56kbs...Short But Sweet, a new series buy Rob Church

Glad to be back. I’ve missed you all. Gather ‘round the warm glowing warming glow of your monitors and listen to my tale. Where did we leave off…Ah, yes, Shishmaref, the Isle of Wonder and Honey Buckets (Trademark 1998 Shishmaref Island Corporation). So two days later, I still smell of smoked salmon. I believe it has entered the pores in my hands (do hand’s have pores? I should know that.) and will not come out. Maybe it is just the ever present smell of fish in this village that creates the illusion of me smelling like fish. Anyway…

I have met a lot of very interesting people in my walks around town. I usually carry my camera, a large, old school Canon 35mm, which creates the illusion (enough with the illusions already) that I know how to take pictures. This has led several people to ask me if I was a photographer. They seem to get a few around here due to the global warming and impending doom of this village that I suppose I should mention to those of you who haven’t read the BBC article. But I digress, the funniest group who mistook me for a photographer was a group of second grade girls. They dragged me over to where they had been playing and wanted their pictures taken. When I repeatedly told them that I was working in the clinic and was not here with a magazine, they refused to hear me, and proceeded to escort me around the village. I had planned to head out to the beach and look for more dead/interesting things and they followed me for nearly ½ a mile. Competing for my attention and pointing out the houses where the “boyfriends” of each other lived, as if it were some dark secret. They also asked if I had a “Honey,” the local term for wife, girlfriend, significant other, etc. The opposition of terms with similar roots “honey” and “honey bucket” making me wonder if there was a connection. They say the Eskimos have over a hundred words for snow.