Benny made his way out of the classroom and onto the playground. He gave an extra tug on his shirtsleeve to make sure it was covering his arm. David wasn’t here today. Benny usually hung out with David and they played on the teeter-totter or the curly slide when it was empty. But David wasn’t here today. Benny looked around. Boys and girls laughed and darted here and there in bunches like schools of brightly colored fish around a coral reef. Benny pretended he was an octopus hiding in the bright coral. Pretended no one could see him or bother him.
But Benny the octopus wasn’t alone. He saw another octopus just around the corner. It was the new boy sitting on a bench at the back of the playground. Benny couldn’t remember his name, but he sure did stand out. Benny couldn’t remember ever seeing a black family in his little town. The bright darter fish made fun of him and called him names. “Maybe he feels like an octopus, too,” thought Benny. He walked over and sat down.
“Hi. What’s your name?” Benny asked.
“Alex,” the boy answered. “What’s yours? Why aren’t you out there playing?”
“Oh, I’d rather be an octopus. My name’s Benny.”
“An octopus? How do you do that?”
“Well, see how those kids all run around in bunches and wave their arms? I think they look like those bunches of fish you see on TV that all swim together over a coral reef. I stay back and pretend I’m an octopus who doesn’t want to swim.”
“Do they make fun of you, too?” the little black boy ventured. He rubbed a hand over the brown smoothness of his arm.
“Yeah. They say I’m different and they don’t like me. Except for David. He’s my buddy. We play together. But he’s not here today. I think he must be sick.”
“Why are you different?” asked Alex. “I think you look just like them.”
“Well, not exactly,” answered Benny. He rolled the shirt sleeve up to the elbow of the arm that was next to Alex. A dark brown birthmark covered the arm from wrist to elbow. A dark hair grew out of it here and there as well.
Suddenly both boys looked at each other and then at their arms. The skin color was almost identical. Alex held his hand palm up to Benny. “See my hand? It’s almost white. You have some of me and I have some of you. Let’s be octopuses together!”
“Not octopuses, zebra fish!” And the new fishes took off full tilt for the curly slide.