#500 Rocket Ride- Craig Davidson
Wow, I’ve reached 500 stories! This will probably mark the
half way point. I’m having so much fun with this, I’ll definitely try for 1,000
short stories in as many days. Thanks everyone for following along—or at least
for checking in every once in a while.
This is a story about a killer whale nearly killing a
trainer at a water park. Ben was about to perform the show’s big climactic jump
when the whale decided to exact revenge for the brutality of captivity. His leg
was bitten off and he nearly died.
“I was the one who fed her. Taught her. Kept her alive. I
came to belive she belonged to me, the way land or a car can belong to a
person. I forgot that every time I entered the water I belonged to her, and the
moment I remembered was the moment it ceased to matter.”
He is having a hard time dealing with his trauma and his new
leg-less reality. He lashes out at those wanting to help, he seeks comfort in
the wrong places. And he wonders if he deserves the pain he has:
“I think of these things. Casual brutalities, unthinking and
profane. Think of them often.”
He retunes to the scene of the crime, and asks his attacker/victim
for one last ride, some closure, and perhaps some karmic balance.
Notable Passage: “There is only acceptance, and hope that,
in those slender moments separating what is from what may be, there might be
understanding.”
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