An Ocean Between Us

Somewhere in Atlanta, GA, USA:

“This is a life lesson, son. We are the most misunderstood of them all,” said Pearl to her son. “They say they care about us, but that’s a half-truth. Like everything.” Pearl was determined to give all she can to her son, and also convinced about what she was telling him. “I believe we are better than what they say we are.” Pearl was now looking at all the people passing by in front of them. Some people with disgust on their face, some other people with fear, and some other with amazement in their eyes. Some looked sad, but they were the minority.

Starvin Marvin, her son, was a very smart individual. He could read people’s emotion just by looking at them, a characteristic few others had. He also had an enormous confidence, which almost everybody around him had. It is in their nature.

“What I’m trying to say, son,” her mother continued, “is that as long as we are alive, we mustn’t trust anyone. They can seem nice, but you never know when they’re going to stab you behind your back.”

Pearl herself has seen it before. She has lived it before. People are untrustworthy, and she knows that as a fact. Many years ago, Pearl, when just a youngling, was maltreated and used for shows and entertainment. She always longed for a life of freedom, a life where she could be herself. As it is. Without restrictions or rules, and in there, she couldn’t be what she wanted to be.

That time for her was the worst and she will never let the same thing happen to her son. After some years of living in that nightmare, finally, a group of people came to her rescue. People from across the sea, they were. They seemed nice, and she didn’t believe they were bad people, but in the end she didn’t get what she wanted or deserved. The right to be what she is. Now she has freedom, but under restraint.

“You say don’t trust anyone, mom, but Patrick and Tracy are good people. They take care of everybody here, they feed us, they fix us, and they like us.” Starvin Marvin said it with a worried face, he’s been trusting Patrick and Tracy his whole life.

“There are people that genuinely love us, yes, there are people that live their lives just for us. For our benefit, and you’ve got to be thankful for that. Unfortunately, people that don’t care about us outnumber the good ones, based on my experience, son.”

Starvin Marvin wondered why his mom was giving him this kind of speech. They have a good life, nothing to complain, except the one or two flashes from people outside the glass. That irritated him, because he knew Patrick and Tracy hanged up a sign outside that said: No Flash Please. Other than that, everything was perfect.

What he didn’t know is that his mother, once, had her freedom. She knows how it is to be outside with the sun shining upon her. She knows that freedom is the ultimate treatment for all illnesses. She knows that being out in the nature, where they belong, is the life goal of anyone in their situation. And Pearl explained this to Starvin Marvin.

“I am grateful for everything, mom. For you especially. But I will never understand why there’s people out there that want to hurt us.”

“Understand this, son. We are born with a stamp on our head, for some of them we are a thing out of nightmares. But like I said before, there’s good people out there fighting for us. Still, we are here and not out there in our home.”

Starving Marvin was optimistic, so he believed that a time will come where they could be free of all assumptions from people that don’t really know them.

“Last thing about people, little Marvin,” his mother added. “There’s an ocean between us and them. We might never understand each other completely. But the one thing I’m sure of, is that we were here at the start and we will be here until the end. We are sharks, after all.”