Alternate Ending: The Old Man and the Sea
The
man speared the great fish with all his strength one last time. It was dead. He
hauled it in as close as he could to the boat. He was more exhausted then he
had ever been. The long struggle of three days was finally over. It was time to
make the long sail home. He rigged up his old battered sail and made way back
west towards land he had not seen for a very long time. His back was still in
pain from where the line dug into his skin. He thought of the scar that the cut
was going to make. Then he thought of how he would like for the boy to fish
with him again because of his success. “How much would this fish bring in?” he
thought. He knew it would be quite a lot. “I better worry about just getting
this monster back to shore first” he said aloud. He then leaned back on the bow
and thought of what people were going to think of his amazing catch. Who was
going to enjoy this massive feast? “Probably people who don’t deserve
it.” The people who were going to enjoy this fish would have no idea of the
work he put into catching it. “Well, as long as they pay well, there's not much more I can do” he said.
He then began to doze off.
He
awoke to the sound of splashing. Water sprayed onto his face. Quickly, alerting
him to the situation he had just seconds ago been oblivious to. He got up and
surveyed the perimeter. He was shocked to see a dark grey fin in the water on
the opposite side of the tied down marlin. He knew what it was. How could he
not notice the trail of blood seeping into the water from the body of the marlin?
This was surely the first of many scavengers to come. He had to deal with it
quickly. He grabbed the still bloody spear and prepared to strike. The shark
lunged forward right at the head of the marlin and the old man speared him in
the eye. The shark withdrew rapidly only to meet its end at the jaws of another
two sharks. They mercilessly ripped their fallen companion to shreds. The old
man had never been afraid of sharks, but now he had seen they truly are
monsters. The old man desperately tried to haul the heavy fish onto the tiny
boat but there was no way he could do it. “Perhaps if the boy was here” he
thought to himself. He was jerked away from his moment of thought by the two
sharks and their quick change in direction. They were now done with the original
shark and they darted straight for the marlin. They swam under the boat which
made it impossible to spear them until they struck. The man waited and then
jabbed, missing at first, but then stabbed one right down the middle. The
wounded shark retreated down under deep with the old man’s spear lodged into its
head. The man had no weapon except an old oar that didn’t have much length to
it. He waited patiently for the final shark to resurface. The shark surprised
him by leaping out on the opposite side. The old man turned and swung the oar
almost as if he was playing baseball and the shark’s snout was the ball. He
heard a loud THWACK! The oar snapped in two, leaving him with a very short
weapon. Luckily the shark was stunned so it gave the man time to think up an
alternative. He reached for his knife he had used to fillet the bait and small fish he had caught
days ago. He then grabbed some thick rope and latched the knife to the edge of
the oar. He took a deep breath to pull himself together. The shark resurfaced
at the bow of the boat. The man ducked under the sail and held onto the mast
for support. He extended himself out over the massive dead marlin and forced
the makeshift spear into the gills of the final attacking shark. He demolished
the shark’s momentum and kept him stationary with three blows to the tail. Then
he clubbed the head until there was no more movement. Triumph was upon the old
man.
Just
as the body of the last shark drifted out of sight, the old man sighted the
approaching mass of green in the opposite direction. He could see land for the
first time in three and a half days and more importantly he had the biggest
fish anyone in Cuba had ever caught. He sailed into the small harbor with all
the other small fishing vessels back from a day’s work. The man coasted into
his usually nook by the pier and docked the small boat. He hopped out of the
boat and dragged the marlin onto the shore. He then walked down the dirt path
to the old shack to search for the boy. He opened the broken screen door to
find all the other fisher men discussing that days catches. He then saw the boy
surrounded by his new fishing partners. Once the boy noticed the man he rushed
to him. “Where have you been?” asked the boy. The old man’s response was slow
but he eventually got to the point he needed to express. He had caught a
massive fish and his bad luck was over and therefore the boy could fish with
him again. The two friends ran back to the boat and untied the marlin to hang
on the pier for all to see. Many people congratulated the old man. Everyone in
the harbor wanted to know the story of the Old Man and the Great Marlin. He
spent hours going over every detail with the townspeople before being
approached by the sales man who walked up with a look of pure amazement. He went
ahead and threw out a number for the price of the huge fish. The old man was
astonished. He was paid in cash on the spot. He was now the richest fisher man
in the harbor. He knew exactly what to do with this money. He called the boy in
close and they conversed for a few minutes. They then walked off in different
directions.
The
next morning the old man met with the boy and walked out onto the pier where
their new boat was sitting, a much bigger vessel with a motor and even a radio
to listen to the American baseball. The old man was happy. He had a new boat
and money, but he was truly content because of the boy. He would no longer fish
alone and his bad luck was diminished. He would live on to remember what it
took to break his bad luck streak and gain the boy back as his best friend.
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