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Richard goes out fishing for his family to eat something but what he catches changes his life. He has a father that isabusive. His dad beats his wife almost everyday. Richard goes through a tough loss.

The Fisherman Who Caught His Love

“Boo hoo.  Boo hoo,” the mother cried.

Her nineteen year old son tried to make her calm because the strength that his father possesses could make anyone cry and asked, “What can I do to make you stop crying?”

“Go catch me a fish so I could make dinner for the family, and so your father will not beat me.”

Richard took the 15-foot boat out of the shed and pulled it toward the sea. He took the long oars and paddled toward the best fishing ground, where his abusive father took him when he was a little boy. Richard used to love it when just the two of them paddled to their best spot and fished the whole day. When they caught enough fish they would bring it to their mother. She would cook the fish for them and they would happily talk about their day. But since his father started drinking, he was not the same man that he was five years ago.

He was out there in the middle of the sea. It was kind of wavy but he could manage it all alone. He had been out a lot of times and it really didn’t matter how rough it was. All he was thinking about was catching a big fish and making his father proud. But the whole time he was fishing there was not even one nibble, and that made him furious. Richard reeled in the hook to change the bait. The bait was fine, but he changed it anyway. As he was dropping his line, it started to pull faster. He put his reel on break and almost fell over board because the fish yanked on the line strongly. He had never caught a fish that big.

He fought the fish for forty minutes, when it just stopped. That was Richards chance to pull in his big catch. He thought about how surprised his father and mother would look. When he would bring in the heaviest fish he had ever caught. In all his years he had never caught a fish this big.

Richard wiped the sweat off his forehead, and gasped while pulling on the rod. All of a sudden he saw the bright flashing of the fish’s scales. It blinded him for a second. He closed his eyes so that his eyes could adjust. The club was ready for when he would pull the fish out of the water. Richard kept fighting it, but every time the fish came close it went back down. He felt like giving up, but he couldn’t because this could repair, some of the tension between him and his father.  All he could do now is fight the fish until it tires out.

Finally it gave up. Richard slowly pulled the fish up to the boat, and then it shot back down. Richard gathered his strength, and started reeling in the line as hard as he could. As it came close to the boat he grabbed the line and pulled out of the water and it was a MERMAID!

Richard looked at the mermaid with astonishment. His eyes and her eyes just connected, they were looking into each other’s eyes. They didn’t say anything the water splashing against the boat, the wind breezed by them.

“Are you going to kill me?”Asked the mermaid.

He said, “No. but I will get you out of this if you let me.”

She agreed with a nod and Richard slowly came close to the mermaid and gently tried to push the hook out. The mermaid yelled out in pain.

He looked at the mermaid and calmly said, “I am going to make a small cut so that the ending of the hook won’t get stuck in the skin.” He sharpened the knife and as he was about to make an incision, the mermaid jerked in fear. She kept twitching every time he tried to make a cut. He wiped his hand on his pants for better gripping.  As slowly as possible, he cut around the hook and quickly yanked the jaggedly metal piece out of her flesh. He looked at her and saw a small tear slide fall from her face onto the wound. The wound just disappeared and her skin was unblemished. Richard’s mouth fell open from shock and stuttered.

While looking into her forest green eyes and something hit him.  He instantly fell in love with that lovely sea creature. She stared at him awkwardly for a moment Richard knew that the mermaid was falling for him also.

“What is your name?”

Richard.”What about yours?”

“My name is Isabelle,” she said shyly. “I need to return,” said Isabelle before it gets dark, because my father is waiting.

“Will I ever see you again?” said Richard.

“Maybe the next time that you will be fishing, I will come and visit you.”

She jumped off the boat and something magical happened. He felt better than ever before. When returned, he had forgotten that he needed to catch a fish for his father’s meal. He came inside the house and smiled at his mother when he looked at his father he was really mad about something. He started yelling at his son for not catching a fish for the family. Then he turned to his wife slapped her across the face, she fell down to the ground and started crying. His father took the keys and his coat and drove off in too the night.

Richard came to his mom and helped her up and led her to the room. Richard could hear his mother sobbing from the other room.

“Knock knock” someone was at the front door. Richards’s mom was the first one to the door. She opened the door and an officer was standing there. He said that your husband died. Richards’s mom fell down to the ground and she started crying. Richard ran to her and hugged her, and then he asked whats wrong mother, your father is dead. She stood up and ran to her room.

Richard didn’t know what to do, either to cry or be happy. He took the boat and headed toward the sea to clear his mind. He was paddling not so fast and then the boat just stopped moving, he looked under the boat and saw Isabelle. Richard was relieved when he saw Isabelle. He told Isabelle that his father died, she felt sorry that his father died said if there is anything she could do to help Richard. He didn’t say anything so she thought that she was making him uncomfortable so she was about to leave then he stopped her. They were sitting silently for a while until Isabelle started talking about how if someone meets a mermaid in person, that it is good luck for them, and they get three wishes.

Richard was really happy he started to think about all the things that he would wish for. Moments later he asked Isabelle for my first wish I wish you to bring my father back to life. For the second wish, I wish for my father to be the nice man that he was five years ago when he wasn’t a drunk. She made those wishes to come true. Then Isabelle asked what’s your last wish?”

Richard blushed a little and said, “Can you make the wish come true if I am thinking it?”

She answered”yes.” Out of nowhere Isabelle started floating in the air and the fish scales started to fall off and a beautiful dress was reappearing. That’s when Isabelle started to catch on. That Richard wants Isabelle to be with her. When she landed on the boat Richard stood up and said I want to be with you for the rest of my life. She stood up and said I want to be with you also and they both kissed. So they lived happily ever after.

By: Kosta Reutov