Page 33 of It's Only Make Believe

“I don’t think you’re a gold digger or any of that shit,” he says. “I invited you here and I will be paying for it.”

“But you got our lunch,” I point out.

“And I’ll be getting dinner too. And paying for whatever we do this evening,” he says. “So, let’s not make a scene.”

I know when I’m beat, and I shrug one shoulder and Luke grins knowing he’s won this time. He has won today, but I’ll get him back another day. I now know I have to be more sneaky about it that’s all.

Luke pays for our tickets, and we go inside. It’s dark, although not so dark that we can’t see to walk, the only light coming from dim blue bulbs that make it feel almost like we are under the sea ourselves. The air is filled with the sound of gushing water, little splashes, and children laughing and exclaiming at the sights. It is all under scored by the quiet hum of conversation.

We walk to the first tank, and I stand and peer inside. It’s large and in the center is a red coral reef. All around it, fish of all colors and shapes and sizes swim around. Luke names a few of them for me and tells me a little bit about them. Watching the fish swim around is so relaxing and I could stand here all day, but I’m conscious that there are people behind us waiting to see the exhibition and that there is now a big gap in front of us where the people before us have moved on a while ago.

We move slowly to the next exhibition and while we are looking into the tank, Luke speaks up.

“About me wanting to pay for things,” he says. “This is terribly vulgar to discuss, and it will make me sound like a massive dick, but it needs to be said. I grew up, not poor exactly, but not well off either. I know how hard it can be to juggle finances and try to afford days out as well as essentials. Now, I’m the CEO of a billion-dollar company and money is easy come, easy go to me. I know you’re not in a position to throw money away if you are truly living on an intern’s wage, and I really like you. I want to spoil you. Please let me do that.”

I don’t know what to say to that. It’s a side to Luke I haven’t considered, the side where he grew up pretty much like I did with essentials like food and clothes covered but treats and days out weren’t common place.

“I currently earn more a day than you do in a month,” Luke says.

Finally, I find myself nodding my agreement – if he earns that kind of money, I can live with him paying for me when we go places - and I look at Luke’s reflection in the glass tank and see he is looking at mine.

“OK,” I finally say.

He squeezes my hand, and we move on to the next tank.

“Dick mode deactivated,” he says quietly as we walk, and I laugh and any remaining awkwardness from that conversation floats away on my laughter.

We look into the next few tanks and then we find ourselves outside and I can’t help but squeal with joy as Luke leads me through a small, manned gate, and into what turns out to be the penguin enclosure. There is a walkway and lots of white marble flooring that I assume mimics ice, and there is a huge pool for them that goes beneath the walkways and, Luke tells me, a long way down.

Penguins waddle around doing their thing and they are the most adorable little things. They don’t seem to fear humans although we are warned not to pet them or attempt to pick them up. We watch them for a few minutes and then the staff ushers us forward and out through another gate and we walk through a tunnel where we can see beneath the water and watch the penguins swim. They are much more graceful in the water than they are on land.

After the penguins, we go and watch the seals being fed. I can definitely see why people call seals sea dogs with their big, sad eyes and their cute little snouts. They eat the fishes thrown tothem and then they frolic in the water and play. One of the staff does a talk about the seals, about where each one came from and why they are here, and I see what Luke meant. None of the seals here would survive in the wild and they are well cared for here, and letting people visit and see them not only supports their care financially; it also raises awareness of these beautiful creatures and some of the challenges they are facing as a species.

Next, we see sea otters and sea lions.

“Do they have a sea lion show?” I ask as we walk.

Luke shakes his head.

“No. There’s no dolphin or whale shows either. If we time it right, we will see them being fed and we can listen to talks about them, but they stopped doing the shows,” he says.

“Good,” I reply.

As much as I wouldn’t have been able to resist going to watch the shows, at the same time, it doesn’t seem right to take any of these majestic creatures and have them perform for human entertainment. The dolphins are the next exhibit for us to look at and as they play and swim around, I find myself tearing up just from their sheer beauty. It’s like watching small children play the way they are so energetic and innocent, and they do seem to like to show off to the people watching them, but this is so much nicer than an organized show, because it is the dolphins themselves choosing to do this.

After the dolphin enclosure, we go back inside and come to the largest exhibition yet. There are lots of creatures in the tank, but the main attraction is the pod of beluga whales that swim around in there. Again, I can feel myself tearing up just from looking at them. Luke tells me a bit about this particular pod and where they all came from. Five of the six where rescues that were found injured and were deemed unfit for rehabilitation back into the wild. They would have died without the aquarium taking over their care. The fifth one was born in the aquarium andalthough there was talk of releasing her, the mother’s feelings were taken into account, and it was decided it would be too depressing for her to lose her baby and so she stayed. Having never known anything different, there is no reason to suspect she isn’t completely happy, especially now that they are just left alone to live and not put through training and performances. She is with her family, and she is safe, and I think there isn’t much more than that to a happy life.

We look at the whales for a long time, and then we head towards the last part of the aquarium, which is a long walk through a clear tunnel with the shark tank above and around it. There are several varieties of sharks and lots of other creatures in the huge tank, and walking through the tunnel, which is again bathed in a soft blue light, it really feels like I’m in the tank with them. It’s an amazing experience and I’m trying to look in every direction at once to not miss anything.

I am a little bit sad when we come to the end of the tunnel because I was enjoying it so much, and when I look at my watch, I’m shocked to see that almost four hours have passed since we came here. Luke sees my expression and laughs.

“It doesn’t feel like we’ve been here for that long at all does it?” he says, and I shake my head. I guess it wasn’t just the sharks I enjoyed more than I realized.

We have finished the tour of the place though, and we leave and head back to Luke’s car.

“I was thinking we could go to Navy Pier after the aquarium, but now I’m thinking that might be a bit much all in one day. The city has so much to see and do and I want to show you it all,” he says. “But I want you to enjoy it and take it in, not just rush through it all.”

“Well, we’ve got plenty of time to see it all. Show me more next weekend and the one after that and the one after that,”I say. “I don’t think I would appreciate another place properly now. I don’t want the day to be over yet though either.”

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