Verrrrrry Intereztink....
Okay, I have all the time in the world today so I'm going to describe my ambien induced dream that I had last night.... it's fun. It has 30000000000 different locations, 900000000000000 different stories. you'll have to forgive me if I get a little JRR on you. I have a lot of dream to go through and a lot of it doesn't make sense.... Ah the things sedatives and 11 hours of REM sleep will do to you.
Standing in the new Big City Aquarium, A woman, her two little girls, her beau, and a few dozen other people are observing the hundreds of colorful and exotic seacreatures gliding in and out of view. The viewing window is only a little more than twenty feet tall, but to the woman's two year old, it went on for miles. Sea turtles and enormous eels swam by and the normally talkative toddler was silent, taking everything in while holding her parents's hands. But then a glimmer brought her out of her stunned silence.
"Look, Mommy, Turtle fall down! Help Turtle?"
"No honey," The mother said sympathetically,"The turtle's just sleeping. He's tired. You take naps, the turtle is taking a nap..."
Her sentence trailed off as she saw more turtles spiraling down from the surface. Then she noticed something unusual, more unusual than turtles coming this deep into the tank. She saw that each fallen shell was empty. The other people in the huge room noticed too and looked around nervously. The children didn't seem much bothered but the adults were disturbed by the phenomenom. More turtles fell until the floor of the tank was littered with them. The woman noticed a slight change of pressure and immediately picked up her young daughter. She turned to the man, who was cradling their fussy baby girl.
"We need to run out of here NOW. I feel it."
"I think the little one feels it too. Let's go."
They turned and walked slowly out the door. The red "EXIT" sign seemed to pulse with urgency, but they dared not panic the other people. Their moral sense of servitude was as good as anyone elses, but their first duty was to their children. If there was truly an emergency impending and those people were put into a frenzy, there would be running, pushing, and screaming. The children would be ripped out of their arms and trampled or kidnapped. It would take to long to get everyone under control and organised. By that time, it might be too late.
They walked through the glass maze of tanks, watching more turtles fall. Now it wasn't just turtles. Waterfowl were drifting down in lazy circles, bubbles drifting from under their feathers, beady black eyes still half open and glazed over with not quite death but something else. They didn't waste time philosophizing about it. They had to get out of there. NOW. They were in an underground maze of tank tunnels that all led to the same place... Eventually. Its just finding the one that takes you directly to the exit of this godforsaken place. Then they hear it. Its just a tiny creak, like someone opening a door, but much more ominous than that. The man and woman freeze. Someone screams from the auditorium. They burst into a full sprint, the hall floods, and the floor tiles are lifting them up.
"Great idea, whoever thought of the waterproof tiles, eh?" the woman shouted back at the man.
"Shut up and keep running! And don't trip!!!"
They pushed ahead. The hallway tanks were leaking and every time they turned a corner, the tanks behind them broke open, adding to the already knee deep water. It was getting hard to run, even harder to keep balance with fish and other seacreatures floating by. The man felt something slither by his ankle and said a little prayer, thanking the lord that there were no electric eels in the tanks. Cracks in the glass were more frequent and spraying them and the children as they sped by. The children must have known what a perilous situation it was because they whined very little and kept quiet, as if trying to help keep their parents focused on getting out of their and escaping a watery grave. More corners, more tanks, more fish, more water. It seemed as though they would never get out of this 2 billion dollar nightmare. They finally reached the cafeteria. There was a platform overlooking the lower level, where they entered, along with a gift shop and photo center. The entire place was abandoned. The man and woman trudged up the steps to the platform and set the children down. The man sat with them while the woman got a handful of towels and a few toys from the gift shop for the kids to play with. The man and woman silently dried of the girls while they played with their new toys. The baby had a stuffed eel that glowed everytime you sqeezed it and the man shivered when he saw it. The adults dried themselves off. They let the children sit for a few minutes while they plundered more of the gift shop.
"Oh for heaven's sake," the Man said, disgustedly,"They have a pack of 5 diapers for $10."
"Well, I don't think the security guard will notice if you borrow them and replace them with the used ones," the woman said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Good point. No point in complaining about the prices now anyway. I don't think anyone will notice if the kids have Shamu on their asses or not."
The woman chuckled. The man's ability to transfer the severity of the situation into humor instead of panic made her admire him. She had the same thing going for her, and that's what he admired. She was so strong, but so soft on the inside.
"So what are we going to do with these kids?" The woman asked.
"Well, they're hungry and there's a food place right there. We can see what's ready and I promise I won't balk at the prices. While they eat, we can sit down and work out a plan." The man thought carefully for a moment and said, "How are we going to carry these guys? We can't arm carry them anymore. My arms are about to fall off and I kow yours are hurting too."
"Tell you what, I'll look for carriers in here, along with other supplies we'll need. Look, here's some sleeping bags and... PILLOWS? What the hell? Were they PLANNING on something like this happening or do they actually sell this stuff? Christ on the cross already!"
"Ahem. I'll take the sleeping bags and pillows and let the girls chill out in front of the food place while I hunt down something edible. You do your thing in here, don't forget the $200 firstaid kit just in case."
"How long are you planning on being here?" The woman asked, concerned.
"Not long, but you never know. There might be other people coming and I don't want to have to fight for supplies if we're stuck here for awhile. I also want to be able to help anyone we come across."
"Good call. Now go take these toys to the kids. The big one will get a kick out of yo-yo, but careful, she'll try to hit her sister."
