Smiling Scallop, Sighing Scallop

Last night I walked the beach a day after a nor'easter had churned up the usually serene bay. Among the quahog shells, I discovered two occupied Scallops, too high up on the beach and tangled in messes of seaweed to get back to the water line. I held each of them for several moments watching them watch me with their lovely brilliant blue eyes (which can regenerate as needed) and looking through the lush lashes of their fringed gills. They both slowly opened their shells so that I could peek inside their lovely studios, and then they clapped their shells shut with a sigh. After placing them back in the water and spending time listening to the tympani of the hectic surf, this story came to mind:

Smiling Scallop, Sighing Scallop

Two scallops were enjoying the swaying fan corals and greenery in their communal scallop bed. The rays, their fiercest enemies, weren't much of a bother because this particular community was guarded by a school of sentry sharks.



Sea, smooth, surrounding, saline-infused.

Two