Another idea came to mind so I’m double dipping this week. 😀
Genre: Fiction
Word Count: 100
SOUVENIRS
“Half the fun of the beach is collecting seashells.” Relishing water and warm sand between her toes, Millie picked up a colorful mollusk shell. “Check out the reds and blues.”
“It will make a nice addition to our bowl,” said Carl.
“We should buy a few of those spirally ones at the souvenir shop. I never find them here.”
“No way. I’ll wager those don’t even come from this beach. Most likely they’re from India where they harvest them live, kill the resident creature with acid and polish them for tourists.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, raping the ecosystem is a lucrative business.”
She sells seashells by the sea shore. Click to learn more.
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
Such a beautiful painting
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Thank you, Sadje. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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You’re most welcome
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so true. I remember on a visit to the Caribbean, hawkers were selling black coral and other threatened species. what price is our ecosystem?
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Dear James
Someone’s always out to make a buck at the expense of land and sea, aren’t they? Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A double dip today. You’re inspired!
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It happens sometimes. 😉 Kind of makes up for the dry, uninspired weeks. Thank you, whoever you are.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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There is always one fanatic in every crowd who reads all kinds of things into a simple moment
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Dear Larry,
On the other hand, there’s sadly a lot of truth to what Carl says. 🙂 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Unfortunately the history books are full of things like that so he is really on to something Shalom
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This comment thread makes me sad for the Dodo. They killed it because it was there. Carl makes point. 😉
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Dear Lynda,
It is sad. Thank you for your input.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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We have many beaches in India and lots of sea-shells.
Collecting them used to be fun.
They are used for handicrafts.
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Dear Anita,
I love collecting seashells on the beach. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks for the education. I had no idea about the exploitation of shells. Good story.
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Dear Jan,
If it can be exploited, someone’s doing it, right? Thanks m’luv.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I’ve often suspected that “crime doesn’t pay” wasn’t always a true statement 🙂
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Dear Linda,
Sometimes crime pays very well. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Your painting is brilliant, so much better than the actual photograph, then you add in history and environmental data, so well done…
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Dear Michael,
Thank you so much for your glowing comments. You make me smile.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Lovely painting! Story kind of makes me sad. And as far as double dipping is concerned. Thanks! Now I want a Dairy Queen chocolate dipped cone!😂🍦
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Dear Rochelle,
It’s one thing to collect empty shells as souvenirs; quite the other to exploit the ecosystem. Good on Carl to educate Millie 😉
Shalom and lotsa eco-friendly love,
Dale
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Dear Dale,
After reading about the harvesting of seashells I’d never consider buying one of them. I’m in Carl’s court. 😉 Thanks for reading both of my stories.
Shalom and lotsa shell-loving hugs,
Ro-Shell
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No way, would I, either!
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Doesn’t surprise me. Poor creatures.
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I wander down to the beach most days and often return with a shell or two to add to my collection, naturally discarded ones of course.
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Hello Rochelle,
I liked Carl’s POV. And I hope is was OK to barge into a comment from above to say so. *(see an interesting note below!)
It has been a very long time since I have been here. I kinda bumped into one of my old stories and it sent me searching for you again. WP has changed so much I didn’t think I’d find you, much less get signed up. But I finally figured it out. (You may have noticed that a certain blogger signed up several times this afternoon…)
I miss writing and would like to dust off my keyboard and clear the cobwebs from between my brain cells.
NOTE: Out of curiosity, I looked up the Dodo and found out some amazing and relatively new information on the famous bird. I want to post this as just a link, without it exploding into the whole video. If it doesn’t work please remove it . I will understand. Title: Who killed the Oxford Dodo? -www.youtube.com/watch?v=z84mwdSkcQg-
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Dear Lynda,
Truth is stranger than fiction and I’m still here doing Friday Fictioneers and in my 10th year! WP has gone through some very frustrating changes. One of these days I’ll update my site but the fact is, I really like my outdated purple site.
I did watch the video on the Dodo. Interesting. Thank you for sharing it.
And you’re always welcome to barge into a comment line. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Wow, gosh that turned dark in the end. But I love the image of them collecting the shells together
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Dear Laurie,
Dark? Kind of. It’s sad what’s done in the name of tourism sometimes, isn’t it? Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I love your watercolour. And my beau is the shell collector, I’m the sand writer…I write stuff in the sand 🙂 yours is a well-told story, all too true.
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Dear Fleur,
Glad you liked my painting/prompt. I’m a shell collector, too. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Querida Rochelle,
Me sorprendites … otro cuento? Que bueno saber esto. Gracias
I used to collect shells and create things with them. There are tons of
shark teeth on the beach here. I found a 2 1/2″ shark tooth. I made a neckalce and sold it. I’m not a collector of anything. I’m glad you found some cool ones to bring home from your vacation.
Carino … Isadora 😎
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Querida Isadora,
This was my fifth year in North Carolina and I still collected a bunch of shells. It’s habit forming. So far I’ve collected attractive containers for them as well. I did kind of wonder why there are so many amazing shells in souvenir shops that I never see on the beach. Tada! Story number 2 erupted. Gracias para sus palabras amables, mi amiga.
Shalom y abrazos,
Rochelle
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Loved your painting had such an ethereal quality to it
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Thank you so much, Angela.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Good morning, Rochelle! Bear here!
Too late for last week, and I haven’t written a word beyond my signature it seems in months, but I am finally getting back to what passes for normal. Can’t find half of what I am looking for in the widgets. Especially the one that will show the blogs I visit so I can revisit them.
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