Turtles are my favorite, they are so cute!”

Picking up a squid David exclaimed, “He was always my favorite.” In a deep and menacing voice he continued, “The mysterious and fierce giant squid could win any battle!” He placed the squid on top of the whale pretending to have a fight, where of course the squid was victorious.

Rodrigo held the shark, proclaiming, “Sharks are the best, their sense of smell is exceptional,” winking at Teri he continued, “and they are my brothers.”

Teri laughed remembering the first day she met Rodrigo. Landrom, the meanest bully at school, had Rodrigo cornered making fun of his one crooked and pointed tooth. Rodrigo was not the least bit disturbed by the attempts to belittle him. He proudly proclaimed to all around that he was part shark and that was why his tooth was that way. That was the moment she knew they would be good friends.

Rodrigo’s mom joined them at the table and the four all sat looking at the different creatures and sharing what they knew about them. Rodrigo asked if he could take them out to the barn to play and his parents agreed it was fine.

Excitement bubbling in them Teri and Rodrigo gathered the toys and headed off for an amazing new adventure. Part way to the barn Teri had a thought, “Hey,” she announced, “let’s go to my house first so I can pick up my little mermaids!”

They hurried over, grabbed them, and went straight back to the barn. As they placed all the toys down in one of the old stalls sunlight from a crack in the wood danced across their eyes, and suddenly a vast ocean spread out before them and they sank down into soft sand instead of old hay.

“Wow!” They exclaimed together.

Teri noticed a crab nearby and she jabbed Rodrigo, “Look at that! Its claw is HUGE! I wouldn’t want to fight with it,” she gulped as they watched it hurry into a little hole.

“Oh, it’s a fiddler crab!” Rodrigo cried out. “I always wanted to see one of those. That is a boy, only the boys have the one huge claw, or cheliped if you want to use the correct name.”

“That’s so cool.” Teri said in awe. “What else do you know about him?”

Rodrigo carried on spilling out everything he knew and neither he nor Teri noticed their new visitor arrive.

As Rodrigo trailed off on his knowledge a kind voice behind them declared, “You sure know your crustaceans young man.”

Rodrigo and Teri jumped and then turned as the woman chuckled, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just so impressed I had to tell you.” Rodrigo's jaw dropped when he got turned around enough to see the woman, her short brown hair tossed in the light wind.

“You’re Edith Widder!” Rodrigo shouted.

“Well, I hope so, but call me Edie. And who are you?” She asked.

“I am Rodrigo and this is my friend Teri.” Rodrigo exclaimed. He turned to Teri announcing, “Edith, uh, Edie is the first person to ever get a giant squid on video!”

“Wow!” Exclaimed Teri.

“That was a spectacular day! Do you two want to see something spectacular?”

“YES,” they both chimed with great enthusiasm.

They followed Edie to a boat and they all boarded it and headed out to sea.

Edie sat by them and said, “We need to get out past the continental shelf.” Then in a mystical voice proclaimed, “We are going to the abyss today!

Teri looked a bit horrified, but Rodrigo almost jumped out of his seat as he gushed. “You mean we get to explore the abyssal plain! Teri, we are going to the bottom of the ocean!”

Edie smiled big saying, “Well, we won’t go to the very bottom, but we will go where we can. It’s a whole other world down there!”

“That sounds amazing.” Teri whispered in wonder.

Before they knew it Edie announced they were there. Edie and Rodrigo picked up Teri from out of her wheelchair and got her seated in the submersible, then with exhilaration running in their veins they headed down.

“This is the sunlit zone.” Edie told them once they were completely submerged.

Giddy as could be, Rodrigo said, “This is where most of the sea life lives! What do you think we will see first?”

“Why, you are already seeing it, it’s just too small for your eyes to focus on.” Edie chuckled

Chuckling himself, Rodgrio said, “Right, all the plankton.”

A little school of fish swam by them, Rodrigo and Teri oohed and aahed as they watched them move away. The light started to dim and Rodrigo asked if they were entering the twilight zone now.

Edie smiled big saying as she pointed up, “Not yet, we have a new visitor.”

“Oh my goodness,” Teri exclaimed after looking up to see a massive white belly swimming just above them. “It’s a whale!”

As the giant creature swam down past them Rodrigo exhaled slowly, “oh, wow, that’s not a whale Teri, that’s a whale shark! They are so cool! They are the biggest fish in the ocean! See all the yellow stripes and dots on it, it’s so beautiful.”

“He is gorgeous, but I hope he doesn’t decide we are lunch,” Teri worried.

“Nah, he won’t bother us, all he eats is the plankton.”

“That is a relief,” said Teri.

Edie interpreted them, “We are heading into the twilight zone now, lights are going on.”

Before she could get them on Rodrigo implored, “Can we leave them off please, I’ve always wanted to see the bioluminescence working.”

“The what?” Asked Teri.

“Some organisms produce their own light inside their bodies,” Rodrigo eagerly declared.

Teri responded enthusiastically, “Oh, you mean like a firefly!”

“Exactly,” said Edie, “it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! Alright, let's see what kind of show they put on for us today.” She turned off all the lights inside and outside and they waited for their eyes to adjust.

Millions of funny blue shapes like little floppy sun hats began popping up all around them. Teri and Rodrigo both agreed it was absolutely the most amazing thing they had ever seen.

“We are in a smack of moon jellyfish,” announced Edie.

“A smack?” Questioned Teri.

“Yes, a smack is what a large congregation of jellyfish is called,” Edie explained.

“Well, whatever it is called,” said Teri, “I am loving it!”

“What was that,” Rodrigo asked. “Do you see it too, the purple and pink lights out there darting in and out?”

“I do,” both Edie and Teri proclaimed as they tried to follow the different lights.

“It’s not familiar to me,” said Edie. “Let’s move closer and check it out.”

Suddenly the lights darted past them.

“They are mermaids,” shrieked Teri in delight!

“You saw them too,” Rodrigo cried out.

Edie, in shock, whispered, “I thought it was my imagination. Can anyone see them still?”

“No,” Rodrigo and Teri answered sadly.

They maneuvered all around looking for them again as they talked excitedly about the flowing hair that glowed and the various patterns on their tails that glowed as well, one pink the other purple.

After searching with no success Edie said, “Let’s head back to the surface and see what we can discover from the footage.”

As they were getting out of the submersible they heard Rodrigo's dad yelling that it was time for Teri to head home.

“Rotten timing,” Teri pouted.

“I’ll walk you home,” Rodrigo proposed.

“That would be nice, thanks,” said Teri with a smile.

They thanked Edie for the adventure and made her promise to tell them everything she discovers.

Together they left the barn joy in their hearts and wonder in their eyes.

Check this story out for more adventures with Teri and Rodrigo!

To read about the start of their adventures together check this story out!