In Keith’s words, “Using this photo as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put it (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before 6pm next Sunday (if you aren’t sure what the time is where I live, this link will tell you). If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here.
Go on. You know you want to. Let your creativity and imagination soar. I shall display the entries, with links to your own blog or web site, next Monday.”
The photo.
“Hey, Ralphie. Take a look.”
“What is it?”
“It’s one of them boats that goes out in the sound looking for whales.”
“Seems kind of dumb to me.”
“Yeah me too. I can’t see spending all kinds of time on a tub like that when all you have to do is look out toward the horizon and see all the whales you want.”
“Well, maybe those folks want to see a whale up close.”
“I’m suposen’ that could be true alright.”
“For the life of me, I can’t see what is so exciting.”
“I’m with you. You seen one whale you’ve seen them all.”
“Especially those big ole grey things.”
“Can you believe how those rubes ooh and ah when those hulks break the surface in one of those amateur grabs for attention.”
“I guess they think that is a hard thing to do.”
“How about when some dope asks the captain if they can pet a whale?”
“I know right? You would think the whale was a pet dog or something.”
“Well them folks have nothing to fear. Most of those big guys eat Brill and not humans.”
“Yeah. I would like to see some tourist try to pet a shark.”
“They might come away missing a limb for sure.”
“You ever had human?”
“God no. I smelled one and was convinced to stay with my fish diet. Don’t think I could handle that heavy protean. How about you?”
“I was running with a pretty bad crowd and happened on a swimmer. I was tempted but glad I took off.”
“See we are the best.”
“I still don’t see why they call us killer whales though.”
“Yeah. Go figure. Want to follow that boat and put on a show?”
“Might be fun. A couple of jumps ought to do it. Let’s go.”
Fiction Favorites 
Cute one, John. When I saw that that the boat was from Cape may, all I could think about was the Cape May “diamonds’ I heard about along the beach.
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Those quartz pebbles are pretty famous, GP. I’ve never seen them.
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Neither have I, but an old friend used to talk about them a lot because he wanted to move there.
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I wonder if they are there or if everyone picked them all up.
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I haven’t discovered an answer to that yet.
http://www.capemay4u.com/cape-may-diamonds.html
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My daughter was there yesterday. I will ask her when she gets back.
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Good one, John! Believe it or not, I’ve been on that boat. 🙂 Happy Tuesday!
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Cape May and the Jersey shore are super places for sure. Thanks, Jill.
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Love the orca perspective.
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The photo looked like an Orca view. Thanks, Charles.
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I can see it. Was thinking dolphin until they talked about eating a human.
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😀
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Love seeing it from the other side, John. Nice one.
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Thank you, Dan. 😀
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“…man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins [and other cetaceans] because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars and so on – whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man – for precisely the same reasons.”: Douglas Adams. To use modern parlance – word
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Very profound, Mr. Channing. 😀
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I do have hidden depths, John – or so I’ve been told. Ihave no idea where to look for them.
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Down low.
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😀
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What a fun story, John. Kinda puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? I’ve never been on a whale-watching boat, but I’ve watched whales from the shoreline. It’s an amazing sight. Thanks for the morning smiles and great writing. 🙂
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Thank you for the nice words, Gwen.
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I seriously did NOT know until the very end it was two whales talking to each other. Brilliant!
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Thank you, Jan. I’m glad
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A ‘Whale Lot of Fun’! ♥
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Thank you, Billy Ray
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♥
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Very well done, John. I was surprised that the dialog was between two whales!
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Now you speak orca and never knew it.
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Amazing how quick we can learn in our golden years, eh!!
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Ha haha
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I knew you were setting us with some kind of sea life or bird, but had no idea what.
I love that they’re going to put on a show for the tourists. This was so much fun!
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I think that doing a show for the rubes would be Laugh out loud fun. Thanks,Mae.
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The wisdom of ocras! Glad they are going to join the fun:)
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I would iif I were an Orca.
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Very nice perspective.
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Thanks, Craig
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HaHa, nicely done! And here I was thinking this conversation was people on the shore!
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I lead you down that path. (nasty man)
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They r the best haha & love “fish diet” touch! 😂👏
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😀
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A great twist on this one, John. Excellent!
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Thanks, Jennie.
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You’re welcome, John.
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[…] Second – the photo of the boat and the tourists, enjoying a whale-watching – Here Third is for RAGTAG – Here – the word is […]
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Thank yo for the ping back Ray. I liked the story.
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LOL! I’ve been whale watching on one of those kind a tubs and had a smart aleky whale breach when I was at the back of the boat…which was the wrong end to see it very well, or get a photo of it!
I’m going to be hoping I see these two on future Whale Watching trips. 🙂
Fun read John!
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They’ll give you a nice show. Double dog guarantee
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LOL! I hope so!
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[…] Watching by John W. Howell © 2018 […]
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Thank you, Keith
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