Nonny's Hard Time
It was the end of the day on Monday. Gil packed up his stuff and swam up to Molly and Goby.
"Time to go. We've got homework," Gil said.
Deema and Oona swim up to the up to the group.
"We'll walk home with you too," Deema said.
"Let's go," Molly said.
Gil looked around.
"Wait a minute. Where's Nonny," Gil questioned.
"He's already gone, bolted right out of here. It's been going on for a while ," Goby explained.
"Have you guys noticed anything strange about Nonny?" Oona pointed out.
The guppies just sat there for a moment.
"Actually I have. He doesn't answer me when I talk to him," Goby tells them.
"I also told him a joke but he didn't even crack a smile. I wonder if something's wrong," Deema says.
"There's only one way to find out. Let's go over his house and ask him," Molly says.
The guppies all left the school and swam a couple blocks to Nonny's house. Molly rang the doorbell and waited. After about 5 minutes...
"He must not be home", Gil assumes.
Oona looks in the window.
"He's home all right. Look, he's right there laying on the couch," Oona says, pointing inside the window.
Indeed, Nonny was lying on the couch. His left arm was hanging down over the couch.
"Come on. Let's go in there and try to talk to him," Molly instructed.
The guppies opened the front door and stood in front of the T.V. Molly swam up to the couch.
"Nonny, are you ok?" Molly asks in a soft tone.
Without saying a word, Nonny got up from the couch and swam up to the front door. He opened the door and pointed outside; telling them to leave. The guppies leave.
"What do we do now?" Goby wonders.
"There's not much we can do. Except maybe try and snap him out of his depression. If we can't, he might not be the same," Molly says.
Over the next few days, Nonny seemed to get worse. He had trouble paying attention in class because he was either looking at the floor or the wall. Later in gym class, Gil and Goby were talking when suddenly a soccer ball came flying and it headed straight for Nonny.
"Nonny, look out!" Gil warned.
Nonny used his tail to kick the soccer ball away.
Nonny didn't talk to anyone or did his schoolwork. He just vanished after school every day. Molly and GIl stopped by his house a few times and they always found him doing something different. Sometimes he was laying on the couch, sometimes he was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch and sometimes he was eating something.
"You know what? I'm depressed because Nonny's depressed," Oona said sadly.
"Me too. Poor Nonners," Deema said sympathetically.
On Saturday, Mr. Grouper was taking the guppies on a camping trip like they did in the episode "The Legend of Pinkfoot". As Molly and GIl were swimming to school, they swam past Nonny's house. Molly looks at Gil.
"I don't want to go in there. He's just going to tell us to leave again," Gil protested.
"Come on, let's just ask him," Molly persuaded.
They enter Nonny's house and go into the living room. Nonny is watching T.V.
"Um, hi Nonny. Wanna go camping with us?" Molly asks, while trying to persuade Nonny to get out of the house.
"It'll be fun," Gil said, joining Molly's effort.
"Go away," Nonny says.
" Wow. That's the most he's said all week," Gil says to Molly.
"Well, we tried. Let's go," Molly says, feeling defeated.
Shortly after Molly and Gil leave, Nonny looks up from the T.V. Tears begin to fill his eyes, but he just went back to watching T.V.
Finally, Nonny snapped. He angrily threw a pillow across the room and burst into tears.
(A/N: As you read this next scene, here's something to keep in mind. I've created an an older brother for Nonny. His name is John and he is in his late teens. He looks like Nonny except John has brown hair, dark green eyes, his tail is blue, and his goggles are gold.)
John has entered the living room and sees Nonny crying.
"It's about time you let it out. It isn't good to bottle up your emotions," John reassures him.
"This is tearing me apart, John!" Nonny says tearfully.
John sits next to Nonny and gives him a hug.
"I know. When Uncle Ben died, it tore me apart too. I feel you kid," John said in a soft tone.
Nonny continued to sob.
"And I know he was your favorite relative. Even more so than me and cousin Kaitlyn," John says. John gives Nonny a Kleenex and Nonny blows his nose.
"Nonny, don't you think your friends deserve to know?"
Nonny looked at John.
"Yes they do. They're my friends. They knew something was wrong with me because I didn't talk or do any schoolwork. And they tried to help me but I didn't let them. And now that I've had time to cry, I guess it's time to tell them," Nonny realized.
"That's the spirit, kid. Let's ask Papa to drive us to find your friends. I heard Molly said something about a camping trip," John says.
"Let's go!" Nonny says enthusiastically.
Nonny got to the campsite as everyone was roasting marshmallows.
"Nonny! What are you doing here?" Molly asked with excitement.
"I was finally able to find the courage to cry," Nonny explains.
"Cry? How come?" Gil asks.
"The reason I've been acting depressed lately is because...(sigh) my uncle Ben recently passed away," Nonny tells the others.
Deema and Oona get up and hug Nonny really tight.
"Awwww!" Deema and Oona say.
Soon, everybody was hugging him.
"Awwww!" all the guppies say.
"You know what? I feel better already. Thanks, guys!" Nonny says, smiling.