Jalani said, “It is not mahogany, it is painted.”
They walked down a few more blocks and took a right turn through a long alleyway between two old apartment buildings. A jeep was waiting for them and they climbed in and drove the two miles to the beach. Jalani gave him a bathing suit she had with her and they both changed in the bathrooms. When they emerged they were near a golden sand beach. There was a wooden pier jutting out into the sea and Jalani headed for it, not waiting for Eric. As they approached Eric could see a canoe lashed to the pier. There were two oars and some chains next to a cooler inside the canoe.
The water was stilling for the coming evening. The sunlight reflected off of it a bright orange as they walked to the end of the pier and Jalani motioned for Eric to climb into the canoe.
“Where we going?” Eric said.
“It is a surprise. But I promise, you will enjoy it.”
Eric climbed in and sat in the back as Jalani took the front. She grabbed an oar and unlashed from the pier before beginning to paddle out into the vast expanse of water. Eric took the other oar and tried to keep rhythm but found Jalani was paddling too fast and gave up the effort. For such a small frame she was incredibly strong.
When they were a few hundred yards from shore, Jalani stopped paddling and looked around at the murky water. Her eyes were slits and her brow furrowed from concentration as she stared into the depths, though Eric couldn’t see more than a few feet below the surface. Jalani opened the cooler. There was a fat chicken inside, its feathers plucked and its head cut off. She stabbed a large iron hook through it and attached the hook to a thin chain. She then tied the chain to the front of the canoe and threw the chicken overboard. Eric was about to say something but Jalani stopped him with a motion of her hand and they sat in silence nearly ten minutes.
Finally, a streak of gray breaking through the surface a dozen feet from the boat; the dorsal fin of a shark. It was swimming in a wide arch around the boat, the peak of its tailfin sticking out of the water about four feet behind its dorsal fin.
“Holy shit,” Eric said.
“Take the ropes.”
Eric looked down and saw two ropes wound in tight circles attached to the canoe with bolts. He grabbed them and held on. “What are we-”
“Keep quiet!”
The shark appeared colossal since only a flimsy piece of wood was separating Eric from him. There was splashing behind them and Eric turned to see another shark approaching, its skin gray-brown in the sunlight. It swam near the chicken and Jalani pulled up on the chain and hauled the chicken back in the canoe until the shark swam around to the other side. “Jalani, what the hell are we doing?” “He wasn’t big enough.” “Big enough for what?”
There was more splashing and more fins, about five of them. They were circling the canoe and taking small bites in the cloud of blood the chicken carcass gave off. But every time one of them would come in to feed, Jalani would pull the carcass back onto the canoe.
Suddenly there was a commotion as the sharks banked away from the canoe, swimming into the depths. The water began to still and the ocean went silent. Eric glanced around. Even the smaller fish that had come by earlier to have a look at the carcass had vanished. There was nothing.
“The ocean has grown still,” Jalani said.
Eric had gone from nervousness to fear and was gripping the ropes so tightly it hurt his hands. As he let go to examine them the canoe lurched forward, throwing him back and nearly over the side. Jalani reached out and grabbed his shirt collar, bringing him into place.
The canoe stopped moving. The only sound now was Eric’s heavy breathing. Before he could say anything the canoe jerked forward and then tilted to the side, nearly submerging the two of them. Jalani was squealing with delight, laughing as the water splashed onto her face. Eric thought she sounded insane.
The canoe was spinning slowly now; whatever was underneath was circling. It began heading out farther into sea, pulling them along.
“Unhook the fucking line!” Eric shouted.
Jalani grabbed an oar and began paddling backward.
The pulling motion of the canoe slowed and then stopped. Eric could see a large mass coming up from the water. The water was parting as the creature made its way to the surface just off the port side of the canoe. He noticed the dorsal fin first, about two feet high and silver gray. The tail. Then the monstrous head with pitch-black eyes and jagged white teeth. It was a great white shark.
The shark was circling them, the hook jutting through the flesh of its mouth. It was at least as large as the canoe, about twelve feet, and Eric got the impression that the canoe would crumble if it decided to attack.
The enormous fish swam slowly, the circles gradually decreasing as it approached the canoe. It was tilted slightly to the side and its black eye was kept steady, staring. Finally the shark passed only a few feet away and Eric saw its terrible mouth as it opened, taking in the residual blood in the water. When it was near enough, to Eric’s shock, Jalani slammed the oar into the shark’s snout.
The pain made the shark thrash violently from side-to-side and then shoot away. The canoe followed as Jalani laughed. The shark was in a frenzy now. It was lashing its powerful body left and right and the canoe was being thrown one way and then the other as if caught in a storm.
The shark dove. The canoe followed, its front end completely submerging as it was being pulled down. It started going vertical and Jalani unhooked the chain, the canoe slapping back horizontally on the water.
Jalani looked back to Eric with a big smile, water dripping from her soaking hair into her eyes. Silently, she picked up an oar and began paddling back to the pier.
CHAPTER
31
Night over Kavali was starless and the air had the humid warmth that foretells a coming rainstorm. The merchants had packed up and gone home but hawkers with low quality trinkets or stolen goods still stood on street corners and in dark alleyways. Many of the hawkers were families, each child taking turns selling as the parents smoked hashish or drank in cheap bars too dangerous for tourists to go into.
There was a bar across the street from Eric’s hotel and he sat on the outdoor patio at a round wooden table, outdoor gas lamps giving a dim illumination around him. The smell of liquor called to him and he was finding it difficult to keep coming up with reasons to resist.
As he rose to leave, he saw Thomas walk out of the hotel with another man. The man was dressed in shorts and a button-down shirt with an enormous belly bulging out from underneath. He had a black beard, curly hair, and appeared Greek with his olive skin. The men walked over and came to Eric’s table, Thomas sitting down and the man walking to the bar to order drinks. “So I believe you’ve had quite an eventful day,” Thomas said with a smirk. “Did you know she was going to do that?” “More or less.” “I could’ve died.”
“You shot poison into your veins for a year and now you’re worried about a fish?” Thomas took out his pipe, lighting it with some matches. “Besides, sharks-especially the great white-don’t enjoy the taste of human flesh. They only attack us out of mistake, despite the myths surrounding them.
“But it wasn’t a joy ride you know. It was a ritual, a type of conquering of the sea. Many of the fishermen here had to do it while they were apprenticing. They do something similar where Jalani’s from. I was surprised she took you with her, she must really like you.”
The other man came back with two large drinks and sat down. He had a joyous look on his face and already appeared drunk.
“This is Douglas Patsinakis,” Thomas said. “He’ll be going on the hunt with us.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Douglas said with a wide grin. He held up his drink in salute. “Here’s to the hunt,” he said before guzzling half the glass. He finished and smacked his lips almost comically before wiping his mouth. “So how long have been hunting?” he asked Eric.
“This’ll be my first time.”
