THE STALLION OF THE SEAS: A Short-Story By SimoTheFinlandized (Written In 2021 CE)

================================== =================================== THE STALLION OF THE SEAS: A Short-Story By SimoTheFinlandized (Written In 2021 CE) =================================== ================================== Juan is an elderly yet very well-experienced Cuban-born horse-human-hybrid fisherman and part-time cook who has gone over one- hundred days without catching a single fish to either eat for himself or to sell at the local fish-markets. He is now seen by the other fishermen, both human and anthropomorphic -animal, as completely "salao," which is by far the worst form of unlucky that a man can become. Manuel Cross, a very smart and wholesomely kind-hearted 14-year-old Irish- Catholic straight male human tech-savvy child-prodigy boy-genius, who was born to an affluent physician / lawyer / writer (father - Dr. Samuel Cross) and a successful and very wealthy business-magnate woman (mother - Melinda Cross), both of whom are highly-affluent American-expatriates in Cuba, of whom Juan has personally taught how to sail, fish and cook since Manuel’s childhood, has been forced by his parents to work on a luckier fishing-boat outfit for his most recent summer job. Manuel remains nonetheless dedicated to the aging equestrian- elderly Juan, visiting his crude wooden shack each night, helping to haulin his fishing gear and dock his small fishing skiff, preparing him food to eat, and talking about American baseball up north and Juan's favorite player, Buckeye Bronco of the New York Stallions. Juan says that tomorrow, he will venture far out into the Gulf Stream, north of the isle of Cuba that he calls home within the Straits Of Florida to go big-game fishing, very confident that his unlucky no-fishing streak is surely nearing its much- needed end. ------------------------------------------------------------------- So on the eighty-fifth day of his unlucky no-fishing streak, Juan readies and takes his small rickety fishing skiff out early to sea.By around the time of noon, he has hooked a very big fish that he is sure is a gigantic 1,000-pound marlin, but he is completely unable to haul the great fish in due to the size of his fishing boat being too small. He is unwilling to tie on the line to the boat for the fear that little more than a sudden jerk from the fish would break and snap the fishing line. So, with his weary aged back, shoulders, and hands, he holds onto the marlin’s fishing line for over two days and nights back-to-back. He gives the fishing line some slack as needed while the marlin pulls him far away from land. Meanwhile, he uses his other fishing hooks and bait to catch some smaller fish in order to eat. The marlin’s fishing line deeply cuts his hands, his body is rickety sore, and he sleeps very little, if he slept at all. Despite all this, he expresses deep compassion and sincere appreciation for the giant marlin, often referring to him as a dearly-beloved brother that he never had. He ultimately determines that no one is worthy enough to eat of the great marlin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the third day of the fishing expedition, the greatly fatigued marlin begins to slowly and limply circle Juan’s small fishing skiff in great exhaustion. Juan, almost delirious, decides to draw the line inward, bringing the great 1,000-pound marlin towards the rickety old boat. He then heaves and pulls the great marlin onto its side and swiftly stabs it with a large fishing harpoon, killing it. Seeing that the fish is simplytoo large to fit in the old skiff, Juan decides to lash the great fish onto the side of his boat. He then sets sail for his home back in Cuba, thinking of the immensely high price in cash the great fish he caught will soon bring him at the local fish market and of how many people he will feed at the subsequent feast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- However, the winding trail of blood from the dead great marlin begins to attract several hungry sharks. Juan berates himself for having gone out too far. He then proceeds to kill a great mako shark with his harpoon but unfortunately loses his weapon. He makes himself a spear by strapping his great fishing- knife to the end of one of his oars. He kills three more sharks with this makeshift weapon before the blade of the knife ultimately snaps, and he clubs two more sharks with the oar into submission. But each of the sharks has bitten the great marlin, thus increasing the flow of blood and attracting even more sharks. That night, an entire school of sharks arrives to plunder Juan’s great hard-earned catch. Juan desperately attempts to beat them back. However, when the oar suddenly breaks, Juan, like a valiant desperado, rips out the skiff's own tiller and continues fighting the barrage of sharks. Upon seeing a shark’s attempt to go and eat the marlin's head, Juan suddenly realizes the fish has been utterly and completely devoured. He curses the sharks, telling them they have killed his dreams. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Juan, begrudgingly, reaches the shores of Cuba before dawn the next day. He struggles with hauling his fishing gear and supplies all the way to his shack, leaving the fish head and skeleton with his boat, as he now finds little more value In the fish’s half-eaten carcass as a haunting reminder of crushing defeat. Once home in his crude wooden shack, fishing gear and all put away, he falls into a very deep sleep. In the morning, Manuel finds Juan. As he leaves to get some much-needed coffee for Juan, he cries. A group of about a dozen other Cuban fishermen have gathered around the remains of the half-eaten marlin. One of the fishermen measures it at more than 18 feet (5.5 m) from its nose to its tail. The fishermen tell Manuel to tell Juan how sorry they are for having taunted and humiliated him. A pair of European tourists dining at a nearby café soon enough mistake the dead fish for a shark. When Juan, after about 2 hours of hard rest, wakes, he decides to donate the head of the great marlin to the owner of the local town tavern- and-inn, Pedrico Gonzalez, as a way of showing him thanks for giving him much-needed food and necessities during his 85-day unlucky no-fishing streak amidst its poverty. Juan and Manuel then promise to fish together once again later in the day. Juan then returns to his much-needed sleep, and he dreams of his youth working as a freighter-ship’s crew- member and of lions playing on an African beach. ========================================= ===============================