Day 266: Shark

Shark
by
Matt Zurbo

 

Freya had a thing for Sharks.
(Back of girl, half lit, watching sharks in aquarium.)

One day, she felt three of them coming.
(Three fins ‘swimming’ through grassy paddock.)

“But you’re safe on land…!” people told her.
(Farmer jumping out of the way as fins pass him and onto dirt road.)

“Not always,” she said.
(Fins cutting down highway.)

“Not even in buildings?” people asked.
(Fins ‘swimming’ through footpath traffic.)

“Nope.”
(People looking as two of the fins ascend wall, Freya on second floor, looking dreamily out of window.)

Freya was sure the sharks were following her to school.
(Girl, school uniform and backpack on, walking down leafy street, followed by shark fins)

Nobody believed her except the dogs.
(Dogs chasing fins, barking)

Freya wasn’t afraid, though. She had done her homework.
(Girl on swing, fins circling.)

She knew that sharks are prehistoric creatures.
(Girl skipping along, under her, in the earth, are skeletons of Buzzsaw Shark, Mega-toothed Shark, Scissor-toothed Shark, Scaleless Shark, Spiny Shark, Eel Shark, Ginsu Shark, Greenland Shark, Anvil Shark, Sawtooth Shark, Shyshark)

Older than the dinosaurs.
(Ginsu shark swimming, surrounded by Leedsichthys problematicus, Acanthodes, Astraspis, Bonnerichthys, Bothriolepis, Doryaspis, Materpiscis and Rebellatrix)

That some live to be over 400 years old.
(Girl walking alongside pool. Fin in water under her, attached to a Greenland shark.)

That they never stop swimming. If they do they’d drown.
(Fins cutting through busy worksite.)

Freya knew that sharks are top of the underwater food chain.
(Shark swimming, we can just make out girl above it, blurry, watching from outside water.)

That they eat the other predators that eat all the small fish, and rare fish.
(Shark attacking a sea lion.)

They stop any one fish from taking over.
(Shark fins in footpath, circling bullies who are harassing girl.)

That, thanks to sharks, there are LOTS of different types of fish!
(Sharks fins chasing bullies into dark lane.)

Freya knew that sharks are vital to the health of the sea!
That the planet needs them.
(Three sharks swimming, surrounded by all sorts of fish.)

That we need sharks!
(Girl lying on belly, propping herself up on elbows, her hands under her chin, watching a gutter drain, with shark in its dark, watching her.)

That they are beautiful things.
(Girl standing on rise in yellow grass field, watching three fins depart.)

The End
(Final image of fin from side on, as it cuts through yellow grass.)

 
The End