Please paraphrase. What does "there was air coming down" mean here? Thanks ?

Question

Father: After the bird show you saw them. And were the butterflies flying around all over the zoo?

Boy: Uh, um, they’re inside.

Father: They were inside, what, a little building? [Yeah] What was the building made of? Was it made of wood? [No] What was it made of? [Glass] Oh, made of glass. And couldn’t the butterflies fly out of the glass? [No] No, oh, what stopped them from flying out?

Boy: Um, the air.

******Father: Oh, the air. Oh, there was air coming down? [Yeah] Oh, well that’s great.

magix151 · Answer

I think it means some air circulation machine or something.

bluebellbkk · Answer

Without the whole context one can't be sure, but actually it is just possible that there was some kind of downward air pressure system in place that was too powerful for small, light creatures like butterflies to fly against it  -  like swimming against a current.

Marli · Answer

The boy is thinking out the puzzle of why the butterflies can't fly out of the glass enclosure.

The father wants him to figure out that the glass is keeping the butterflies inside.

The boy doesn't get the hint, so he ventures to say the air is stopping the butterflies' escape.

The father gives up the lesson and allows the boy to think his answer is the right one.

Anonymous · Answer

Father is ridiculing the son - the son has explained that the thing that stops the butterflies flying away is the air - which is clearly absurd. Father is being sarcastic, like the air was being forced down to stop the butterflies flying away.

Please paraphrase. What does "there was air coming down" mean here? Thanks ?

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