Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon,he thought.The moon runs away.But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun?We were born lucky,he thought.
How simple it would be if I could make the line fast,he thought.But with one small lurch he could break it.I must cushion the pull of the line with my body and at all times be ready to give line with both hands.
It was dark now as it becomes dark quickly after the sun sets in September.He lay against the worn wood of the bow and rested all that he could.The first stars were out.He did not know the name of Rigel but he saw it and knew soon they would all be out and he would have all his distant friends.
“I do not know,”he said aloud.“I never had a bone spur.”
He let his hand dry in the air then grasped the line with it and eased himself as much as he could and allowed himself to be pulled forward against the wood so that the boat took the strain as much,or more,than he did.
Do you believe the great DiMaggio would stay with a fish as long as I will stay with this one?He thought.I am sure he would and more since he is young and strong.Also his father was a fisherman.But would the bone spur hurt him too much?
“What an excellent fish dolphin is to eat cooked,”he said.“And what a miserable fish raw.I will never go in a boat again without salt or limes.”