the complete diver (standard:humor, 1345 words)
Author: adastra	Added: Oct 03 2000	Views/Reads: 4151/2281	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
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the streams of bubbles from the divers in front of them.  She looked 
all around her at the fantastic variety of fish and coral.  Tom was 
absorbed in his cameras.  He fell slowly down the wall as he set 
exposure, focus, strobes. When Mary remembered to check her depth gauge 
she saw they were already at 75 feet.  Finally satisfied with his 
camera settings, Tom began taking close-up "macro" photographs of 
coral.  Stopping for a minute or two to snap a coral formation from 8 
inches away and then moving on.  Always drifting deeper.  When Mary 
checked her gauges again, they were at 100 feet.  Tom had yet to check 
anything but his cameras.  He had not even looked around to see if Mary 
was safe and following him. A few minutes later, Tom decided to shoot 
some video.  The still camera, with its strobe lights, was bigger and 
bulkier than the little 8mm video.  Tom couldn't find a way to clip the 
Nikonos to himself and still be able to operate the video.  For the 
first time since they started their dive, he looked around for Mary.  
Impatiently he motioned for her to take the Nikonos so he could operate 
the video.  When he tried to hand it to her, somehow it slipped from 
her fingers and began to fall down the wall.  Tom looked at Mary in 
rage and disbelief.  Water resistance prevented the camera from falling 
quickly.  By the time Tom realized  what had happened and decided to go 
after the camera, it was only  10 feet below them.  When he got himself 
reoriented head down and began to kick strongly, the camera was only 20 
feet away.  When he matched speed with the camera and then began to 
catch up, the camera was 30 feet below. Mary hovered at 130 feet and 
watched as Tom slowly closed the distance to the falling camera.  When 
he was 50 feet below her, and she could barely make out his form, he 
seemed very close to catching up to it.  Even when she could no longer 
see him, she could see his air bubbles rising to the freedom of the 
surface.  Mary looked at her gauges and saw that it was time to go up.  
When she looked back to where Tom had disappeared into the gloom, she 
could no longer see any bubbles. 

When she got back to the boat, the other divers were all back aboard. 
As she climbed up the dive ladder, the captain scanned the ocean. 
"Where is your husband?" he asked. A brief Mona Lisa smile crossed her 
face. "He's gone after his camera," she said. 


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