Wading thigh deep into the water, basket in one hand and knife in the other, Koi walked along the rocky outlet. Clusters of mussels clung to the rocks, and she had been tasked with the job of harvesting some for supper.
Which was a real bore, as far as she was concerned.
She would rather be surfing.
With a huff, Koi slid her knife beneath a mussel and worked it back and forth, finally prying it from the rock and flinging it into her basket.
"Yeah, I don't like it either," she spoke to the basket--and the pile of mussels already there. "Just think, I could be out there on the waves, and you could still be clinging to your rock all fat and happy. But noooo, I get the boring job today, you get boiled alive and eaten, and neither of us get what we want. Bummer, huh? Oh, don't look at me like that. No, no, I saw that look, don't act like I didn't. Now you listen, you take it up with my brother, he's the fun sucker responsible for this whole mess."
Her knife pried another mussel free, and another mussel clattered into the basket.
She stared into the basket and scowled. "Boy. You know you're going crazy with boredom when you start thinking shells make good company."
The basket was growing a little heavy and the tide had started to come in, so she reached up and set the basket atop one of the rocks, up and out of the water. The mussels here were a little deeper now that she'd collected the ones closest to the surface, so she found herself having to submerge herself to reach the ones below. Holding her breath, she slipped under the water, pried a few more mussels free with that breath, and then surfaced.
But when she went to toss the mussels into her basket, she found it was gone.
"What...? Oh! Oh no! No, no, no! No you didn't!"
A group of seabirds had seen that as an opportunity and had descended upon the basket, knocking it out of reach and scrambling to strip the shells of their meat. Cursing loudly, Koi flailed through the water and struggled to find her footing so she could pull herself out.
"Shoo! Shoo! Go away you nasty things! AUGH! You have got to be kidding me!"