A Story About Animals

They want a story about animals.

Trudy says to write about the alligator we saw from the bus, the little one who was sunning himself in the mud beside the water.

Ben says to write about the armadillo, the one the bus driver announced that caused all the people to rush to the right side of the bus to see. An armadillo, for heavens sake! The bus driver pointed it out and all the people strained to see, while the three of us sat in our seats on the left, un- particularly impressed.

And now, Trudy reminds me about the dolphin she saw playing in the morning surf twenty yards offshore (now she says it was feeding) while her lame husband slept, and the boy, too. How sad, that she was alone as the sun rose out of the the ocean. (Now she says it wasn't so sad.)

Trudy, Ben says, every time we make a comment, he writes it down.

That's enough, David, she says.

And that is the story of the animals.

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in and around Cocoa Beach, Florida
while we were waiting for the rocket to launch

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