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A hot wind blew across the sea,
causing choppy little waves along the surface of the water. Grains of
beige sand blew up from the beach into the air, and then dropped suddenly
into the water, sinking down to the bottom.
Farhad stuck his head out from
between two rocks. The moray eel gazed up topside, and noticed little
whitecaps dancing about on the surface. Before he left the safety of the
rocks, he looked around to make sure no sharks were swimming by. Satisfied
that he was safe, he swam out into the open sea. He loved the feel of
freedom and space and how the water felt as it glided along his long,
smooth body.
After just a few minutes he came
upon a sunken ship. It was broken into a few pieces. Farhad thought,
"Hmmm. This ship must have been sunk during one of the fierce storms up on
top." Curious, he swam into the broken hull. It was dark inside, but he
could still see everything clearly. Barnacles were plastered to
everything, their hard black shells coating the rotting wood like icing on
a cake. Several sponges grew from the hull, their bright orange casings
adding a bit of color to the dullness of the wreck.
As Farhad swam past a large crack in
the ship, out of the corner of his eye he spotted a shark. "Oh no!" he
gurgled. "A shark! How will I get back to my rocks?" he wondered. He swam
closer to the wooden hole and peered out. The huge gray shark was darting
through the water, its tail swishing back and forth to propel it. Its eyes
were as black as the oil. Farhad watched intently as the shark went by,
and then he slid back inside the hidden recesses of the sunken ship.
"What will I do?" he questioned
himself. He swam back over to the hole he’d come in through and looked at
the rocks where he usually hid. "Can I make it back to them safely?" he
wondered. He decided he would try. He stuck his head out of the hole and
was just about to swim back when the shark came around to his side of the
ship. Quickly Farhad pulled himself back in and hid. The shark swam closer
and closer to the opening and Farhad was beginning to be very afraid. What
if the shark came inside? What if it was hungry? "Oh no!" he cried out,
sending little bubbles of air to the surface.
He peeked out again. The shark was
nowhere to be seen, but Farhad could see a lionfish off in the distance.
It was swimming along, unaware of the shark’s presence. Farhad watched in
terror as the shark came around to his side of the ship again and headed
for the lionfish. But, it swam right past it. It didn’t eat it or even pay
any notice to it. Soon the lionfish swam off.
Another fish came swimming by, very
close to the sunken ship. It was a butterfly fish. It was beautiful,
bright yellow with red spots on it. Farhad wondered if the shark would eat
it, but when it came swimming past, it went right by the fish, without
even a glance.
Seeing this, Farhad hoped that the
shark wouldn’t bother him if he tried to swim back to his rocks, so he
slithered out of the wreck as the shark went around to the other side of
the ship. He wiggled his body back and forth, going as quickly as he could
towards his pile of rocks. He was about half way there when he felt a
rippling of the water behind him. He turned around and there was the huge
shark, bearing down on him quickly with his mouth wide open. "HELP!"
Farhad screamed and swam as fast as he could. The shark got closer and
closer. In fact it was so near that when Farhad turned to look at it, he
could see all the rows of sharp, jagged teeth in its mouth. Terrified, he
swam as fast as he could and made it to the safety of the rocks just as
the shark snapped its jaw down, catching a piece of the rock in its teeth.
Farhad hid there, his heart beating
rapidly with fear. He breathed quickly thru his gills and watched as the
shark swam around and around his rock.
After a while he didn’t see the
shark anymore, so he poked his head out. The shark was gone. Farhad, the
eel, was safe once more. From then on, though, he stayed right near his
pile of rocks, deciding that he didn’t need to go exploring any further
than the few feet around him!
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