Unbearable Weight

BACKGROUND: There’s a huge tank, we’ll call it the Big Sea Tank, that holds over 200,000 gallons of water and, roughly, 600 - 700 marine individuals, from fish to sea turtles to eels. Several dives take place every day where scuba divers go in to perform maintenance or feed the animals.

***All names have been changed to something ridiculous to protect their identity***

CHARACTERS:

Stevie

Moss (a green sea turtle)

Stingray

3:14PM on a Wednesday

Location:

Big Sea Tank

.

.

.

I descended down to the bottom of the tank, about twenty feet deep, where I scanned the area for any kind of detritus (leftover food, fish poop, etc.). It was a vacuuming dive which meant I was swimming around carrying a thirty-foot hose with a decent amount of suction behind it. 

I found a target in the distance: a lump of rotting food settled in the corner of the reef. I swam over, not too gracefully given the drag from the hose, when I was hit in the face by a passing stingray searching for food—those rays are crazy, believe me.

As I vacuumed the corner clean, I raised my head up to notice a small gathering of people outside the tank. They were all staring at me, making wild hand gestures that, at the time, I interpreted as attempts to wave at me. I waved back, only the crowd’s hand gestures turned into pointing at something. Before I had time to move I felt the massive, unbearable weight starting to crush my lungs.

A giant sea turtle had just descended upon me.

It was Moss, a five-hundred pound sea turtle who noticed I was in her favorite napping spot.

I was stuck, pinned between her giant mass and the reef. My initial attempts to shove her off were futile. Any idea how hard it is to move a five-hundred pound sea turtle underwater? It’s HARD.

Worst of all, the crowd outside the tank found nothing but pure joy out of the sight. From their perspective, Moss was just visiting me and trying to get some quality time with a scuba diver. From my perspective, my bones were breaking and my pride along with them. 

I had to keep my cool, so I played it off and made it appear that I was in on the joke. I gave Moss a few pets on her shell and made a few gestures to the crowd, as if to say, “Oh, Moss. What are you gonna do, right?” 

Then, I dug deep down and used all my strength to wiggle my way out from underneath her. Success! However, it was short-lived because I could already feel the bruises on my legs as well as knee and back pain.

I still had about ten more minutes of vacuuming to go, so I sucked up my pain, waved goodbye to the crowd, and swam over to a different side tank …

And that’s when another stingray hit me in the face in passing—those rays are crazy, believe me. 

THE END