Sunday, February 26, 2006

The sinking problem

Yesterday at the big river a cormorant called a meeting.


The gulls came too, to heckle.


"HEAR YE! HEAR YE!" shouted the cormorant, as everybody settled down to listen. "I have called this meeting to open a discussion about a terrible problem that we have noticed recently. Several of us have been sinking."

"How shocking! What have you been sinking about?" called a gull. The other gulls sniggered.

"I've got a sinking feeling about this," said another.

"SHUT UP!" yelled the cormorant. "I AM SERIOUS! WE HAVE A SINKING PROBLEM!"

But before he could continue, someone cried,

"LOOK!"


Everybody turned to look.


The caterer had arrived, with snacks.

The meeting was postponed.

I cycled off, perplexed. A sinking problem? What was he talking about?

A little further down the river I spotted another cormorant, and decided to ask.

"Excuse me!" I called.


"What?" asked the cormorant.

"I've just come from up the river there, and they were having a meeting, and I overheard something about a ..."

"You WHAT? Overheard? You mean you were EAVESDROPPING!" said the cormorant. "You're a SPY!"

"No, no!" I said hastily. "I'm not. Really, I just happened to be passing and ... "

I stopped. Something looked a little strange.


"What? Why are you staring?" demanded the cormorant.

"Er ... aren't you a little low in the water?" I asked.


"I don't know what you're talking about," said the cormorant, irritably.

"But ... but ... you seem to be ..."


"... sinking."

It was too late. I was talking to bubbles.

I sat on the riverbank, staring at the water. So THAT was the sinking problem! I wondered what was causing it.

After a while something wet nudged my hand, and I turned around.


"Hello," I said. "Do you know anything about the sinking problem?"

"No," said the dog, "But you can tickle me under the chin if you want."

So I did.

9 comments:

Cheryl said...

I LOVE your more involved photo stories. Oh my goodness there just has to be a market for them, I get nostalgic waves of comfort from them like Listen With Mother, Tales of the Riverbank and Fingermouse. Did you have those as a child?
This is just too adorable, and clever.

Badaunt said...

Cheryl: I have a lot of fun putting these together. They more or less write themselves, when I'm checking out the day's photographs on the computer.

I don't think the photos would make it to a paper version, though. They're not good enough. These ones (except the dog) I used a 10X zoom for, and then cropped them, so that if I tried to print them they'd be postage-stamp size. Actually, I started the stories originally to distract from the fact that my photography really isn't very good.

I don't know ANY of those children's books. Am I reinventing the wheel?

Pkchukiss said...

I assure you, your photography skills are superior, at least compared to my nitty pictures where a human's body is always phase-shifting in the realm of reality...

Unknown said...

Cormorants are heavy, I think from the amount of oil in their feathers, which allows them to dive deep but they then have to spend an inordinate amount of time drying out. No wonder they sink.

Glad to see you're on the case though, I look forward to seeing the photo-resolution to the sinking problem...

kenju said...

No, they do not write themselves. If so, you are a genius. I love these stories!

Anonymous said...

Hear hear - get thee to a publisher - I'd PAY for these stories. I mean darn it - if Bill Watterson could sell cartoons of a boy and his stuffed tiger, philosophising about life - you can do something with these. They are GREAT!

Anonymous said...

You never fail to amuse and delight me. What a wonderful vision of the world you have. Thanks.

Gordon said...

Gosh, it's nail-biting stuff.. WHY are they sinking? I hope you get to find out soon!

Anonymous said...

That dog is GORGEOUS!!!! Is it yours?? So sweet.