The Thief and the Thunderstorm. Part Two

Part Two: The peculiar sunbathers

One dazzling summer day the thief was out in his van. He was driving around trying to think of wicked ways to make some more money. As he thought about this his journey took him along the coast and he decided to get out and stretch his legs. He parked his van then and wandered down to the beach, which was filled with lots of men women and children, all lying on the sand and pebbles getting their bodies tanned by the sun.

           

The thief did not take much notice of the sunbathers. He did not notice that some had webbed toes and fingers; that others had long whiskers coming out from their jaws. He did not notice that many of the bathers were eating fish. Not fish like you and I eat, with a coating of batter and served up with chips. No they were eating raw fish: merrily chomping down the head, eyeballs, tails and fins of the twitching wriggling mackerel and trout. The thief was too busy thinking about thievery and wrongdoing to notice these little clues.

Then the thief tripped over a rock. He put his hands out to stop himself from getting hurt, only to find his fingers sinking into the rock. He quickly sat up. Then he slowly touched the rock again. It was soft and warm. “It’s a seal skin coat!’ the thief cried out. He did not pause for a moment to wonder how the coat got there or to whom it belonged. Instead he grabbed it, stood up and started walking back towards his van.

As he strolled along, one of the sunbathers stood up. She was a beautiful woman with thick tangled black hair and beautiful brown eyes. “That’s my coat!’ she shouted, ‘Bring it back!’ The Thief began to run along the beach. The beautiful woman chased after him, as did the other sunbathers - even the smallest children! These in fact were Selkies and they were outraged because the beautiful woman, whose coat had been stolen, was actually the Queen of the Selkies. But the thief did not know this, and even if he did he would not have cared: His only interest was keeping the coat for himself. He ran faster and faster, got to his van, hopped in, threw the coat over the passenger seat, turned on the ignition and with a roar the van sped away.   

Now read: The Thief and the Thunderstorm. Part Three