The Dancing Girls: The Last Voyage of the Titanic

It started out innocently enough. Several of the Dancing Girls had leapt off their plant on the front porch overnight, and in the morning, they were begging to go off on an adventure. I remembered a little boat I had found on some prior expedition, and I had an idea for a fun photo shoot at the Arboretum's lily pond.

Alas, however, things did not go as planned. Two Dancing Girls settled into their pretty beach chairs with a red umbrella, while a third Dancing Girl decided to travel by boat. The boat, though, had other plans. In just 12 seconds (and 3 photos), the little boat went under, and we were losing them by the head!

Unfortunately, the mighty ship did not have enough life rafts. Heck, it didn't even have life preservers! But I was paying attention, and I grabbed both boat and Dancing Girl as it started to go under. There wasn't even time for a distress call. (See the extra photos area for an actual photo of the moment of sinking! Oh, the horror! Oh, the humanity!)

The front end tipped UP and the back end went DOWN. Glub glub glub. It was its first, last, and only voyage. No, we didn't even get a chance to hit that huge orange iceberg in the middle of the lily pond.

Now, I'd like to reassure you that no Dancing Girls were actually harmed in the making of this Blip. One did get a little scared, but then she laughed and thought it was all funny. She even wanted to try it again, but I was afraid my fingers might not be so quick next time, and I'd lose them all in the lily pond!

A friend asked if perhaps some creature in the lily pond attacked the ship from below. Now, that's an interesting thought. The only creatures I know of that live in the lily pond are orange fish and dragonfly larvae. Although I can't be sure, I can't imagine either of those creatures attacking a ship. Perhaps . . . sharks?

And so it was that our tiny adventure almost concluded in a tragedy, but didn't. So we will consider it a success of sorts. It's OK, girls. Never fear. I'll never let go. . . . I'll never let go. . . .

The soundtrack: Celine Dion, with My Heart Will Go On, from the film Titanic.