Requesting the title of a science fiction short story my dad told me about twenty years ago.

The general gist was that there was a human and some kind of alien (I seem to remember it as red and arrow-like but I'm not sure if he described it or that was just my imagination) on opposite sides of some kind of barrier or bubble. They were completely unable to communicate, but they both gradually realized that the atmosphere was harmful to them and they needed to switch places. Whether or not that's the whole story or just a fragment of it, I have no idea.

My dad was a big classic sci-fi nerd and everything else he read was from the 40's or 50's so I assume this one is as well. I've read quite a bit of sci-fi from that period but never encountered it, so I guess it's an obscure story. I don't really know anything else, I just always remember that one time he told me about it while driving. And today, I'm missing him, so I'd be delighted if I could find it.