Friday, September 08, 2006
Manatees, Apparently
Well.
Apparently we have a manatee that swims by our building on a regular basis. And apparently this manatee is “huge!”
I ask my manatee sighting neighbors, “Huge as in the size of a car?”
“Definitely!”, they exclaim.
So, apparently, I have incredibly bad timing because I keep missing the manatee. Or, as my neighbors like to put it, I have “just missed it!” In fact, I “just” missed it two times this week alone.
Grrrrr.
So this manatee, this car sized manatee, apparently likes to show up right about the time I arrive home. All the neighbors come out and watch it as it swims by. They say it swims slowly, very, very, slowly, coming up to the surface every 10 minutes or so as it makes its way around the bend in the waterway where we live, chomping on plants. And the neighbors walk along with it from one side of our building to the other, basking in the glory of the whole nature experience.
And then I arrive home. And suddenly the manatee is gone. But the neighbors are all still there, faces flushed with excitement, chattering on and on about how fabulous it all is.
I guess the manatees think they are funny. Oh sure! Meander about like the slow ass sea cow that you are until you hear me coming up then you decide that suddenly you have more important things to do, other plants to eat, different waters to navigate. Like fricken Rhode Island. The people in Rhode Island get to see one but I, who lives in South Florida where manatees are supposed to be in abundance, do not.
Not even a glimpse. Not their huge can, that odd looking face, not flipper one.
It’s starting to piss me off.
