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 might be 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 feels a phantom trunk stretching for the highest, most succulent fruits and leaves. Or perhaps Hugh Manatee has forgotten how grounded we can be.

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

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