Chomp

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It was noon, and as usual, Richard M. Wilson made his way toward the shark tank. Using a cane fashioned from the rib bone of a shark, he limped toward a bench. His jacket was shark skin, and he wore a necklace with a large shark’s tooth. It would be fair to say he was obsessed with sharks, but he must certainly was not a fan.

He took a sandwich from a brown paper sack and glared at the shark swimming in the nearby tank. The tank was three stories deep, and you could watch through a glass wall on the floors below. But Richard preferred the above-ground view, where you could still see the shark through a four-foot glass retaining wall. The aquarium would sometimes play the theme music from Jaws when the dorsal fin was above water.

Most days, Richard sat on the bench alone, eating his lunch. If someone sat down, Richard’s chilly vibe ensured they did not stay long. But on this day, a young lady with a cell phone to her ear and child in tow stood blocking Richard’s view. Richard cleared his throat several times before the lady noticed. Finally, she glanced at Richard and told her son to sit on the bench.

“I have to take this call,” she said. “This nice man will watch you.” She walked off without waiting for an answer.

The boy had a toy shark and pretended it was swimming around, chomping at things. He looked at Richard several times, but Richard did not respond.

“Is that a peanut butter sandwich?” the boy asked.

“No,” said Richard.

“I got an ‘A’ in math,” the boy said.

Richard took a bite of his sandwich and said nothing.

“What are you eating?”

“It’s shark meat,” Richard said.

The boy’s eyes widened. He smiled and said, “No way.”

Richard lifted the bread to show a piece of gray meat.

“Cool. Why are you eating shark?”

“Payback.”

“If I could eat anything I wanted, I would eat a lion,” said the boy. “Then I wouldn’t be scared of anything.”

“What scares you?”

“The dark. A little bit,” said the boy. “But mostly Roy, he is a boy at school. He pushes me around.”

“Not much you can do about the dark,” said Richard. “But you know what I would do about this, Roy.”

“Hit him?” asked the boy.

“No. But when he pushes you, just stare at him,” said Richard. “Stand your ground. Show him you’re not afraid of him. He will leave you alone soon enough.”

“That won’t work.”

“Don’t know until you try,” said Richard. “What is the worst that can happen? He pushes you again. He already does that.”

“Are you scared of anything?” asked the boy.

“Water,” said Richard.

“How about sharks?” said the boy. He started pretending his shark was swimming toward Richard.

“Don’t do that,” said Richard.

“Chomp, chomp, chomp,” said the boy as he moved the toy shark closer to Richard.

“I said don’t do that.” Richard grabbed the toy and threw it into the tank. The toy made a small splash and floated along the edge of the tank.

The boy jumped up, grabbed an empty bucket the maintenance staff had left, and used it to reach over the edge of the tank. But unfortunately, the toy was a little out of reach, and he stretched further.

“No!” shouted Richard. He limped as fast as possible toward the tank, dragging his left leg.

The boy reached too far and fell into the tank. The dorsal fin surfaced on the far side of the tank and moved toward the boy. The fin triggering the Jaws theme music to play. The spectators hearing the music turned and gasped as they saw the boy in the tank.

Richard reached the bucket, stood on top, and held out his cane for the boy to grab. The boy tried to grab it but could not reach it. The shark headed straight for the boy.

Richard hoisted himself over the wall and swam toward the boy. The shark came close enough to attack, and Richard kicked it with his good leg. The shark backed away but then circled around and came in for a second attack.

Richard grabbed the boy and pushed him toward the wall, where two maintenance men reached in and pulled him to safety.

The shark closed in on Richard as he swam for the wall. The maintenance men reached down to help as the shark bit down on Richard’s left leg. There was a loud metallic ring, and a tooth flew into the air, landing outside the tank.

Breathing heavily, lying on the pavement, Richard picked up the tooth and handed it to the boy. His pants were torn, revealing a metal leg. “Titanium,” said Richard. He knocked on it several times and smiled.