Aquarium
| Aquarium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First appearance | Gone Fishing, page 1 June 20, 2011 |
| Related characters | Mike, Lucy, Daisy, Paulo, David, Yashy |
The Aquarium is a public aquarium visited by Lucy, Mike and their Roseville Middle School class on the field trip that makes up the whole of Gone Fishing. The class never returns, a state of affairs Lucy is very much at peace with. The visit is also the first time the comic shows Lucy’s fear of water.
Description
The main hall is dominated by an enormous viewing tank, its glass wall so tall that the top edge is never in sight. A low ledge runs along the base of the glass for visitors to stand behind. Inside the tank are tall stalks of kelp, rocky mounds dotted with anemones, schools of small fish, and at least one shark so large that only its tail fits in view at once.[1][2]
Within sight of the tank hall is a seal-show amphitheatre.[2] Tiered bench seating behind a front-row rail faces a pool with a low stage at its edge.[3] A handler stands there beside a barrel of fish while running the show. A volunteer from the audience can stand right at the pool’s edge, close enough to get splashed, or worse.[4]
History
The class tours the tank hall while a guide lectures about the evolutionary history of sharks. Lucy stares up at the tank looking deeply uneasy, while Yashy happily reaches for the fish.[1] Paulo then starts tapping on the glass, explaining that he’s “trying to get a shark’s attention.” Lucy hauls him away from the tank in genuine alarm, and when he turns the rescue into a hug, she kicks him head-first into the glass.[2]
At the seal show, Lucy begins breathing heavily as she looks at the pool. Mike, realizing he had forgotten all about her fear, quietly takes her hand, much to the annoyance of Daisy, who glares from behind her clipboard.[3] He tells Lucy he gave her a promise he fully intends to keep, and she smacks him for his trouble: “You also promised not to touch me, jerkface.”[4] Years later, Lucy remembers Mike taking her hand.[6]
Paulo, meanwhile, has begged his way into being the show’s volunteer. He fakes out the seal with its own fish, and the seal answers by knocking him into the pool with its tail, leaving a horrified Lucy clinging to Mike’s arm.[4] On the bus ride back to school, Lucy’s verdict is “Worst experience of my LIFE.” She vows to call in sick if the class ever plans a return.[7]
Trivia
- Gone Fishing was originally a book-exclusive bonus chapter made for Volume One. Veronica’s commentary on its web release notes that it “has now made its way to the website.”[1]