Root System

Consider the manatee. We'll call this one Hugh. Once an elephant perhaps, or at least a proboscidean in the ancient Tethys Sea, manatees like Hugh are creatures who know how to play with ground. A modern manatee, Hugh, still has elephantine toenails but has lost a trunk, which would seem a useful snorkel until boat propellers arrive.

Hugh Manatee now spends the days lolling about in the shallows, barely afloat but buoyed by a hungry belly full of noxious gas. A byproduct of the decay of algae, this gas becomes belches and farts that idly propel such a hulking barge through the brackish glades. Hugh has been bulking up as long as anyone can remember, and now can hardly navigate when hazazds present.

I wonder if Hugh still hums the old elephant songs, still remembers stretching for the highest, most succulent fruits and leaves. Or perhaps Hugh Manatee has forgotten how grounded one can be.

Where is everyone? Why am I so different? What sets Hugh Manatee apart?

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