[Best told with Microsoft Encarta running. Select 'Seal (Animal') and hit the sound play button of seal or walrus everytime they say something in the story.]
Bal Simon's recent post, "More on trust", reminded me of a story that my old friend, Flash, told me a long, long time ago.
In fact, Bal's words were touching my heart and made me sit down and think a long time about it. And then I decided I might as well share the story of Flash and Ross with you.
Flash was a seal, and the day he was leaving us to go to Seal heaven, I had to cry the entire night. And everytime I come by Morro Bay, I'll sit at the beach for hours and I look at the big rock of Morro Bay, watching the seals, the sea lions and the walruses play, thinking of Flash, the fastest seal of Morro Bay.
Flash was one of my best friends; and he told me so many interesting stories (many of which are very hard to believe, I have to say) that I wouldn't know where to start.
Flash spoke Sealeesish with an Oregon accent because his family had moved to Morro Bay only recently. I hope I do not make too many mistakes in translating his words into English.
Words describe things in our lifes and different languages describe the same things differently. That's why it is sometimes difficult or even impossible to correctly translate from one language into another. But what did I want to tell you about?
Ah, yes!, after reading Bal's words, I remembered the story when Flash, the seal, became friends with Ross, the walrus.
This is not as easy as you might think! Flash was fast, always ready for some fun, playing and dancing around all day in the water.
Ross was a huge guy. He moved his giant body slowly through the water and he liked to take very long naps on the rocks at the beach. But once he was in the water, he was as fast as any seal, perhaps even a bit faster.
But sadly enough, their families didn't like each other at all.
"Flash! Don't come to close to those unpleasant neighbors!", Flash's Daddy had told him many, many times. And Flash's Mommy always asked Flash when he came home at night after playing all day: "Flash! I sure hope you stayed away from these -- you know whom I mean!"
Then one day a walrus family moved into the neigboring cave.
They had four kids and one of them appeared to be Flash's age. Once he was in the water he was so fast that Flash became curious as to whether he would be perhaps even faster than Flash himself, because Flash had always been the fastest seal cruising around Morro Bay rock.
So, one day Flash asked his daddy "Why can't I go play with our new neighbors? One of the guys is really fast, and it would be fun to chase along the coast with him."
Flash's daddy was shocked "Flash! How can you think of something like this?", and he would not say anything further.
Flash was not only fast; he was also persistent. Once he had something on his seal mind, he would not rest until it was accomplished.
He asked his mommy and his daddy three times a day until one day, Daddy Seal finally had enough and convened a family meeting.
"I hoped I would be able to spare you these words. But life can be rough, and you ought to be prepared when you are for yourself one day." he said.
Mommy Seal and Flash and his brothers and sisters all listened carefully to what Daddy Seal had to say and it took him more than one hour to warn and admonish his family, especially his children whom he loved more than anything else in the world.
"Any questions?" he said in the end. Silence.
But then Flash raised his right fin. Everybody was surprised. What could he possibly want to ask?
"What is it, Flash? Was I not clear enough?" Daddy Seal asked.
"Daddy. I'm just curious. I mean, what _exactly_ is so terrible about them?" Flash was as polite as a young seal could possibly be.
After a long embarrassing silence, Mommy Seal finally whispered to Daddy Seal "I think you should tell them. They will be exposed to this terrible experience sooner or later anyway, no matter how well we protect them now."
"Hmm. I'm not sure if you kids are ready for this. But Mommy is right. Sooner or later you would have to learn it the hard way."
He cleared his throat.
"These, eh, you know whom, exhibit an attitude that have terrified and insulted generation after generation of decent, honest living seal families. Every time you would come to close to one of them, they are shouting at you the most disgusting insults possible. I am too well educated to even pronounce these terrible words. But it has been a trauma for every seal who ever met one of the.., eh, you know whom. So, stay away, don't ever try to talk to one of them! Is that understood?"
Mommy Seal had become pale in her face. Just mentioning the horrible insults with which walruses would greet harmless, well-meaning seals was making her body shake with disgust and terror.
Then, everybody nodded, and the family meeting was dissolved.
For many days, Flash was following the advice of his daddy and always kept a safe distance from the walruses in Morro Bay.
But one morning, as he was looking for a friend in a cave further down the coast, a walrus had occupied a rock in front of the cave while he was snooping around inside.
I could relax a bit and wait until he's gone!, Flash thought to himself. That way, I don't have to cross his path. And he laid down behind a rock to take a nap.
A loud noise woke him up very quickly. Another walrus had joined the one on the rock in front of the cave.
Flash could not believe his seal ears! They were shouting at each other. And they were using such gross words that his body started to shake.
Daddy was right! How could someone say something so terrible?
The only strange thing was that they seemed to have fun talking like that; and began playing around in the water as if they were the best friends.
Flash began to think. Overcoming his initial disgust, he started to listen to the words of the walruses. He could not understand a single phrase, except this one disgusting insult "wob-di-wob-wob".
(Note from the translator: these words do not appear in any Sealeesish dictionary. They are just too gross to be printed. In fact, there are so disgusting that it is impossible to translate them into the English language.)
Hmm. They don't talk Sealesish at all!, he thought. 'Perhaps to them, "wob-di-wob-wob" means something completely different?'
Flash was thinking so hard that he lost the balance and slipped into the water.
Immediately he jumped back out of the water and got behind the small rock where he had been hiding before.
But, too late. They had already seen him!
One of the two walruses made a loud scream and rushed away, but the other one remained on the rock and looked in his direction. Flash was shivering. Perhaps he should have listened to his Daddy. But then, what else could he have done in this situation than to hide behind this small rock? he wondered.
He peeked around the rock. The walrus had not moved from the spot. Now he recognized him. It was the kid from the neighbor cave that he always wanted to play with. He looked very friendly and not at all angry or mean.
For a short moment Flash thought about forgetting his daddy's advice and swimming over to the walrus to say "hello".
Fortunately, he took some minutes to think it over carefully:
What if the word 'hello' in Walrussish would be as insulting as 'wob-di-wob-wob' in Sealeesish? That would be a terrible thing to say, then. Wouldn't it?
Finally, Flash had an idea: why not simply wave with the fins and forget about the formal introduction.
And that's what he did. He crawled around the small rock where he had been trying to hide and waved with his fins. The walrus, Ross was his name, waved back.
Flash jumped into the water, made some elegant curves between the rocks in front of the caves, and looked back to the walrus.
He understood. Quietly he followed Flash and, in a short time, they liked each other so much that they were swimming together the entire day. Only at night did Flash and Ross go home to their families.
Some time later, after a couple of embarrasing misunderstandings, Flash learned that the word, 'hello' in Sealessish sounds _exactly_ the same as 'You are a totally nuts' in Walrussish.
Ross, on the other hand, was totally surprised that somebody could mistake his friendly 'How are you doing my friend?" for an insult. From then on, they were very careful not to say these phrases to each other and to use some other words that would not hurt the other's feelings.
Eventually they had to confess to their parents that they were friends.
It was a terrible time for both of them. But Daddy and Mommy Seal, after they understood that 'wob-di-wob-wob' means 'How are you doing, my friend?' in Walrussish, were not so upset anymore.
Since then, Flash and Ross were friends for the rest of their lives!