Random header image... Refresh for more!

This Close to Oyster Ownership

Longtime readers of the blog will hopefully remember the ChickieNob’s burning desire for clam ownership.  Live clam ownership.  The girl made some excellent points in that recording.

This past weekend, my sister-in-law and I were wandering around a craft fair.  The last table was piled with jewelry and a bowl of oysters in liquid.  I assumed it was water.  The woman at the table gave us her sales pitch: For $20, we could open an oyster and place the pearl inside one of the necklace pendants.  I thought about how oysters are very similar to clams, and $20 isn’t a lot for a pet considering the cost of a dog or cat.

“Are they alive?” I asked, motioning to the bowl of oysters.

The woman furrowed her brow and looked at the bowl.  “Well, they used to be alive.”

She explained that these were just oyster corpses, brined in an alcohol solution.  She may have used a different term than “oyster corpses” because she was trying to tip toe around the fact that she murdered shellfish.  She kept trying to sell us on the idea of the pearl inside.  In her cruel world, the oyster was the wrapping paper that one discarded in favour of the gift inside.  In our world, the oyster was our heart.

We ended up leaving without a pet oyster, alive or otherwise.

5 comments

1 Lori Lavender Luz { 12.05.17 at 11:10 am }

Ugh. I bodily recoiled as I read.

But I’m listening to you and The ChickieNob discuss clams as pets, and my body is liking that.

2 Cristy { 12.05.17 at 12:22 pm }

No, no, no, no. I hate when people use living organisms for stunts like this. Makes my whole body recoil.

Loved the audio. That made me happy.

3 torthuil { 12.06.17 at 8:43 am }

Um yeah that is gross. The thought of digging a pearl out of a dead oyster makes me not really want to wear pearls again.

4 torthuil { 12.06.17 at 8:52 am }

And I was reassured to read that usual pearl harvesting does not kill oysters.

5 Raven { 12.06.17 at 9:31 am }

Yikes! I didn’t know they did this. I am with you on that…the oyster is too expensive for me for a pearl.

I feel like she might like hermit crabs. Did you know you can have pet crabs? And they can have painted, character shells (like a harry potter one or a super hero one)? They’re really neat!

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
The contents of this website are protected by applicable copyright laws. All rights are reserved by the author