Friday, July 24, 2009

A Shark Story!

One thing I love about travelling is the different perceptions people have about places and things unfamiliar to them. For instance....


I have noticed that many people outside the south or midwest are often terrified of tornados. Of course tornados are frightening and potentially devastating but being from Kansas, my experience has been that a tornado warning is really just code for an impromptu party in the basement.

On the other hand you couldn't pay me enough to live in California because I have known since I was a child that any day now there will be a massive earthquake and the whole state will fall off into the ocean!

Thanks to TV, movies, old-wives tales, history books and the evening news everybody knows that ships sink, fires burn, boogie men exist, bad guys wear black, there are snakes on planes and sharks in the ocean.

So the other night when emergency vehicles appeared on the beach, my husband and I watched from our balcony as our girls went down to get the scoop. Nobody around us seemed to know what was happening and my husband suggested we might want to go with them ("just in case it's a dead body") but then we heard a conversation that caused us to run in their direction.



Southern Lady #1: "Do ya think it's a shark?"

Southern Lady #2: (very nonchalantly) "I don't know..... Probly."

Now I have seen Jaws and have spent more than 30 years getting to where I can swim in a swimming pool (much less a lake or the ocean) without hearing "nana nana nanananana" so why were these women walking and chatting like it's a day at the park? Why were they not running for their lives?

As we got onto the beach I heard a policeman make a comment dripping with sarcasm, "Wow, that was the biggest shark I ever saw."
Come to think of it, people in the Jaws movie were pretty non-chalant too as Roy Scheider begged them to listen.

I may be from the plains but it would seem to me that joking about sharks on a beach would be the equivalent of discussing firearms in an airport, but then again I am from Kansas and am just as likely to watch the storm clouds from the deck as to run for cover.

After further investigation it turned out that a woman had seen "something" floating in the water and called authorities who assured us there was nothing to worry about.

Hmmm.....isn't that what they said to Roy?
When a crowd gathered again today the last thing I would have expected to see was a shark washed up on the beach.


By the way, the next time there is a tornado warning in Kansas I will be in the basement!!

12 comments:

Paula V said...

Great pics.

Runner Mom said...

I can just hear those Southern Belles justa talkn' bout them thar sharks! Girl...come back to the south and spend time with us to get that accent down pat! Mercy!

Love the shark picture!! Too funny! But,if you saw that critter while on a float in the ocean, you'd be high taling it out of those waves as fast as your little 'ol hands would paddle!!

Continue the fun!!
Hugs!
Susan

Lelia Chealey said...

Somehow I see no future in Wild Kingdom for you Kell. Just look at the hat and skirt if you disagree...you should be wearing something khaki. LOL

Janna Rust said...

I am so sure that you are holding that shark! I remember seeing a dead one on the beach when I was a teenager on vacation. And I wonder why I don't like swimming in the ocean! :)

Yolanda said...

Shewee....a shark? And you held it? :-)

Lovingly,
Yolanda

Unknown said...

Was that photoshop magic?????

By the way, you passed through Jackson, MS--I grew up there!

Prayers and blessings,
Rebecca

Christina said...

Unbelievable. We have many shark warnings but don't pay much attention to them, but looking at that shark reminds me that yes they are out there.

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Angela Baylis said...

SO scary! I was just telling someone the other day that Jaws was the scariest movie I have ever seen! Just thinking about the music gets me every time! My niece just got stung by a Jellyfish and the pictures were unbelievable. Seeing you holding that shark is unbelievable too! You are my hero!
Love,
Angie xoxo

Diane said...

Um kinda scary.... but kinda cool too. :O)

Dionna said...

I can't believe they didn't get rid of it but let you hold it. He seems actually tiny to me compared to what I've conjured up in my head of a shark. :)

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