Okay folks, my fingers hurt. I've been typing, deleting, retyping, deleting, reretyping, etc for over an hour and a half now. I'll finish this later. Trust me. It's stuck in my head.
Standing in the new Big City Aquarium, A woman, her two little girls, her beau, and a few dozen other people are observing the hundreds of colorful and exotic seacreatures gliding in and out of view. The viewing window is only a little more than twenty feet tall, but to the woman's two year old, it went on for miles. Sea turtles and enormous eels swam by and the normally talkative toddler was silent, taking everything in while holding her parents's hands. But then a glimmer brought her out of her stunned silence.
"Look, Mommy, Turtle fall down! Help Turtle?"
"No honey," The mother said sympathetically,"The turtle's just sleeping. He's tired. You take naps, the turtle is taking a nap..."
Her sentence trailed off as she saw more turtles spiraling down from the surface. Then she noticed something unusual, more unusual than turtles coming this deep into the tank. She saw that each fallen shell was empty. The other people in the huge room noticed too and looked around nervously. The children didn't seem much bothered but the adults were disturbed by the phenomenom. More turtles fell until the floor of the tank was littered with them. The woman noticed a slight change of pressure and immediately picked up her young daughter. She turned to the man, who was cradling their fussy baby girl.
"We need to run out of here NOW. I feel it."
"I think the little one feels it too. Let's go."
They turned and walked slowly out the door. The red "EXIT" sign seemed to pulse with urgency, but they dared not panic the other people. Their moral sense of servitude was as good as anyone elses, but their first duty was to their children. If there was truly an emergency impending and those people were put into a frenzy, there would be running, pushing, and screaming. The children would be ripped out of their arms and trampled or kidnapped. It would take to long to get everyone under control and organised. By that time, it might be too late.
They walked through the glass maze of tanks, watching more turtles fall. Now it wasn't just turtles. Waterfowl were drifting down in lazy circles, bubbles drifting from under their feathers, beady black eyes still half open and glazed over with not quite death but something else. They didn't waste time philosophizing about it. They had to get out of there. NOW. They were in an underground maze of tank tunnels that all led to the same place... Eventually. Its just finding the one that takes you directly to the exit of this godforsaken place. Then they hear it. Its just a tiny creak, like someone opening a door, but much more ominous than that. The man and woman freeze. Someone screams from the auditorium. They burst into a full sprint, the hall floods, and the floor tiles are lifting them up.
"Great idea, whoever thought of the waterproof tiles, eh?" the woman shouted back at the man.
"Shut up and keep running! And don't trip!!!"
They pushed ahead. The hallway tanks were leaking and every time they turned a corner, the tanks behind them broke open, adding to the already knee deep water. It was getting hard to run, even harder to keep balance with fish and other seacreatures floating by. The man felt something slither by his ankle and said a little prayer, thanking the lord that there were no electric eels in the tanks. Cracks in the glass were more frequent and spraying them and the children as they sped by. The children must have known what a perilous situation it was because they whined very little and kept quiet, as if trying to help keep their parents focused on getting out of their and escaping a watery grave. More corners, more tanks, more fish, more water. It seemed as though they would never get out of this 2 billion dollar nightmare. They finally reached the cafeteria. There was a platform overlooking the lower level, where they entered, along with a gift shop and photo center. The entire place was abandoned. The man and woman trudged up the steps to the platform and set the children down. The man sat with them while the woman got a handful of towels and a few toys from the gift shop for the kids to play with. The man and woman silently dried of the girls while they played with their new toys. The baby had a stuffed eel that glowed everytime you sqeezed it and the man shivered when he saw it. The adults dried themselves off. They let the children sit for a few minutes while they plundered more of the gift shop.
"Oh for heaven's sake," the Man said, disgustedly,"They have a pack of 5 diapers for $10."
"Well, I don't think the security guard will notice if you borrow them and replace them with the used ones," the woman said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Good point. No point in complaining about the prices now anyway. I don't think anyone will notice if the kids have Shamu on their asses or not."
The woman chuckled. The man's ability to transfer the severity of the situation into humor instead of panic made her admire him. She had the same thing going for her, and that's what he admired. She was so strong, but so soft on the inside.
"So what are we going to do with these kids?" The woman asked.
"Well, they're hungry and there's a food place right there. We can see what's ready and I promise I won't balk at the prices. While they eat, we can sit down and work out a plan." The man thought carefully for a moment and said, "How are we going to carry these guys? We can't arm carry them anymore. My arms are about to fall off and I kow yours are hurting too."
"Tell you what, I'll look for carriers in here, along with other supplies we'll need. Look, here's some sleeping bags and... PILLOWS? What the hell? Were they PLANNING on something like this happening or do they actually sell this stuff? Christ on the cross already!"
"Ahem. I'll take the sleeping bags and pillows and let the girls chill out in front of the food place while I hunt down something edible. You do your thing in here, don't forget the $200 firstaid kit just in case."
"How long are you planning on being here?" The woman asked, concerned.
"Not long, but you never know. There might be other people coming and I don't want to have to fight for supplies if we're stuck here for awhile. I also want to be able to help anyone we come across."
"Good call. Now go take these toys to the kids. The big one will get a kick out of yo-yo, but careful, she'll try to hit her sister."
Okay folks, my fingers hurt. I've been typing, deleting, retyping, deleting, reretyping, etc for over an hour and a half now. I'll finish this later. Trust me. It's stuck in my head.