Fifty Word Challenge Entry - “Forest”
The micro fiction story, below, is an entry in @jayna’s Fifty-word challenge. The prompt this week is ‘forest.’ I chose to use it to tell this story, because maybe it’s true. Maybe not. Inspired, at least, by past late afternoon swims at the now shark- and seal-infested waters of the famous and still beautiful, (fictitious) “Emerald Cove…”
Thanks, Jayna, for once again, providing a new prompt to fire the imagination. Everyone, this week’s challenge lasts through Saturday, therefore there's still time to enter. Guidelines here.
Here’s my entry (title excluded from word count)
Late Afternoon Swim at Emerald Crystal Cove:
The Garibaldi twins surfed the crystal emerald waves like orange jewel cakes. Potsy’s mouth watered. He leapt off Selkie Rock Lounge. Mrs. Garibaldi chimed the dinner bell. “Coming.” The Damsels dove to Garibaldi Retreat in Kelp Forest Deep. “Too tangly,” said Postsy. Tuck the Turtle tittered. “Foiled by the bell.”
KT’s POLITICALLY INCORRECT COMMENTARY - read at your own risk
On the Protected Kelp Forest, Cove and fauna above and within its curling darkness:
Environmentalists dispute with Conservationists
Experts and amateurs argue over facts, known and unknown, yet not answering the common citizens' questions. For instance, just how did the multi-varied seals and sea-lions, most being non-indigenous to The Emerald Crystal Cove, really get there?
Why would they swim all the way from their native waters, which are miles up and down the Pacific Coast?
Did they crave, like tourists, the to-die-for view?
Had they been dumped off by marine mammal rescue clinic boats, because the poor beasties, now healed from near-fatal shark or orc bites, needed a new home?
Or were they stranded during the mysterious Blue Blob phenomena that trumped El Niño in bringing in exotic sea life?
Garibaldi watchers just plant their field glasses on their faces, and ever scour the scene.
They shrug, concerned only with seeking the now rare appearance of Garibaldi Damsels. Once in a while the beauties show up, as if to mimic phantom suns. The brave ones sail through the crystal wave tips, or gather like beguiled sailors, as if drawn to the siren’s call. Unwittingly to provide Postsy and company with home-delivered meals.
The Garibaldi, who seek deep shelter amid the tangled kelp forest, strive to thrive there with other easy piscis-prey.
This is the law of the kelp-jungle, which borders the now seal-infested coastal waters, because the sharks also come and go for easy seal kill, thanking King Neptune for the fresh snacks their God provides.
Cove shop and restaurant owners despair.
Nothing the merchant association has tried gets rid of the seals, but, if they could, the beleaguered entrepreneurs would kill the pungent stench itself, which keeps tourists from staying long enough to support their businesses.
Locals?
They just check the breeze direction, before hiking the trails above The Cove. To do otherwise invites self-inflicted torture.
Most Cove swimmers no longer chance it.
Why ignore the prominent city-posted warnings of bacterial infection, one which is a real threat, because of what the now severely contaminated water poses? What about just breathing the air, which is worse than the hits to your sensibilities that you also get from the Animal Park or Zoo?
All this and more keeps The Emerald Crystal Cove always famous.
Its little beach village, despite dangers and the stench from the raw seal sewage and its bacteria below, is still choked, as ever, with visitors from around the world. I'm still here, after all, because I like living near vacation land.
Anyway.
Salt swimming pool, my place; valet parking; stench-free ocean-view - you coming?
Image credit: snapped yesterday by @ktfabler
Story © by @ktfabler. Thanks for dropping by. More stories, here.
Wow, you have lots of information supporting your story. I found it to be a very interesting read! I would love more of an explanation of the story itself so I better understand it. Are the garibaldi twins fish? Anyway, it's rich with imagery and very compelling. Thank you for your entry!!
Hi Jayna, hope you had/have a nice time on the FL beach!
Yes, Garibaldi are fish that have become all but extinct at our cove, overtaken as it is by huge populations of seal and sea lion species. The Garibaldi were plentiful, yet now a rare sight. They are big like large full-size pancakes, maybe bigger. It's difficult to get the true perspective from either shore or cliff top.
We have a protected kelp forest surrounding the cove, and I imagine my orange friends hiding there. I doubt that seals are put off by the tangle of kelp. I depicted Potsy as too lazy a fellow to invade the deeps, a fantasy to justify my cherished illusion, that our Garibaldi still thrive there. The kelp forest must provide sea mammals with plenty of food, though I'd have to consult my oceanographer friend. You've inspired me to perhaps investigate what is really going on down there...
However, I have witnessed how swift seals and sea lions are in leaping off rocks to protect territory from new seals, though any such notion is moot today. Eye witness accounts of such savage sea mammal fighting is less common though they do fuss at one another. Currently they must coexist in a melting-pot of seal and sea lion species. These cover all the beach and rocks they desire for sunbathing, mating, birth and pup-rearing activities.
The really terrible part for humans (other than we long time locals lamenting the disappearance of our loved Garibaldi) is the bio-hazard not to mention stench from pounds and pounds of excrement. Mucho dinero have been spent on things ranging from a biodegradable foam that dissolves it off the rocks, with the side benefit of feeding the ocean with whatever new substance the mixture creates. To a sea mammal-whisperer, attempting to coax the beasties to swim to islands or beaches less coveted by the humans.
To date, the sea-mammals are unmoved by any such imaginative and legal human intervention. Yes, this is a protected species, though in certain tree-forested areas of the world we have hunters to cull the deer populations...
Folks with ocean-front property can't open their windows to let the salt air in... Visitors, I am amazed to observe, are willing to walk among the muck and ignore lifeguard and posted warnings. Seals do bite when their personal space is invaded, and are swift to enforce their natural laws. Sadly every season there are accidents. Still you'll see a tourist attempting to take their selfie with a seal.
I check the breeze direction and plan my cove walk accordingly, yet ocean breeze can be fickle and catch you off guard (gag). Many times, especially when the weather is hot, I just go to another seal-free beach... plenty of those within walking distance, thankfully.
I will probably do a magical realism piece inspired by the old days when only a few seals and sea lions lived here. Once I named the largest I ever saw, Neptune, when I happened upon him at the bottom of a cave I was exploring. Thankfully there was a fence between us, and he apparently felt undisturbed by my appearance. I wouldn't have liked him to test the strength of that barrier...
Nice job 👍
Thank you kindly, @ablaze.
No bother
This is more a comment on your commentary than the story; but, I appreciate your politically incorrect manner that allows you to actually speak your thoughts.
(I didn't think it was politically incorrect at all, but, I'm not familiar with the going-ons.)
Thanks. It was easy as, yesterday I forgot to check wind direction so, let us say, the annoyance was more than inconvenient. I choked. Yet, I love the wildlife in and out of the water. I think they know that I am on their side. Just a thorny issue, as I wonder how healthy all that stuff they lie in all day is for them?