}} the inspirational ;; manatees, Open!

[Rowen Justin St Martain]

The sun was nearly set, and still Rowen sat, laptop close at hand. His brown eyes looked dull-fully at the manatee tank, and than back to his blank Microsoft Word page. He needed something to write in his blog today. He typed up, with some difficulty, his first sentence.

Have you ever watched a manatee swim?

Only a whole blog post left to go, minus one sentence. Sighing, Rowen, after making sure no one was around, stuck his hand into the manatee cage. One of the big animals glanced at him, than turned away.

It's like watching an overweight dolphin do gymnastics. They splash around like crazy, their blubber almost shaking. Why am I telling you this?

Rowen stared at his work for a moment, wishing he had done something more important than the zoo today. Like a date. At least the zoo was crowded. Or at least, it had been. Holding onto backspace, Rowen erased everything he had written, wracking his brain for something new. And than it hit him. Pressing the constantly used APPLE - Z, Rowen watched his words come back on the screan.

Because it's sort of like life. Sometimes, you swim with such grace as a dolphin, and other-times, with grace such as these..things. Sometimes it is easy-going, and sometimes hard. Of course, it'd be a lot easier for me if someone was around...

Where, a solid paragraph. Now, all he needed was for someone, or something else to come along that he could type about...

[Isobel Jolan St Martain]

As always, Isobel was sent once again to try and round up her siblings. Her older brother had pleaded study as his excuse, and her sister was over at a friend's, but no one had seen her younger brother for a while. She couldn't even drive; she had to take the subway all over the damn city. The last she'd heard he'd been going to the zoo out on Staten Island, and significantly cheesed off she made her way grudgingly from Manhattan to the zoo, which was full of small, excited children running everywhere. And Isobel really hated small, excited children, as she had always felt that there was enough children in her family. She should have been the only one, really.

Nevertheless, she had to trawl the whole place, map in hand so she didn't get lost, not even interested in looking at the animals, just for Rowan. Then she could get out of here, go have a cigarette and a few drinks with her friends. Out further in the zoo, the crowd thinned out, thankfully, and it was more peaceful. With a flash of recognition, she spotted a shaggy brown head bent over a laptop, and she approached Rowan as he looked up, glad she had finally found him.
"Goddammit Rowan, I had to go all over this fucking zoo looking for you. What the hell are you doing?" Looking behind her into the manatee tank, she recoiled slightly.

"Ew, what are those things? Couldn't you be looking at dolphins or sharks or something normal?" Isobel may have come across as harsh, but to her it was even. Her siblings had made her life hell just by being there, especially when they were babies. Pushing her sunglasses up on her head she glared at her younger brother.
"I was sent to come and get you. I'm the freakin' chauffeur in this family, apparently. Oh, except I can't drive, that's all. I just accompany you lot everywhere."