At the Wild Reef Exhibit — Annie Przypyszny

At the Wild Reef Exhibit

Annie Przypyszny

All that water pressing up against the barrier—it isn’t hard to imagine the glass cracking like an eggshell at the tap of the sawfish’s serrated snout. I imagine thin ribbons seeping between the fractures, then all of us crushed by a thick thrust of ocean. Or perhaps not crushed—instead, swept off our feet, immersed in a world of salt and blue, fish drifting above us like balloons. Nevermind our breath—the gasps of awe we took as we watched the glass give will hold us through. See the man in the baseball cap and Jansport backpack slowly swim beside the Napoleon Wrasse, a fish that’s taller than him, that thinks larger thoughts with its larger head. See two small children, their light-up sneakers glowing like bioluminescent plankton, settle in the sand for a noon-time nap, the spotted ray draped atop them for a blanket. See a husband and wife fall in love all over again, sinking into the memories of their honeymoon in Maui, where they snorkeled in the turquoise of Kapalua Bay. Watch as they renew their vows amidst a garden of morays, clownfish weaving through the wife’s coral-red tresses, moonjellies flickering like stars. Though this glass is plexiglass and as likely to break as the floor is likely to collapse, it’s impossible to gaze through this wall of water and not wonder what it’s like to dance with a blacktip shark, who I’ve heard must stay dancing to stay alive.