A short story
By: Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
Five young friends, whose innocence had been overtaken by the resolve of men, sailed out in a small boat belonging to a relative of one of them.
Out on the open sea, one of them dropped the anchor after switching off the engine.. They made sure that they could not see the shore because of the distance.. So, here is a good place for fishing, and here is where the fish graze..
.
They knew that because the anchor rope was at its full length, for the water here is very deep..
The fishing is successful today: from the first minutes they had four fish in their possession, and with them a number of squid..
One of the youngsters noticed that the boat was moving!
How?
Check the rope: is the anchor holding well on the sea bed?
Another replied: Yes, it is.. And even if it were not fixed, it is impossible for the boat to move like this, at this speed, toward a particular direction..
After their eyes fell on the surface of the water, they all noticed that the boat was running fast, as if it were descending from the top of a torrent.. as if something were dragging it toward itself..
Their innocent eyes began roaming quickly in every direction, until one of them saw in the distance a whirlwind drawing the seawater down to its depths; it had carved a pit in the seawater that takes everything down to its bottom..
How terrible! Look over there.. A whirlwind is dragging us toward it..
Quick, start the engine and raise the anchor—so one of them shouted..
Everyone was roused to alarm, and the hair on their soft bodies stood on end from fear.. and the sparkle of innocence in their eyes turned into the glint of fear..
The eldest of them went to the engine to start it.. but he was surprised that the engine did not respond. What happened? It used to start quickly. Am I trembling so much that I cannot manage to start it..
He began trying hurriedly.. trying time after time.. until he looked exhausted, his sweat pouring onto the engine oil.. and his veins looked like twisted wires on his hands..
The water whirlwind drags the boat forcefully.. as if it were a rational force taking them to its depths in an unerring direction.
That state of alarm appeared to vary..
In addition to the one absorbed in his attempts to start the engine..
one of them was fixing his gaze intently on the center of the whirlwind that was pulling them, not turning in any other direction..
and one of them, his hand gripping a knife, was cutting the squid, that soft-bodied sea creature.. cutting it into small pieces and striking it with all the strength he had..
and another child saw a black color in the distance, which he thought was another boat, so he began screaming loudly: Help, help..
and his voice resounded across the horizon..
While the whirlwind keeps pulling the boat toward it to swallow it..
another busied himself with commenting and laughing.. saying: What a loss! Tomorrow they will write in the newspaper in bold type (Five friends swallowed by a sea whirlwind), and we will not be able to see the news..
He mocks.. and scoffs.. and laughs..
How often we wished to see our names in the newspaper; we were supposed to see them among the successful.. and now they will be among the perished.. and even so we will not see them..
Never mind, others will see them.. and he goes on laughing..
Everyone is forcefully busy with something.. and even the whirlwind drags them forcefully..
The pupils of the child watching the whirlwind widened.. everyone fell still.. and the hearts leapt to the throats..
Only a few meters remained, after which they would pass from the surface of the sea to its bottom..
The forearms of the eldest seemed about to burst from the strain of the desperate attempts to start the engine..
About five meters remained..
Four, no, three..
Two.. the boat prepares to bow its head in surrender to the whirlwind..
The sound of the engine roars, announcing the end of the boat's surrender.. The boat lifts its bow.. and the operator turns it from its direction with lightning speed.. to turn it in the opposite direction.. and succeeds in getting out..
The innocent hearts returned to their places.. and the group had not yet caught their breath..
The boat moves toward land..
Stillness and silence accompanied them until they reached the town's harbor, and not one of them uttered a word..
****
More than twenty years after the incident.. one of the children said.. If there had not been someone trying to start the engine, I would have been in his place.
And, as it seems, this is the opinion of all the children of the past.. the young men of now.
Completed 2007 CE
Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
