By Juliana Carter
On the day of her school field trip to
the aquarium, Emily was so excited that she woke extra early. She
could hardly eat her breakfast.
"Emily, just eat something," her mom urged.
Emily poked at the cereal rings floating in her bowl and tried to
make a face. Two for the eyes, one for the nose, and three for the
smile. Emily happily surveyed her work.
"Emily!" Mom was starting to get impatient.
Emily fidgeted as her mother combed out her hair and put in a new
barrette. She could barely contain her excitement as they walked
the two short blocks to her elementary school. Amanda, her very
best friend in the world, ran over to meet her. The two girls
squealed with glee and began instantly chatting about their
trip.
"I can't wait to ride the bus!"
"I wonder what we'll see first?"
"Do you think we'll be able to sit together?"
Their teacher, Mrs. Little, tried to keep her excited classroom
quiet, to no avail.
After managing to organize her class into one almost neat line,
Mrs. Little walked her group to the row of buses. Waiting at the
curb were the bus drivers and the long yellow school buses. They
were shiny and looked like they had been washed just for the trip.
Emily had never ridden on a bus before!
The children clambered onto the bus. Emily's seat partner, Andrew,
decided it was best to take little hops up the steps, all the way
to the back of the bus. Emily followed, walking as quickly as it
was possible to do without being scolded. Mrs. Little had partnered
the children up before they left their classroom, so there was no
sitting next to her best friend. Emily and Andrew got along pretty
well, so that was okay, except when Andrew was shoving bugs at
Emily. Andrew loved bugs.
Emily looked out the window and watched the billboards that they
passed, seeing all of the interesting advertisements. One of them
showed a crab talking to an automobile. Emily wasn't sure what it
meant but thought it was very funny.
Mrs. Little sang songs with the class and told them to behave
themselves in the aquarium and to be sure to stay together. Mrs.
Little had to run quickly to Steven's seat. He had just gotten
carsick all over the parent volunteer sitting next to him. Emily
was very glad Steven wasn't her seat mate.
After taking care of Steven, who was fine now, the class made their
way inside the aquarium. The lady taking tickets had a hairstyle
just like Emily's grandma's and smelled like cinnamon. She was very
nice.
"Good morning, Children. Have a wonderful day," she told the
class.
Emily's teacher divided the children into groups of five, each
headed by a parent whose job it was to keep them all together. The
children all wore red shirts that day so they could be kept track
of more easily.
Now to explore the aquarium!
Emily watched the puffins, the funny little seabirds with white
bellies and black wings, as they dove down into the water. They
looked as though they were flying as they swam down to the bottom
of the rocks and then back up to the top again.
Emily saw orange seahorses with their tails wound tightly around
yellow coral that anchored them in place. There were five of them
and Emily wondered if they were a seahorse family, and if they were
a family, how did the mom and dad tell their children apart?
Emily's group ran to a giant tank. There was a scuba diver inside
cleaning the tank! Around him swam giant tuna fish, gleaming
silver. There were fish of all shapes, vividly colored, darting in
between the rocks. Emily had never seen such brilliant color
combinations. There were friendly-looking blue parrotfish with
their yellow and pink dots. The orange and white clownfish smiled
at the children. At least that's what Emily thought. Fish of every
shape and size swam together in the giant tank.
Next were the otters. The class sat on benches to watch their
antics. One otter rolled around and around on a log, never seeming
to tire of this trick. There were two otters holding each other's
paws, and there were otters floating on their backs happily
munching seaweed. Emily and her friends laughed as they watched
them shimmy and wiggle across the logs and then chase each other
into the water.
Finally, the seals! Seals were Emily's absolute, all-time favorite.
The harbor seals with their brown spots glided effortlessly through
the water. Emily thought that one of them looked right at her as he
passed by. They moved through the water so quickly, and then, all
of a sudden, would come up to the surface and slide across the
floor. What fun!
Lunchtime was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks,
and chocolate milk from Emily's thermos. Emily saw that the
aquarium cafeteria sold fish sandwiches and wondered, "Why would
people want to eat fish at the aquarium?"
When it was time to go home, the children reluctantly said goodbye
to the aquarium. Back on the bus, and feeling a little sleepy,
Emily thought about her first school field trip. She couldn't wait
to return and visit her new sea friends.
- -
(c) 2007 StoryRhyme.com