The sea of hope

By Luca Sandretto

         … He was almost about to wake up; but every time he dreamed of lions, it is meant it was a good dream and he wanted to keep sleeping. The boy got him a clean shirt and his old pair of trousers. When the old man finally woke up it was very late in the morning.

- “Today you slept very late, old man.”

-  “I dreamed that I caught an amazing marlin, I was alone, I frighted, but at the end the shark ate him.”

- “Today you can fish a catch a real marlin and the sharks won’t eat him.” 

- “I hope so, but my boat is “salao”, it is more than 80 days that I haven’t caught a fish, not even a small tuna; do you know what time is it? My watch is broken.”

- “It’s very late, hurry up old man, the marlin is waiting for you”

The boy gave him two sardines, and he carried the coiled lines, the harpoon, the gaff and the sail all the way to his skiff.  That day the old man looked so skinny that it seemed that he could not even walk from his shack down the road to his boat; but his legs were very powerful and he never gave up.

He placed everything in the appropriate place, and he got his oars; he was ready to row outside the port, but before he did he called Manolin:

- “Tonight, in my dream I wished you were there with me and that I haven’t hooked that fish.”

-“Bye old man, don’t regret anything you do, and remember you are way better than me.”

-“Bye Manolin, catch a big fish for me today.”

The old man rowed out of the port and the sun had already risen.  It was very late to go fishing; but that night the old man had had a great dream and it was worth sleeping for longer. The old man was tired of rowing so he opened the sail and since it was a windy day the boat went faster; and the old man lay down on the skiff. 

-“Oh old man,” he said talked to himself, “how great would it be if Manolin was here? You could take a nap while he was fishing.” “Don’t think about him, now he is fishing with another boat, and it’s better this way.”

The old man was desperate, he was tired, he wasn’t fishing and deep inside, he thought there were no fish left for him.

-“Probably I fished them all in the past, and now all the fishes are gone or there in other parts of the sea, far away; but Manolin fished, so some fish somewhere are left.” “Come on old man, some fish have to be down there, probably you are just in the wrong place.” The old man said to himself “Try to go south-east” 

The old man opened his sail and turned the skiff to face the south east, he sailed for a few hours, he didn’t know how long because his watch stopped working, but it seemed a long time.

The old man threw the line and he tied it to the side of the skiff, he was hopeless, he thought that the last fish he fished was the last one of his life.

-“Old man, probably you should retire, leave more space for the young.” but when he turned the line was taut and the old man said … “it’s over”,