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Jetée · 07-27-2010, 04:01 AM

When Sharks Fly: "Tipping Point", illustrated by Derek Chatwood ; (c) 2010. All Rights Reserved

The chainlink on the window rattled as a curious whitetip sniffed, then flew on. It was nothing new, but the girl still grew scared when the large schools drifted by late at night. Her mother tried to distract her with a story, and hoped she would sleep soon. "When did it start," the girl asked. The mother wondered if she was still too young to understand, but thought she may be less scared if she knew. "Long ago when you were very young," she explained, "we did something bad, something we couldn't fix. We drilled a hole in the bottom of the ocean, and then we couldn't plug it back up."

"We broke the ocean", the girl interrupted. "It started when be broke the ocean?"

"Yes honey," the mother said. The girl's curiosity began to win over her fear. "But why couldn't we fix it? Aren't we supposed to fix the stuff we break?" Her mother thought about how to answer. "We can do a lot of amazing things honey, but some things are bigger than us. Like an earthquake or a hurricane, some events are so huge that all we can do is hunker down and wait for it to pass."

"How long is that going to be," the girl asked. "What happens to all the animals? Are all the oceans going to die?"

"I don't think so, honey. The planet is a lot more durable than people think. Life finds a way, or something happens to keep life safe for a while. Sometimes it's an ice age. This time it's sharks in the sky. It may take many thousands of years, but eventually the planet will rebound and fix itself."

The girl's eyelids were heavy, but she still had questions. "So if the planet is going to be ok, what about us? what about people? Are we going to be ok?" The mother kissed the girl on the forehead, looked up to catch a glimpse of the last of the whitetip school sillouetted against the moonlit sky.

"Go to sleep honey, it's late."

- - - - -

-- This artist's illustration is part of a gallery series, found on flickr, entitled: When Sharks Fly - by The Searcher

07-27-2010, 04:01 AM	#9 (permalink)
Jetée The Reforms Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition	When Sharks Fly: "Tipping Point", illustrated by Derek Chatwood ; (c) 2010. All Rights Reserved The chainlink on the window rattled as a curious whitetip sniffed, then flew on. It was nothing new, but the girl still grew scared when the large schools drifted by late at night. Her mother tried to distract her with a story, and hoped she would sleep soon. "When did it start," the girl asked. The mother wondered if she was still too young to understand, but thought she may be less scared if she knew. "Long ago when you were very young," she explained, "we did something bad, something we couldn't fix. We drilled a hole in the bottom of the ocean, and then we couldn't plug it back up." "We broke the ocean", the girl interrupted. "It started when be broke the ocean?" "Yes honey," the mother said. The girl's curiosity began to win over her fear. "But why couldn't we fix it? Aren't we supposed to fix the stuff we break?" Her mother thought about how to answer. "We can do a lot of amazing things honey, but some things are bigger than us. Like an earthquake or a hurricane, some events are so huge that all we can do is hunker down and wait for it to pass." "How long is that going to be," the girl asked. "What happens to all the animals? Are all the oceans going to die?" "I don't think so, honey. The planet is a lot more durable than people think. Life finds a way, or something happens to keep life safe for a while. Sometimes it's an ice age. This time it's sharks in the sky. It may take many thousands of years, but eventually the planet will rebound and fix itself." The girl's eyelids were heavy, but she still had questions. "So if the planet is going to be ok, what about us? what about people? Are we going to be ok?" The mother kissed the girl on the forehead, looked up to catch a glimpse of the last of the whitetip school sillouetted against the moonlit sky. "Go to sleep honey, it's late." - - - - - -- This artist's illustration is part of a gallery series, found on flickr, entitled: When Sharks Fly - by The Searcher __________________ As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi Last edited by Jetée; 07-27-2010 at 04:05 AM..