Writing Prompt 62: Jellyfish
Do you have fond memories of beach days or are they days that turned out to be quite unexpected? Explore a story that captures something alien and strange. What is hiding in the water?
Jellyfish are strange, alien-looking creatures, ethereal as they swim in the water, their tentacles possibly dangerous depending on the species.
They have no brain, no blood, no heart. What do they have? A simple nervous system, an opening that is both a mouth and an anus, plus a cavity that is a stomach and intestines.
Mostly, a jellyfish is water, ninety-five per cent water, which is why they look so blobby and lifeless if you find them washed up on the sand.
I’m not sure how old I am, maybe 5 or 6, in a photograph I know. Squinting into the sun, I stand beside my dad while my younger sister and our dog stand nearby. We're all in our winter coats with the windswept wildness of the Scottish Highlands behind us.
I remember camping in the valley of Glencoe that summer. My sister and I slept in a small tent while our parents slept in a bigger frame tent they pitched a couple of metres away.
Our tent had a small rip in the seam at the top which I watched grow longer and longer every night. The midges, those pesky little buggers, would come out at dusk, clouds of them flying in chaotic circles, trying to work their way inside. In the morning, we would find them dead, clinging to the washing-up bowl left outside.
We went to a lonely beach where huge jellyfish lay in gelatinous lumps on the sand, stretching out as far as we could see across the sandy bay. I prodded one gently with the toe of my sandal. It was firmer than I expected.
On a different day, paddling in a rock pool, my long hair, loosened from a ponytail by the wind, became tangled in a mat of seaweed as I bent down to investigate the hermit crabs crawling amongst the pebbles.
What sort of story comes to you as you look at the picture above? A story of jellyish or a day at the beach or the colour yellow. As always, it's up to you. Enjoy.
And just so you know, no living thing was harmed in the making of this photograph. The jellyfish went back into the water moments later.
Photo:Tanya Clarke 2014
