The Drowned and the Living

2. Plenty of fish in the sea?

Ahoy, here we go! Me, Bobbie, Noona, Grog, Fisherman, the Old Ones, maybe four or five of them – I can't keep count – and our pet animal Dot, half cat, half dog. We're all packed in our humble boat. Heading South.

All we have seen during past days is the open, limitless sea around us. No islands, no birds, no other boats, no signs of life whatsoever. As the weather got warmer we had to eat all the melting meat before it went bad. Now it was time for the Fisherman to show his worth. He adjusted his trusty fishing gear and started jigging. The rest of us, in the lack of better entertainment, watched him rhythmically jerking his pole, adding more bait to the hook every once in a while. And yes, after hours of patient repetition he lifted up a nice fat codfish.

Aaaand SHOOOP! The codfish disappeared. Grog is really fast when he wants to. Seconds after Fisherman lifted the fish over the gunwale, Grog grabbed and ate it with on bite. Hook, line, and sinker. Good thing he spat the hook out of his mouth before swallowing it. Bad thing we didn't have any fish anymore, not even for a bait.

Grog. Now there's a character. Grog is our bodyguard, a big hairy monster with a biggest jaw in the history of jaws, with two tusks sticking out. It hides his nose (is there such a thing, I'm not sure) and almost his two tiny eyes too. He basically has two gears: sleepy and angry. He weights about 300 kilos and always carries his big club with spikes in it. In case someone or something starts to irritate him. I call him Grog but I'm not really sure that's his name. That's the only world we've heard him say, so as far as I know, it can also mean "hello", "shut up", or "I have to pee". Let's think twice before calling him by that name.

I once saw Grog squash a grown man with one punch. And when I say squash I mean SQUASH. After Grog hit him the poor bastard looked liked someone's lunch after a wild rollercoaster ride. A pool of mess. He's a dangerous creature but so far he's been loyal to us. So far, that is. I think he's also in love with Noona, like the rest of us.

"We really need a bait, something I can put on the hook," said the Fisherman. "Otherwise there's no food. Any ideas?"

Bobbie gave his idea, grinning: "We can take one of Max's big ears. I'm sure the fish would like it." Grog gave me a menacing look. Was he actually THINKING of...

"Ok. You can cut another piece. But no more than half an inch this time." That was Noona, who offered a piece of her tail for the bait. What a soldier! And my precious ear was saved.

Fisherman took his knife and cut a small bit from the tip of her tail. It must've hurt like hell, but Noona didn't even flinch. What a soldier! I know, I said that already, but still.

Noona's bleeding tail-end must've been delicious, because Fisherman caught a small sea bass almost immediately. We all looked at the fish and licked our lips. Sashimi time, yum! But fisherman told us it wasn't for eating, it was just a better bait. He hooked it properly and dropped it down to the water, as low as he could. And what do you know, soon we had a big cod to eat, even bigger than the previous one. This time we carefully shared the fish before Grog could get his hands on it. My gosh, that was delicious! That's why Fisherman is called Fisherman. He knows his business.

But what was that? Suddenly everybody went silent. Was that an underwater cry of a giant sea monster? Was it under our boat? Was it precisely under our boat right now? And was it coming up towards us?