The two would often have the other fish in stitches with their unique talent. Rhett would start a sentence, and Ol' Blue would jump right in and finish for him. Sometimes it was ridiculous and silly, but other times it was downright eerie, for everyone could tell that it was as if Ol' Blue had read Rhett's mind.
One day a funny looking fish swam by. Being the kind and generous boys they were, Rhett and Ol' Blue took to protecting the awkward little thing and spent as much time as they could with him. Especially Rhett. He learned the fish's name was Bo, and he learned that Bo had a completely different way of doing everything. When Ol' Blue had chores to do and couldn't be with them, Rhett would find him later in the day and tell the funniest story of how Bo actually jumped out of the water and flopped around on dry land--something Ol' Blue would never even dream of.
As you might imagine, before long it didn't feel like Rhett, Ol' Blue and Bo. No, it seemed like Ol' Blue didn't fit in the picture any more. Mostly it was because he didn't like Bo. Bo's scales had never fully developed, and so he looked and felt odd. And maybe he was a little touched by the sun, but Ol' Blue could swear that every day Bo's flippers looked longer and his tail looked shorter. But the clincher for him was when Bo's death-defying antics became all too regular, and his jumps onto dry land lasted longer and longer.
So one day Ol' Blue swam up to Rhett and asked him what it was he liked so much about Bo.
"I'm not real sure," Rhett responded. "He sure is different, though."
"Different! I'll say! Look at him just sitting on that log there. How does he hold his breath that long? I mean it just ain't natural for a fish to be out of water like that."
"Yeah, ain't he a hoot!" Rhett said.
"He might as well hoot for how weird he looks," Ol' Blue answered. "What manner of fish do you suppose he is, with his smooth, green skin and them awful spots? And how is it his flippers fold up and tuck under his body like that?"
"Ah...you just don't understand him," Rhett told his friend. "He sings these beautiful songs and jumps across the water almost like he's flying for a little bit."
"You call that croaking singing?" said Ol' Blue. "And we can jump, too. But he don't jump up out of the water, he jumps across it. I'm telling you, it ain't natural."
Ol' Blue decided he better study Bo and see what he was like. Of course it didn't take long, but with a little study he learned that Bo wasn't a fish at all, but a big, fat bullfrog. He didn't understand why Rhett couldn't see the differences between the two of them, Rhett being a fish and Bo now changed out of his fishy state. But if Rhett liked a frog, well Ol' Blue was going to be more like one himself. After all, he missed his old friend.
While Rhett and Bo frolicked about, Ol' Blue fashioned some legs out of branches floating on the bog. He figured out a way to wrap and tuck his tail so it almost looked like it wasn't even there. Finally, and most difficult of all, Ol' Blue learned to overcome his fear of land and wanted to try flopping up on it to impress Rhett.
One day as Rhett and Bo were holding a "Swamp Olympics", Ol' Blue readied himself. He heard them talking about the course for the next race, so he swam ahead and positioned himself for them to come by. He strapped on his prosthetic legs and tucked his tail, then sat and waited. In no time at all he could hear their voices coming, so he swam as fast and he could and leaped as far as he could onto a bumpy little island with tufts of swamp grass. The problem was, when the other two raced by, they didn't see or hear him, but just raced away. Ol' Blue began to panic. He gasped for air to call out their names, but there was none. He tried to use his new legs to hobble back into the water, but they were awkward and only held him down. Finally, he flopped and trashed, but it was no use.
As the darkness closed in on his terrified mind, on final thought flashed through. "So this is what they mean by, 'A fish out of water.'"
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