“It’s time.” I know exactly what Dad means and jump up, abandoning my dolls. We’ve been monitoring a pregnant guppy, and now Dad gingerly transfers her to the divided breeder tank. She swims, quivers, stops. Mesmerized, I watch as a miniscule look-alike emerges beneath her tail and darts away. She repeats this dance countless times, the fry descending through a slit into the bottom compartment, safe from their hungry mother. Dad had explained to me they would not all survive. Still, as one floats upward and back through the slit, the way I picture an alien abduction‚ sorrow grips me.
Kathy Lynn Carroll is a Connecticut writer and reviews picture books on Celebrate Picture Books. Her work has appeared in Blink-Ink, The First Line, 50-Word Stories, previously in Five Minutes, and elsewhere. www.celebratepicturebooks.com Instagram: @celebratepicturebooks