Pegman – The Last
This week, What Pegman Saw takes us to Mauritius. My story this week was inspired by the historical note at the end of J. Hardy Carroll’s story regarding the dodos and giant tortoises.
For some reason I make comedies out of depressing places and grim tragedies out of paradises 🙂
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“Good shot, Captain Van Dijk, good shot, sir!”
“Thank you! These strange flightless birds are easy targets.”
“This is the first we’ve seen for weeks. I wonder if it’s the last one?”
“Who cares? They make good eating. If it is, we’ll try a giant tortoise.”
The last dodo.
The last white tiger. That’ll look good on my wall.
The last whale.
The last lion. That was an exhilarating hunt.
The last bear.
The last fish. We need somewhere to dump the waste.
The last gorilla.
The last tree. We need room to expand.
The last human looked through diseased eyes at a broken world and wept at the folly of Man.
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draliman on life 
Boy, do I feel you with this one. There’s a Patrick O’Brian book set on Mauritius during the 1810 British campaign to take it from the French.
“Stephen, though busy with his own warfare, had an interview with an ancient gentlewoman whose grandfather had not only seen, run down and devoured a dodo, perhaps the last dodo to tread the earth, but had stuffed a bolster with its feathers.”
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Wow. Just imagine being the person who wiped out the last of a species.
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When I was God, I warned them to not screw this up. They didn’t listen.
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You wanna get that gig back, maybe you’ll have better luck this time.
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Nice! Hey, we both mentioned gorillas today! What a coincidence!!
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Yeah! Mine was dead, yours nearly got sued 🙂
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Hahahaha!!! 🙂
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🙂
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Such a sad commentary on us as a self-centered short-sighted species. And so frustrating, that we know it’s happening and yet nobody can seem to stop it.
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It is, very frustrating.
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I saw the dodo and thought about working into a story. Glad I didn’t. You pulled it into a sad but sadly almost real tale. May things turn around before it does become reality. Kudos.
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I hope they do. I’m glad you liked it!
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That’s brilliant! Laughed out loud when I read your comment about “comedies out of depressing places and grim tragedies out of paradises”, but by the time you’d extinguished all life on earth, I was crying. Really glad you brought the dodo back in some fashion.
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That comment was the only laugh in a rather depressing tale 😦
I’m glad you liked it!
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such a wonderful environmental piece – and love the use of “the last…” had a nice flow and beat
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it, and the style 🙂
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☺️👍
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Dear Ali,
He had to destroy the last of everything until he found himself to be last. Powerful last line. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Thanks. It’s a very sad state of affairs.
Ali
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Brilliant, thought provoking, and sad. Well done Ali.
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.
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I hope we can avoid that fate. For anyone in the UK who reads this, do, please, consider joining the Green Party. We need the strongest possible voice to speak up for the environment.
Politics is about how we divide the pie – but if the pie goes rotten, what then?
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I hope we can avoid it too 😦
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Most excellent! Exactly what will happen if people don’t wake up!
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Sadly true. I’m glad you liked it!
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Well written Ali, but sadly, there are people out there like that.
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Thanks. There are 😦
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Wow, so much power in such simple words. Well done!
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
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This reminds me of an interview someone made with a hunter who said he’d like to find a Bigfoot so he could kill it. How extremely sad. No wonder if they exist they’re hiding from us. —- Suzanne
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I don’t understand that mentality 😦
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Funny, but also sad. It must have been one of these types that came to the Pacific Northwest and said, “Hey, look at all these beautiful trees! Let’s chop them all down!” But since logging brought my ancestors here instead of somewhere hot and bug-infested, I shouldn’t complain. 🙂
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Too many people chopping down too many things. But I guess if I desperately wanted a house and that’s where they were thinking of building…
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Yeah, I am glad I didn’t have to grow up in a tent in the forest. 😀
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I don’t know why I don’t feel sorry for the human.
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Well, that particular human didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. They’re just doomed to be “last man standing”.
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I have a feeling that we are all sharing the responsibility. Most of us anyway. Like, I do know I have bought a ton of unnecessary things during my life. It is pollution.
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Yes, we all throw away things we could recycle, leave the lights on etc.
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Excellent and definitely thought-provoking – and a sad warning to us all. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out to be prophetic.
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Me too, it’s a bit worrisome 😦
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Loved the way you have taken the tale from happy, victory to a dark reality of our (almost) present day world. The last line is a real eye-opener.
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Thanks. Some of it has come true, hopefully not all will. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
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