There Be Whales Here

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Story Submitted by Jeff:

I took Moira to an aquarium for our first date.  She enjoyed seeing the penguins, the fish, and the fossil exhibit.  I bought us two tickets to the beluga whale show, thinking that she would similarly enjoy it.

I was wrong.  The entire time, while the whales jumped, swam, and performed various tricks with their trainers, she had her arms folded and alternated staring daggers at the whales and at me.  It finally became uncomfortable enough for me to say, "What's wrong?"

She said, "Those poor whales!  They're forced to perform silly tricks for humans while they should be out in the ocean!  It's shameful!"

I said, "All of the other fish in here are kept out of the oceans, too.  You seemed to like looking at them."

"Whales aren't fish!  They know that they're in captivity!  Fish don't know any better, but whales are smart, and they obviously hate being in here."

I watched as a whale jumped into the air and grabbed a fish.  I'm not sure what a frustrated whale looks like, but these didn't seem too upset with their lives.  Then again, perhaps Moira had done copious whale mood research.

She didn't say another word, and after the show, I followed her as she approached an aquarium attendant.  She asked, "How long have these whales been in captivity?"

The attendant said, "Since close to birth."

Moira asked, sounding horrified, "So they were taken away from their parents?"

"The whales in this show were actually rescued.  We're take excellent care of them, here."

Moira retorted, "Not better than their parents would have!"  She stomped away and I followed her to a corner.  She said, half to herself and half to me, "I have to bust them out of here."

I asked, "Maybe we should go."

"You can go.  I'm going to find out how to empty the tanks.  There's got to be some way to do this."

Again, I tried.  "Come on, Moira.  You want some lunch?"

She yelled, "How could you think about lunch when these poor creatures are forced to perform tricks for their entire lives?  What if that was you?  Or your children?"

"Doing back flips for free food?  Count me in."

She shook her head, dismissively.  "Okay, adios," she said, and walked away from me, clearly not wanting to be followed.

I walked after her a little way, to try and talk some sense into her.  She looked inside of the whale performance space, peering up and down, likely trying to find an escape route for the imprisoned whales within.  She said no more to me, and I said, "Goodbye," with no response from her.  I never heard from her again, after that.