EVOLUTION? - by Tony Thorne MBE (Reprinted from TENERIFE TALL TALES - www.tonythorne.com)
Carmen Gonzales lived, with her fisherman husband, in what might be called a comfortable cave dwelling, down in the little harbour of El Puertito, in the lower South Western part of Tenerife, that magical Spanish Canary island off the NW coast of Africa. Her home was built into a big rocky cave, with a large living area and a small cellar, where the fish her husband caught were frozen and stored, before taking it to the restaurants in the nearby resort of Los Christianos.
Carmen had gone down to the cellar, to tidy up, but she ran into a problem when trying to leave. It had been an accident waiting to happen, and finally it did. She had become trapped, and had been teasing the cellar door lock with a safety pin for almost ten minutes, but it didn't show any signs of opening. It always looked so easy, when some poor heroic victim had to do it, on the television! It was a moderately windy day, and the ocean surf pounding in the background drowned out any clicks that she thought she was supposed to be hearing. She felt she was beginning to panic.
Then suddenly the door flew open. She fell forward with gasp, and there confronting her, unbelievably ... was a large black seal, very wet and with one flipper resting on the now lowered door handle. Carmen gaped at it in astonishment as it waved the other flipper cheerfully and then began to communicate.
"You ... happy now?" Its head was raised and the big brown eyes were looking directly at her, but its lips were not moving. The voice must have been coming from inside her head. She nodded and forced a smile, as the voice came again, softly.
"Me ... heard you ... call."
Astounded, she realized that must have been well over half an hour ago, when she'd slipped, on the top of the steps, and the cellar door handle had snapped on the inside. Somehow this wonderful, but incredibly impossible, creature had picked up her cry of anguish. It must have understood her plight and, after swimming ashore, had crawled all the way up to the beach house to help her.
"What are ... er, I mean, how can I ever thank you? I didn't know we had any seals around Tenerife, except in Loro Parque. Have you escaped?" That was all she could think of to say. The bland expression on the seal's face seemed to change, and she wondered, could it be trying to smile at her?
"No escape ... me passing ... happy ... help you." It communicated, then the voice paused for a moment. "But ... was chasing good fish ... hear you call ... think all gone now."
The creature regarded her expectantly. Into Carmen's mind suddenly came a picture of her kitchen table and the fat tuna she'd put out to defrost that morning, ready for the evening meal. She knew exactly what to do.
The seal followed her out to the kitchen, its feet slapping, and making a series of wet patches on the newly tiled floor. Carmen picked up the tuna and handed it over. The seal's facial expression seemed to change again as it grasped the fish in both of its flippers. Squatting back on its haunches it began to crunch into the almost defrosted flesh. In just a few minutes the whole fish had vanished. The seal looked around, then bent over and licked up the few, perhaps imaginary, scraps from the floor.
"Good fish ..." The voice came, as the seal stretched up and looked straight into her eyes again. "Can be ... more?"
Carmen was still feeling very grateful, and after all, there were plenty of the large fish in the big freezer in the cellar. She patted the seal's head and replied. "Just a moment, wait here and I'll get you another one."
The creature regarded her for a few moments, as though listening for something, then nodded slowly. Carmen felt sure it had understood everything she'd said. She went back through the cellar door and descended the steps. She was about to open the big freezer when she heard a sudden sloshing sound and the door slamming shut. She turned and dashed back up the steps in alarm. It was clear to her what must have happened. The over eager seal had followed her and accidently pushed against the door.
"Open the door again, please!" She called firmly, and waited, but there was no answering voice in her head. She tried again, but it was no use, something must have caused the friendly seal to leave and head back into the sea again. Perhaps it was already too far away. She sighed and began to feel around the edge of her apron.
It always did look so easy on the television! Carmen tried teasing the door lock again with another safety pin but it didn't show any signs of opening. The ocean surf was still pounding in the background, drowning out the clicks that she was supposed to be hearing. She began to panic. Her husband wouldn't be home for at least another three hours.
Then the door flew open and she fell forward with gasp of alarm. There before her this time stood, unbelievably ... a very much larger seal, very wet and with one big flipper resting on the door handle. Carmen gaped at it in astonishment, as it spoke, aggressively, inside her head.
"Want fish too ... like little sister!"
Carmen reeled back in dismay. There were several other big seals in a queue behind it, and lurching ominously past the kitchen window she was horrified to see something else ... a great deal larger.
