As I was standing on the enclosed front porch of the Gallia County Farmhouse, I looked through the windows down at Symmes Creek at the bottom of the hill. The water was unusually clear and had a bluish tint; I could see to the bottom of the Creek, which seemed more like a lake, filling the whole bottom in front of the house. Several dark objects could be seen under the surface; they looked like turtles. Some of the objects were, however, much larger than turtles. Could they be sharks? – I seemed to recall having seen a shark before in the Creek.

A particularly large object was lying in a small cove of the Creek, only partially submerged in the water. I needed a few moments of concentration on the object before I realized it was a gray-colored whale. About half the whale's body was submerged. Gradually the whale began gnawing with its huge mouth at the side of the Creek's bank. The gnawing continued apace until in short order, the whale had gnawed its way almost up to the Farmhouse. Aghast, I hollered for my father to come and see what was happening. I hollered that a whale was about to "undermine" the House.

When my father came to me, together we walked outside. I quickly concluded I must have been suffering from an optical illusion before, because the Creek and the whale were in their normal locations, and the whale hadn't gnawed its way up to the House.

Now, however, I spotted a different problem. Sitting in Symmes Creek was a building partially submerged in water. I had stored some of my personal belongings in this building; in particular, I recalled having left numerous boxes of comic books there. Now the whale presented a danger to the building. It appeared that the whale had already damaged the building and that the building was in danger of falling completely into the Creek. The whale swam around the building a bit more, and then disappeared.

Seeing my chance, I hurried down to the building and slipped inside. If possible I wanted to salvage my possessions. However, as I walked around on the second floor of the building in the section which wasn't yet submerged, the building began to topple. I held on as the building tilted over onto its side and began to sink. Fortunately I was able to slip unharmed through an opening in the wall and out into the water.

Would the whale attack me? I anxiously swam toward the shore; obviously I was in a dangerous situation. I had barely stepped onto the shore when I looked back at a frightening sight: a second whale was swimming in the area where the building had just sunk. This whale, however, seemed far more menacing. I could only see its back, which was covered with many fearsome-appearing fins. The whale swam toward a group of other huge fish-like animals near the shore and together they seemed to be engaged in a feeding frenzy. I hurried back toward the House.

My sister was in the front yard, watching the scene. She seemed frantic and worried. I told her the comic books and whatever other possessions had been in the building had been lost. I was thankful, at least, that I was safe.