But like the water in the Everglades, no matter how the conversation twisted, eddied, or gushed, it invariably led back to the same spot, and when Phil next spoke, there was no mistaking the fear in his eyes. Reading about the Everglades, I learned it was a "catchment" or "drainage basin." What I'm hoping any Floridians can tell me is if the water does in fact all flow to one specific spot.
Except for a few inland seas like the Salton Sea, water is pretty much flowing back to the ocean, including in the Everglades. Your description is clever but needs some tweaking. The Everglades is a flood plain. The water can take a long winding journey through the plain but generally more water coming in from the draining rivers upstream creates a slow flow toward the ocean.
@GingerCoffee, needs tweaking in terms of the writing (if so, I agree), or in terms of the geography (if so, mind elaborating?)
The water can take a very long time and twist and turn in a meandering way, but the water does not return to the same spot. Here are a couple example tweaks because I do like the simile: But like the water in the Everglades, no matter how the conversation twisted, eddied, or gushed, it invariably led back to the same spot [ocean], and when Phil next spoke, there was no mistaking the fear in his eyes. But like the water in the Everglades [a whirlpool], no matter how the conversation twisted, eddied, or gushed, it invariably led back to the same spot, and when Phil next spoke, there was no mistaking the fear in his eyes.
the wording in the example doesn't work with a whirlpool in any way that i can tell... the water there simply goes around and around... doesn't 'gush'... but a conversation that goes nowhere but 'in circles' can certainly be compared to one...
I assure you, Maia, whirlpools gush. Many of the bays in Alaska have rip currents that make the water in the bays boil twice a day with gushing whirlpools. I was on a little mail plane flight from Kake to Juneau AK and the plane landed on the boiling water. It was fun.
