


However, the instant my fish boy was back on dry land, I immediately saw the metamorphosis from fish to boy. As the water pooled at Ryan's feet where moments ago there were fins and as he struggled to catch his breath with lungs and not gills, Ryan looked like a fish out of water. The calming influence of the water evaporated as did Ryan's confidence. It was like watching a fish flop around on a boat deck. Ryan's hand was twitching to and fro and his eyes kept averting his friend's gaze and going back to the water where he longed to breath with his gills again. As Ryan's friend greeted him, Ryan's genuine smile was replaced with his awkward, unnatural, autismy smile and he scripted some line from SpongeBob (ironic that SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea, right?). Ryan quickly turned away from his friend, drawn back to the calmness of the water, and ran off alone to enjoy the springy sensation of the diving board and the glorious pressure like hug of sinking into the "deep end". I pushed Denial in the pool.



