Held |There's something in the water. . . .|

KILLER EYES

This might just be a FILLER CHAPTER

The Captain began. "I wasn't much older then you lads. it was one of my first whaling voyages. Two years at sea, and
finally I was heading home across the pacific."
His voice was low and whispery, like it was
coming from someplace very far away.
  "Suddenly, the sky turned black. The wind
started to howl, and rain poured down. I'll
never forget those waves. I thought our ship
was going to be tossed to the moon. And the
wind! It ripped our ship apart, like it was made
of paper. We all went into the water. I grabbed
a barrel and somehow I made it through the
night.
By the time the sun came up, the storm
had passed. I was all alone. Just a tiny speck in
the middle of the ocean."

"The other men died?" Eijiro asked.
But the Captain didn't seem to hear.

"And then I saw the fin."
"The shark?" Whispered Tenya, edging
a little closer to Captain.
"Shhhh." Katsuki said.

"It circled me for a long while," the Captain
said. "Around and around, real slow, like he was
toying with me. Little by little, it came closer,
and closer. Until I could see his eyes.

"Black as coal," he whispered. "Killer eyes,"
The Captain was looking out the window
now, like he expected to see that shark with its
open jaws pressed against the glass.

"Killer eyes." he repeated quietly.

It was a minute before he started talking again.
The guys waited with their tongues practically
hanging out.
"The beast went underwater, and for a second
I thought maybe it'd decided I wasn't worth the
trouble. But then something bumped me in the
leg. Scraped me bloody! The skin of a shark is
rough. You can use it as sandpaper."

The Captain rubbed his leg like it still hurt.
"It came in for the kill with its jaws wide
open," the Captain said. "Big enough to swallow
me whole. And the teeth. Like daggers, a
thousand daggers, all lined up in rows."

The Captain's hands were shaking now.

"I had an old harpoon tip in my pocket. I
grabbed it. And I stabbed the shark." He
pounded the counter so hard that his coffee
mug crashed to the floor. The captain didn't
notice.
"Right in its killer eye," he said.

"You killed it?" Eijiro said.
The Captain shook his head "Oh, no," he
said. "But it swam off. Disappeared. It wasn't
my time."
Then he stood up and put on his tattered
Captain's hat.
"I must get home now," he said "My sweet
Nana will be waiting for me."
Nana was his wife. She'd been dead for at
least twenty years.

Izuku and the guys watched him leave
Uncle Yagi had come out of the kitchen when
he heard the crash of the Captain's cup
"Poor old guy," he said, as he swept up the
mess.
"His mind is like Swiss cheese."
"You mean that story isn't true?" Tenya
asked.
Uncle Yagi shrugged. "I think the Captain
spins a mighty fine tale."

"Stabbed it with a harpoon tip!" Eijiro
laughed
"Killer eyes!" Tenya blurted.

"Next the Captain will be telling us he got
gobbled up by a whale," Katsuki said,

Still, Izuku thought about the Captain all day.
He didn't really believe the story either. Uncle
Yagi was right. Whoever heard of a shark
attacking a person?

No, it wasn't the shark that scared him.
It was the idea of being alone in the middle of
the ocean.
Strange, but Izuku could imagine
that feeling.
He'd been traveling around the
country with Mama and Papa most of his life.
Papa was always chasing some new business
idea. Selling motor cars in northern Japan. Building
bicycles in China.
Mama would get them settled
into an apartment or a run-down little house.

Izuku would try to make friends. And just
when they were starting to get comfortable,
the business would go bad or Papa would get
some other idea. "We're hitting the road," Papa
would announce. And Mama would have to
start packing again.

Izuku was supposed to go along to New York,
where Papa was sure he'd finally strike it rich.
But then mama decided that Izuku would stay
with Uncle Yagi instead.

"It's a nice town," Mama had said. "And Uncle
Yagi will take good care of you."

Izuku remembered all the fun he used to have
with Uncle Yagi when he was little, how Uncle
Yagi had taught him how to throw a baseball.
But they haven't seen each other in years. Would
his uncle even recognize him after all this
time?

He shouldn't have worried. Uncle Yagi was
standing on the train platform when Izuku got
off, a huge grin on his face.

"It's about time,"
he said to Izuku, wrapping him up in a hug that
went on until after the train pulled out of the
station. From that first day, Uncle Yagi made
him feel right at home.
But Izuku missed Mama and Papa. And it
didn't matter how much he loved being with
Uncle Yagi, or how many people shouted
"Hiya, Izu!" When they came into the diner.
Soon enough he'd have to join Mama and Papa
in New York.

Would he ever really belong anywhere?
Or would he always be on his own, a tiny
speck in the middle of the ocean?