The Whale Exhibit

      "This," I look at Jose, mouthing along with the announcer, "is the ocean." The curtain lifts slowly, and necks snap up in a wave down the rows. Blue glittery light slants out of the huge glass cylinder, rippling on little awed faces as they take in the sheer expanse of the 'ocean'. Fish of all kinds swim round and round, chasing an illusion  of infinity. Sting rays flap around breezily. 

      "The ocean is thousands of kilometers deep," the announcer drawls. I want to barf. We'd come to see the new whale addition, not this juvenile crap."There are all sorts of life forms within it, and deep down, at the sea bed, there are creatures we can never see in person," 

      Jose clutches my hand. She's pale and breathless, "we should get out of here." I lead her down the aisle and out the exit door, past rows and rows of bored teenagers and excited children. There are few adults, and they're almost always trying to take a selfie or hooked onto their phones. By the Whale exhibit, Jose draws in a deep breath. She's so in love with the ocean that seeing it dressed up in a suit with mud smeared on its face shakes her pretty hard. I put a hand on her shoulder, "we can leave if you want, you know."

     She stiffens, "that's not changing anything, Myra," 

     I reach inside my pocket to take out a Snickers. "Well, what do you want me to do?" The packing comes away easily and the chocolate melts softly on my tongue.

     She frowns at the packet in my hand, "that whale on the beach yesterday was full of that, or did you forget?"

     Hot sun beating down on us as we licked ice creams, cradling it in plastic wrappers to better hold the melting cream. When the whale washed ashore, it was terrifying. This huge animal just lying there like it had nowhere to go. The ocean just spitting it out after being the home it was. Within an instant, the coast guard walled the area around it. It exploded. Plastic spewed everywhere. Vanilla stuck in my throat when I looked down to find a bloody ice cream wrapper clinging to my hand.

     Jose looked at the empty Whale exhibit, its ceiling-to-floor cylinder blue and quiet, "we're forgetting, aren't we?" Blue light frozen on hr face, she looked stranded on an island and I couldn't reach across the ocean to get to her. Plastic pulled me down. It choked me. She kneaded me on the back until I coughed out the Snickers bar.

    She looked at the plastic in my hand and then at me. "I'll be right back. You wait for me at the entrance."

    The next time we came there, the whale exhibit was still empty, but in permanent paint across the glass in one corner was a picture of a dead whale bleeding plastic. They decided to keep it that way, because the exhibit attracted crowds, anyway.