Alex was a sea anemone, he supposed he was a relatively good sea anemone too. However sea anemones rarely grade them selves on morals so never having a benchmark to judge himself off of it made self opinion slightly moot.
Alex had always been an adventures sea anemone, ever since he was a planula splitting of from his original polyp, he had moved a whole fifteen millimeters further away than any other planula so far.
He also liked to keep his tentacles wondering, not that they could wonder far, well they pretty much stayed where they were. But he liked to think they were stretching further than every one else. He would often try to tickle fish as they swam by, or try to catch them and eat them, depending on his mood.
But most of all Alex had imagination.
Alex would dream of traveling the wide blue seas. He would let his mind drift with the current and imagine far off reefs with strange creatures he had only heard of through legend. He did of course see all manors of creatures here in his own reef, but having grown up on the same rock all his life he now took the familiar fish and squid for granted. He had heard that there were far off lands where there was no water at all just a big emptiness and creatures had to crawl around instead of swimming. Once in a while he would see a whale, they would cruse past with graceful ease and then and again there would be sharks. He didn't mind the sharks for the most part, they had never done him any harm despite what the fish said. Alex surmised however that having a creature try to eat regularly you change your opinion somewhat.
He did have a great view from his rock, he had inherited it from his father/mother. It had been in the family for several seasons. A distant relative had taken perches here after being ripped clean off their original rock in a storm. Apparently his family had its origins on the other side of the reef, and that was a mighty long way away in its self. Alex had often wished he could go and see where he grew up. There was the immobility factor though, being stuck to a rock made travel hard.
He had heard of other sea anemones that had detached themselves and moved up and down the reefs leading the life of adventure. But in his heart he knew he was not brave enough for that life despite is imaginative mind and adventures thoughts.
Alex had a few friends, the barnacle family below him, the clown fish twins and a rather old parrot fish. He was friends with a stone fish for some time till he found out it was actually a stone. It explained why it had been such a good listener.
What does a sea anemone have to talk about? Well there's lots of things. The changing of the tides for one. It was a ritualistic thing but he did love the ebb and flow of the ocean and wasn't afraid to say so.
There was the local gossip, who was lodging in what rock hole, whom had eaten whom and where the odd creatures that had long round things on their backs and spouted air from one end came from. He found them interesting but didn't trust them, his great uncle had been kidnapped by one a few seasons ago.
Over all Alex was a happy sea anemone and his life was an easy one. He had never had to lodge a complaint, be it for bad customer service or false advertising. He had never needed to ask for a loan or pay a morgue. He had tried to start a band once but he was the only one in the group with arms and only having a drum kit and vocals didn't fit well in the rock scene.
Alex knew that one day he would split planula of his own and see them grow. It was a cheerful thought. He had always wanted to share his wisdom of the world.
If there was one thing Alex new it was that he had a good life. It was simple and it was happy, he was content to be a sea anemone.
