((This has absolutely nothing to do wit TEH, but you can kiss my beast of burden!))

The waves rolled over the dock, bringing kelp and shells along with it. A hurricane had ravaged the bay only the other day, and the high tides were the aftershock of the storm. An eleven-year-old boy had taken off from his shift picking up the branches that littered his lawn to walk on the beach. He was tall, skinny, and had long ungroomed black hair that fell to his shoulders, making his tan seem lighter than he actually was. In his hands was a fishing rod that he had fashioned from a long stick from a mahoganey tree in a nearby swamp and a long string he stole from his "mum" 's sewing kit.

The boy was Archie Flint, a little boy from the States who was lost on a family cruise when he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He had lived in Belize for ten years and knew he was different; his family was black, but he was white. His hair wasn't like his "brother", Leviticus, and he couldn't run as fast as him either. He spoke in a Carribean accent despite his race from his upbringing in Belize City. Archie had worked from five o' clock til twelve, now he was going to fish.

He hooked the bait onto the hook and threw it into the water. It sunk slowly into the heavy waves, and became only a dark speck in Archie's blue eyes. A while later, he felt a tug on the line, and he reeled the heavy catch in, but the fish put up a fight. Archie could see it was a large fish by it's shadow, but the boy couldn't tell what it was. He had caught some small fish like doctorfish, soles, and once a 104 centimeter bonefish, but he knew this fish was going to be his biggest catch yet.

Archie began to tug on the pole; it was a miracle that his pole didn't break, but Leviticus once used it to catch a massive eel and it held up for him. So maybe this fish would hold up for him. Crack! His pole was about to break off. "No," muttered Archie silently. The stick broke, but before he lost his fish, hie grabbed the upper part of the stick and started walking backwards with it. People around the beach stood to watch the boy. One teenaged boy's voice rung up, "Geet 'em, Awch!"

Archie turned and said to the boy, "Ah is geetin' de feesh, Levy!" Leviticus stood there with his arms folded cockily as if to say "That's my brother there." A few experienced fishermen came up behind Archie and grabbed him, pulling him back to help bring the stubborn fish ashore. With a big tug, they brought the fish from beneath the fathoms and onto the deck where it flopped about, not seeming to know he was not in water.

The fish was a young blacknose shark, and it was big. It was one hundred and sixty-five centimeters long, bigger than Leviticus's eel which he caught last Summer. The biggest fish ever caught in Belize was a young whale shark that foolishly swam close to shore and was carried out of the water by fourty men after an old man harpooned it in the eyes, but this was plenty big for Archie even if it was slightly over a meter long.

A man who had fished all his life came over to Archie and put his arms around the boy's shoulders. "Dat de beegest feesh caught all day...so far." With a wink, the man turned and took his own fishing pole to the Belize River to try to beat Archie.

"Well," said Leviticus. "Will you keep de feesh, Awchy?" Archie knew the fish would be cool over the family living room. Or if they sold it, they could get money. Maybe it would be tasty to eat, but looking into the fishy eyes of the shark, Archy knew the fish was helpless and didn't need to die before its time.

"No!" shouted Archie. He took the hook out of the fish's cheek, blood dripping down to fall upon the dock. He hurled the young fish into the sea while his audience's jaws dropped. Archie explained, "There ah times ween eet is okay to take de lives o' feesh, but dat sha'k was too young to be dead. So Ah let eem go. Thank the Ocean." He walked away from the dock with applause ringing in his ear.

The blacknose shark lived, although it lost a piece of its lip that day. It went far off, so that none of the other sharks could eat it and healed. It lived to be ten years of age when it was caught by-you guessed it-Archie.

Thank the Ocean.