Wrinkled Prune With Mask

Articles

Holly Winter
Living The Life Of Holly

Wrinkled Prune With Mask
June 16, 2003

“Aaaaahhhh. DON’T TOUCH ME!” Darlin-man yelled, pushing against the water as he backed away as fast as he could.

Jemma turned to me. “I thought he’d been here before.”

“Oh. He has.” I assured her. “Twice.”

We watched as Darlin-man ran from the fish. He was doing some quick turns that he must have learned in his years of playing basketball. He ran back by us and slowed for a moment. “I’ve been here before. But I never said that I wouldn’t be a PANSY about it.” We watched as the stingrays naturally flocked to him. Must have been something about those long white legs.

He was off running again while he made various noises of disgust. There was a lot of ocean out there, and he planned on getting as far away from them as he possibly could.

Paul watched him. “So. He’s afraid of them, then?” He asked, with every bit of his British accent, leaving out every bit of his condescending attitude.

“Oh. I don’t know if he’s afraid. I think they rub him the wrong way.” I said, trying to be sympathetic. But. I couldn’t figure out what he found offensive. Although they were completely wild, they seemed quite tame. They spent endless amounts of energy swimming back and forth and petting us with their occasional touches.

And. They were incredibly soft. And even smoother than a fine leather purse. Really. That smooth. They kept brushing past my legs, as if to remind me that they would love to be fed, in the same way a dog might nudge you when he’s hungry.

“Hey Holly.” Darlin-man called. We looked around. He waved to us from the boat. “I’ll watch from here, and take photos. You know. For your website.”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “Good idea.”

“Jolly good idea.” Paul agreed. “Be a bit quieter without all that yelling down here.”

“Yelling?” Darlin-man shouted. “I’m much better this time. You should have heard me the other two times I was here.”

We all laughed.

We were on vacation at the Cayman Islands in the midst of a boat trip to Stingray City. We were standing in water that was about four feet deep on a sand bar in the middle of nowhere. Years before fisherman had started throwing their fish scraps into the water at this point before they headed for shore much to the enjoyment of the fish, who were happy to find the free food. Today boats come from every part of the island bearing tourists with bathing suits and snorkels who delight in swimming around with the wild stingrays, feeding them and taking gobs of underwater photos.

“Do you want to feed one?” Captain Mick asked, handing me a piece of dead squid.

“I don’t know.” I held the squid in my hand. Holding a piece of dead fish was easy. Feeding it to a large flying saucer shaped living creature was difficult.

“Just hold it under his head, and he’ll eat it.” Mick assured me.

I wasn’t sure. Ok. But. What if the stingray missed the food and got my hand instead? I turned to Darlin-man. He waved from the boat. Ok. So. Why was he afraid of them? Did he know something?

“Gemma. Do you think it’s safe to feed them?”

“I reckon so.”

“Cause Darlin-man’s hesitating. Maybe he has seen people attacked or eaten alive or something.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. Paul. What do you think? Should we feed them?”

Her boyfriend floated over. “Sure. You first.”

Yeah. I held the squid in my hand a moment longer. Ok. I was ready. Darlin-man gave me the thumbs up sign. Yeah. Easy for him to give the go signal, isn’t it? I held the food under the water, as instructed.

Six stingrays came swimming by at full speed. I opened my hand. One happened to get the food. The others tried to knock me over. You know. Like bumper cars, only I didn’t have enough footing to push back. And. They didn’t seem to know that the food was out of my hand. They kept nibbling around my hand looking for it.

“MICK! They’re trying to eat my hand!”

“Oh. You must have held the food too long. They smell it on you.”

Yeah. No. So much for feeding.

I graduated holding. I understand that they quite like to be held. I waited till a medium stingray was right in front of me, held out my arms, and watched as he slipped away.

“Come back.”

Yeah. No.

Mick caught one and placed him in my arms. I was able to hold him for about two seconds till he slipped away.

We climbed back onto the boat and traveled to our second snorkeling stop. This was an area along the reef that was known for the large variety of wildlife in a small area. Darlin-man and I took off in a flurry of fins and masks and snorkels.

Man. A fish tank was nothing compared to the real thing. There were schools of blue fish, and every kind of coral you can imagine. The water was low enough over the reef so that we could see everything up close.

Darlin-man got tired so I continued swimming around without him. Sure I was getting water logged after being in the water for hours and I was starting to look like a wrinkled prune with a mask, but that wasn’t going to pull me out of the water. Nothing was. I got some awesome pictures of fan coral and big yellow fish and might have stayed out there swimming around all day had I not happened to look back at the boat.

They were all jumping up and down and pointing at me. Shark? Oh god. I stopped swimming and looked all around me. Nope. Couldn’t see it. They were jumping around and yelling and screaming to me and waving their arms. Ok. Fine.

I started swimming back to the boat as fast as I could. It wasn’t an easy swim since I was waiting for the shark to grab me. From behind? From beneath? From which side? Do sharks like prunes? I kept my mask in the water so that I could at least watch his approach. I know. It’s good to know that the curiosity in me was intact even in an emergency. I wondered what the shark would look like. Beady eyes? Mouth open?

I swam as fast as I could all the way in. The water had lost its allure. I wanted out.

The captain met me at the ladder. “Holly. Sorry to cut your swim short, but we need to head home.”

I laid gasping on the deck. “There wasn’t a shark? I thought I was being chased out there. All that jumping around…” I was trying to catch my breath.

“No.” Darlin-man laughed, handing me a towel. “We need to head back. But. It’s good to know you can swim so fast when under pressure. You never know when that might come in handy.”

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About the author: Holly Winter is a teacher and a writer and a flight attendant living in Denver, Colorado, USA. She can be reached at her website or email: Holly@livingthelifeofholly.com

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