Jasper the Starfish

He introduced me to Jasper, there he is there, the purple one, underneath. It may be just that I don't feel well, but Jasper seems to have a personality disorder of some kind, but that seems to be the case with starfish, generally, in my view. In any case, Jasper was the one who got me thinking about how to make the best of a bad job: what do you do when your wing is broken, and you are living in a stinking glass cage? Jasper got me reading about Jackie, the salp and the originator of these communications, who died last winter. He came ashore in a storm similar to the one that brought me in. I read how he spent his last days in a glass of algae green water, watched over by a dog. (That dog, by the way, barks at me, barks up a storm, every time he passes by the Aquarium, on his leash. He is always tied to a biped. I don't know what their relationship is. Is it food? I can barely make out what he's saying, he has such a Scottish accent, is what I am told. But he seems good-hearted for a creature that has such a strange way of moving about, and is covered in hair, even hanging over his eyes, and I am told he smells something awful). I have the cheerful seals for company, and when I think of Jackie's short life - up from Antarctica, over here, over to Asia in the bilge of a boat, to Alaska, and back, to die in the front window of a beach house, well, I suppose can give it a shot, writing this ocean blog, that is. So here goes. I dream of flying, though.

Jeremy Smiles

Here is one of my companions at the Aquarium, Jeremy. He says he was very small when he came to live here, not an adult like me. He does not know a lot about the ocean, but he knows a lot about this place and seems like a very happy character. I wonder how he can be happy in this confined, green place, in all this constant light and noise, but he seems so. Chatters away all day. Always smiling.

Amelia Arrives

I am Amelia. A storm took me by surprise. I found myself being dragged by the tail over the sand and turned over. It was night and stormy. My wing was damaged, I could not move it. I passed out from the pain and lack of oxygen and then a strange loud dream seemed to follow, with grinding and whirring sounds, pain, barking, gurgling, and finally a weird smell, kind of green is the best way I can describe it - not good, not good at all, but it is salty at least and there is a little oxygen, although I am still sore and scraped. They say this is an Aquarium, and I am in Seaside, captive of the humans. They say I would have died, else. My wing is still numb, and I often sink, down. There is constant light.