My nosy self stopped beside them and asked, “What are we looking at?” It hurts to show my nosiness. It hurts more to end a sentence with a preposition.
My strangers: “We don’t know, but it’s big and dark.”
Then I saw it myself. It was big and dark and round! And floating near the surface of the water.
My strangers asked the usual beach questions, like, “Is this your first time in Destin?”
Me: “No, we come here every year.” (It was their first time here, though.)
Strangers: “How long are you here?”
Me: “Just a few months.”
After those answers, my strangers looked at each other and nodded. Obviously I was a Beach Expert, especially about Things in the Water. If they had asked, I would have told them I personally don’t do water, but they did not take that line of questioning.
Strangers: “What do you think that thing is?”
Me (rather smugly): “Well, it’s not a shark. Sharks don’t float near the surface, and they’re not round.”
Them: “A shark?! Do they have sharks out here? Have YOU ever seen a shark here?”
Me: “Yes, we do have sharks, and I have seen them.” (They were not ready to hear about Peter having to fight sharks for the fish he caught. More than once.)
Them: “Then what on earth is it?”
Me: “It could be a giant sea tortoise. Or, it could be a manna ray. Manna rays are round like that. They are not to be confused with stingrays, of course.”
I tried to explain how one could tell them apart, besides the fact that one has a herkin’ stinger on its tail. I went into some detail about which one is darker on the bottom, or maybe one was all dark and the other was darker on one side and lighter on the other, or maybe they’d want to read more on the subject at Wikipedia. (I didn’t think I’ve ever get out of that one.)
My strangers were major impressed with my knowledge and hanging onto my every word, while keeping a wary eye on the Gulf.
Me: “So, since it’s not jumping out of the water like manna rays do, I will guess it’s a giant sea tortoise. Yes, that must be what it is. Naturally, I have seen these before, but you are quite fortunate to see one on your very first day in Destin.”
While we standing around and admiring the giant sea tortoise (and my vast store of aquatic information), we heard a woman a few yards down from us screaming. The guy with her was stomping out into the Gulf, holding his beer high up in the air. She was shouting to try to stop him. He bellowed back that he wasn’t afraid of “nothin’.” (In real life he must be a plumber, because he revealed a significant plumber’s crack.)
The big, dark, and round creature was seaweed. Yeah, well, even we marine biologists can make a mistake. And my strangers are only staying for a week. I’d been thinking about walking in the other direction for a week anyway.
No, I did not take a photo of the giant sea tortoise. Here are some seagulls instead:
I guess they’re seagulls . . ..
I love your stories.
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