Wednesday 26 October 2016

My Best Friend Shark

My Best Friend Shark


I was born at sea. My best friend was a Shark. Together we ruled the waves beneath our boat. Don’t ask me how we communicated but it wasn’t conventional. ‘ Don’t take no shit ’, he said ‘ and watch what you eat, the sea is full of plastic, and the oil is slick! ”. He had a scary smile, like a military spiked fence, but there was a wink of the eye and I knew his sense of humour. “ You humans are not the brightest on this planet but you’ve got a bit of style and humility and you don’t taste that good actually ”. I knew what he meant, I’d seen something of the mess landlubbers had made of the planet, it wasn’t good, and it wasn’t intelligent. I learnt to dive beneath the radar and come up by surprise between the oscillations.
You gotta have an edge in this world and I could bet on it. Shark got chased out of the three mile limit by a Coastguard dragnet. I was sorry to see him go but he was not one to get caught by a pipe smoking shark harrier. 

We landed on the Maroon islands where the women were naked and the men climbed rocks. They had all been heading somewhere else when the sea issued new tickets. They weren’t complaining though, no money changed hands and no one went hungry. The sea had challenged them to get on, work it out, and be friends. I couldn’t see anyone building a big boat or looking out for a ride back home. 
There’s no such thing as Civilisation ’ said Jack, a full time lovemaker with time on his hands  "We know such a thing here and we value it and deal with things but you won’t find it any other place that’s why we don’t try to leave ”
I could get used to this, no pressure, all day sex, fish, fruit and sunshine but I had a book to write and it wasn’t going to get written between someone’s legs. I had to find Shark, his genes went back farther than mine, he had a wisdom that was rare. He’d taught me since I was a kid and I knew I could find him without a compass or radar. 

Leaving Maroon wasn’t the easiest of things; I’d made a lot of good friends and laid with a lot of them! Shark was waiting for me out in the open sea, our adventure together hadn’t even begun, he had stories you couldn’t imagine, that went back in time and I do mean time. Maybe one day, we’ll stop by and update you on our adventure, but the taste of the sea and the roll of the waves is in my blood. 

Don’t forget, you all, there is intelligent life on the planet but you people look in all the wrong places! And don’t let on about Maroon they’ll colonise it!

Photo and text by Trev Teasdel

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