After the Wave
After the Wave

After the Wave

‘Well Davies,’ I whispered to my first (and only) mate, as we bobbed up and down on the sea. ‘At least that was an experience to tell the grandkids about.’

‘Aye, sir,’ he nodded back, too exhausted to properly engage. I doubt he even fully understood what I said.

Our boat was still floating, at least, with all of the essentials undamaged. Our tussle with the whale shark had lasted long into the night.

It held a grudge, it seemed.

‘How was I supposed to know it was a whale shark?’ Davies whispered, seemingly to himself. He’d been doing that a lot, all night, still holding the shattered remains of his fishing pole.

‘Just let it go, lad,’ I patted his arm. ‘And remind me when we dock, I need to figure out where to purchase durable snapper racks in the Melbourne area.’

‘Aye, sir,’ he nodded sadly.

I yawned and looked up at the slowly-dimming stars, as the last of the night sky was swept away by the dawning sun.

‘It’s later than I thought,’ I said, frowning upwards. ‘You must have held on for an incredibly long time.’

Davies only shrugged.

‘I’m serious, son,’ I said, clapping him on the back. ‘I’m impressed.’

‘Impressed enough to give me a raise?’ he asked quickly.

‘Not that impressed,’ I frowned. ‘Besides, it’s gonna cost a lot to get this old boat floating again.’

‘And you’ll need to buy new stainless steel bait boards,’ Davies nodded.

‘Yeah,’ I agreed. ‘Wait, what happened to my bait board?’

‘Uh… shark ate it?’

‘I might have believed that if literally everything about you wasn’t saying something else happened to it.’

‘It, uh… it fell overboard,’ he said sheepishly.

‘How is that even possible?’ I threw my hands up.

‘Wait a minute,’ Davies frowned, fighting hard to hang onto an incoming thought. ‘If the bait board fell in the water with all of our bait on it—’

‘What?!’

‘Then maybe that is what attracted the shark,’ he nodded. ‘Think about it!’