#dad gordon

“It’s a what?!” Gordon immediately pulled the seven year old to her feet and checked her over frantically. “Are you okay? Did it sting you?! What a stupid question! You wouldn’t have been able to get over here if it stung you.” He rambled to himself for another minute before calming down and hugging her close.

Piper giggled. “Silly Daddy. I’m okay! Look at the jelly!” She removed herself from his embrace and kneeled back down next to the bucket, pulling on Gordons hand for him to do the same.

Noting that this situation was definitely somehow his fault Gordon had the realisation that he probably owed his three older brothers, Dad, and Grandma an apology complete with cake, Gordon sat down with Piper and her bucket.

Sure enough, floating about in the yellow plastic bucket was a small moon jellyfish.

Okay, the fact that she’s caught an actual jellyfish might be cool but it’s time to be the responsible parent Gordon, go. “Where did the jellyfish come from angelfish?”

“It was in the sea!” Piper pointed back in the direction she had come from.

“You scooped it out of the sea?”

“Yeah with my bucket! I didn’t touch it. We don’t touch jellyfish.” She shook her head vigorously.

“Good girl.” Gordon praised, though they probably did need to have a conversation about not abducting wildlife from the ocean at all.

“Tell me about the jellyfish Daddy!” she copied him and sat cross legged, waiting for him to start, while still peering into the bucket.

“This particular little jellyfish is called a moon jellyfish, Aurelia aurita…”

“Au-ray-lee-a au-ri-ta…” Piper repeated slowly.

“You got it!” Gordon grinned proudly. “They can be found all over the world, in all different oceans. You can identify them by the four circles in the bell.” He pointed them out, drawing a little circle in the air to match each one. Pipers stare alternated between him and the jellyfish, transfixed and hanging on his every word. “They’re not normally very much bigger than this little fella, and their tentacles are very delicate and small. Can you see them there?”

Gordon pointed to the fine, almost hair like tendrils on the edges of the main bell of the jellyfish, Piper nodded.

“Are they the stingy bits?” She pointed, eyes glued to the sea creature now.

“Ordinarily yes, they would be. But these little guys don’t really have a sting on them that can affect us. You might just get a little bit of a tickle if they get you, but it won’t be anything bad like with the bigger jellyfish I told you about.” Piper nodded. “These guys are really common and you can usually see them all year round.”

“What do they eat?”

“I was just getting to that bit!” Gordon poked her in the stomach and Piper giggled, grinning up at him and Gordon couldn’t help but smile back. “For dinner this guy will be having a feast of plankton, mollusks, some crustaceans and little fish.”

“He eats fishes?! How? He doesn’t have a mouth!”

“First, they sting them with their stingers, because they’re a lot more stingy to the little fish than they are to us, and then it gets stuck in the sticky mucus at the bottom of the main body bell. You with me so far?”

Piper nodded.

“Then they use something called their oral arms to move the food into their mouths so they can eat it.”

Piper crinkled her nose in a show of disgust. “Where are those?”

“All the way underneath, we can’t see them in your bucket. But if the little guy was in a glass tank swimming around we’d be able to see better.”

Piper was quiet and thoughtful for a moment.

“Can we keep it?”

“We don’t have a fish tank at home sweetheart.”

“Grandpa does.”

Gordon laughed, he really did owe Dad and Scott an apology. “No, we can’t it has to go back so it can go home to its family.”

“Oh, okay…”

“Plus, I don’t think Mommy would like it.”

Piper giggled. “Mummy, Daddy.” She corrected him.

He rolled his eyes but smiled. “Come on,” He picked up the bucket in one hand and held his other out for hers. “Let’s go put the little guy back so he can go home.”