About the fish

He parked his caravan on the road and looked at the sea.  He
pulled out two chairs and sat on one of them.

He went to the back of the caravan and found a bucket that
his wife kept by her side when they went to the beach.  He
put it aside and continued digging into his stuff in the back
of the caravan.

After a while, he brought out a fishing pole.  He filled in
some tap water from the tank to the bucket and walked to the
dam.  He sat down there and went fishing.

He remembered that she never allowed him to bring fishing
stuff to the caravan.  She said she hates the smell and that
the fishing pole can only appear in their caravan once her
indulgence is gone.

Her indulgence.  He pondered the relevance as he stared at
the floating mark.

A car stopped by and a young couple stepped out of the car
and walked by the dam.

The girl was leading in front, one of her hands holding the
boy.  They strolled to the dam and the girl sat down.  The
boy sat behind the girl with his legs circumventing her.

’Stop it’, the girl said as she turned around and reached for
a kiss.

For a while, the couple was silent.  For a while, they almost
wanted to get up and leave.

’The fish near the dam are always small and stupid’, the boy
said, as there are some fish that gather under their shadows
in the sea.

The boy continued to talk about fishing while the girl
studied his face.  Then she set her eyes on the back of the
man fishing there.

’He must be heartbroken or something,’ the girl said.

The boy has been talking, and they looked at the man
together.  The girl reached her hand to the boy and they held
their hands together.

A fish was on bait, and he reeled it out of the water.  He
put the fish in the bucket and set the fishing anew.

The boy sat up and tucked his shirt and went to stand behind
the man.

The boy looked at the bucket and said, ’You know the fish in
the sea cannot survive in this fresh water.’

He did not respond.  He pulled the pole and saw that the bait
was already gone.

’The fish will puff up and die,’ the boy said, pointing to
the bucket.  The fish floated in the water with one eye on
the sky, trying to breathe.

’What do you know about the fish?’  he said.

’The fish is too small.  You don’t have to do this,’ the boy
said.

’Well, I’m sick,’ he said.

’That’s enough,’ the boy went forward and threw the bucket
into the sea.  The fish jumped out of the bucket into the air
and fell into the cracks of the wave-dissipating blocks.  The
bucket rolled over and eventually fell into the water.

He took off his hat and jumped into the water.  The first
thing that came off was his sunglasses and his sandals.  He
beat on to reach for the bucket, but it was in vain as the
waves ceaselessly pushed the bucket further and their
distance is getting larger.

He looked clearly struggling after a while.  But for a
moment, he seemed to be comfortably flowing into the sea and
pushed by the wave, as he gained composure and spread his
arms.

The couple first shouted at him to get him back.  Then they
ran to the road and shouted at the passing cars.  The boy
tried to motion to the car that something horrible happened
in the sea.  After a while, he quit trying.