What's for Dinner?

A couple lived by the sea. The wife fished from her kayak and brought in one fish a day. During her fishing,  the husband tended to the fruit trees, flower and vegetable gardens. Weekly, they traded jobs. While he fished, she gardened.

After gardening, the husband walked to the shore. He sat by a man's profile carved into the bluff to watch the behavior of peregrines, cormorants, osprey, and pelicans. He drew and colored their images and sold them to the villagers in town. His wife prepared vegetables and fruits to sell at the Sunday farmer's market. 

One day the sea grew in turmoil as the wife rowed out to fish. Suddenly her kayak overturned and she fell beneath the comforter of blue. Dragged downward, she struggled to rise, seeing only bubbles above.

An octopus wrapped her in tentacles and swam deep into a cavern. There a council of sea creatures held her hostage. The octopus restrained her while the tribunal convened.

"You and your husband capture our friends and loved ones," said the King Crab. "It's just not right."

"I only take one fish a day. How can you call me out when you sealivers do the same?" the woman wriggled in the tentacles.

The council grumbled and mused as the shark slinked into the shadows.

When silence filled the area, the woman asked, "May I return to land if I stop fishing?" 

Again the council sounded in rumbles.

"How will we know you will keep your word?" the dolphin asked.

"I grow vegetables and fruits to eat. I will relinquish my daily fishing," the woman said. "I will bring you flowers."

"One more chance," the seahorse piped. "She could share her garden with us?"









"What are flowers?" asked the jellyfish?

She smiled at the jellyfish, "If you let me go I will bring flowers that match your colors."

With a whoosh the dolphin tossed her upward. She broke the surface and took in a deep breath, seaweed swishing from the corners of her mouth. Swimming to reach her kayak, she climbed in and paddled, focusing on the man's face in the bluff.

Her husband swam to her and grabbed at the kayak. "I've been frantic since your fishing equipment washed to shore."  

"I got rolled out of the boat . . . and experienced a strange dream when I went under and gasped water. In any case, vegetables for dinner, tonight," she said.  "I need to make daisy and rose garlands to toss into the waves for bringing me back."