Amphibian by Carla Gunn

how he starts off), and I said no (which is always my answer), he got out a little thing that looks kind of like a mouse for a computer. He told me it was called a galvanic skin response unit. It had a place for me to put two fingers and it was supposed to show how stressed I felt by measuring how sweaty the skin of my hand was. Dr. Barrett then hooked it up to his computer and clicked on a picture of a flying saucer floating in the sky. He told me that I could make the flying saucer go lower and eventually land by calming my mind and my body. He told me to concentrate on something that made me feel calm to see if I could do it.
    With my fingers in Dr. Barrett’s stress unit, I thought of sitting in a tree beside Pete’s Pond. I imagined elephants doing a greeting ceremony. When they haven’t seen each other in a while, they rush together loudly and flap their enormous ears and spin in circles while rumbling, roaring and trumpeting. This is how elephants show joy.
    As I imagined this, the flying saucer got lower and lower. Dr. Barrett said quietly, ‘Excellent, Phin. You’re doing it. See how calm and relaxed your body is?’
    I nodded my head. I was starting to imagine baboons drinking and playing in the water and I wanted Dr. Barrett to be quiet so I could keep the image.
    Dr Barrett said, ‘You’ve almost landed the spaceship. You are calm and relaxed. Very good.’
    After a few more minutes, Dr. Barrett said, ‘Excellent, Phin! You did that really quickly. Now, what I’d like you to pay attention to is how relaxed your body and breathing are. And whenever you’re upset, try to get back to this bodily state again, okay?’
    â€˜That may be difficult.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜Because of what makes me upset.’
    â€˜Which is worrying about animals, right? Well, when you worry about animals, just think of what you were thinking this afternoon and bring back that feeling of calmness …’
    â€˜That likely won’t help,’ I said. ‘Because I was thinking about Pete’s Pond in Africa. I want to do work like Pete does, but you won’t let me learn the things I need to know.’
    Dr. Barrett didn’t say anything for a minute and then he said, ‘Phin, I know this seems confusing for you right now, but next week when you come in we’ll talk more about why your mother and I think that not watching the Green Channel is for the best right now. Can you trust me on this and we’ll talk about it more next week?’
    I didn’t say anything.
    Then after a few moments, Dr. Barrett said, ‘We’ll talk more about this next week, okay, Phin? I’m really proud of how quickly you caught on to the relaxation exercise. That kind of exercise can really help make you feel better. And that’s what your mom and I really want for you – to feel better. I’m going to lend you the little device we used here today to practice making your body feel calmer. Can you practice that for me every day until I see you next?’
    He wants me to not worry at the very time I should be most worried – when I don’t know what the crap’s going on in the world.
    Today at school Bird got in big trouble. He put his tongue in the cheek of his mouth and tried to say, ‘Get the puck off the ice’ – only it didn’t sound like
puck
. He said it about six times louder than loud. Mrs. Wardman heard him. He had to explain for a long, long time what he was trying to say.
    I could tell that Mrs. Wardman didn’t believe what Bird was saying. Her eyebrows were low and her lips were closed together and her nostrils were bigger than usual. She looked like the gorilla I saw on the Green Channel who was trying to scare away a lion except she didn’t hoot and beat her chest. But she did give Bird one of those misbehaviour forms that his parents have to sign and send back in. Last time Bird got one of those was for