Manokanaka

Stretching out his arms and legs while sitting in his deck chair, Kaikane opened his mouth in a wide yawn, displaying a set of perfect, white teeth. Peering over the tops of his sunglasses, he took a look at the guy lounging in the chair next to him. The day before was the first time he’d seen Ethan and he hadn’t wasted any time in striking up and acquaintance. Both guys had been drawn to this beachside resort town by the surfing scene it was renowned for. Ethan had come looking for the perfect wave, while Kai was on the prowl for the ideal surfer dude. This morning, while resting at the pool, he noticed Ethan strolling past on his way to the beach, his surfboard tucked under one arm. When Kai gestured at him to come over and join him, he figured he might as well. Low tide wasn’t predicted to come for over an hour, so he’d have time for a little social interaction.

During a lull in the conversation, Kai took advantage of the fact that Ethan was stretched out, with his eyes closed behind the fringe of his lengthy bangs, to give him a more detailed appraisal. He started by inspecting the surfer’s long, smooth skinned legs, tanned just enough to give them the color of honey. Where the floral patterned board shorts had pulled up a bit, he was able to get a glimpse of Ethan’s nicely fleshed out thigh. Raising his gaze further up above the shorts, he could admire the firm, yet soft, belly and the trim waist, continuing up to the well developed pecs, all covered with the same smooth, honey-tinted skin. Finally, he inspected the arms, rounded out with just the right amount of muscle, as they flexed from being stretched up so Ethan could cross them behind his neck to provide a cradle for his head. Then Ethan opened his eyes again.

“Check it, dude ... did you hear that there was a sighting of a shark just outside the bay yesterday?”

“No, I didn’t. Are they sure?”

“Well, there were a couple dudes who claimed they’d seen a shark’s fin moving along the surface of the water. Apparently, they got back to shore as fast as they could, without taking a closer look.”

“So they don’t know for sure.”

“Maybe, but it is true that shark attacks have been getting more frequent lately. Supposedly, it’s being blamed on the depletion of the ocean’s resources by commercial fishing. At least that’s what I heard. But you know what’s weird?”

“What?”

“It used to be that, when someone was attacked by a shark, the shark would just take a test bite, like just to check how they tasted, but then they’d usually just swim off. They say it’s because people aren’t really their preferred food, so they’d just leave when they realized their mistake.”

“Yeah, I heard that too.”

“Anyway ... in the past couple years there’ve been several shark attacks where the victim was eaten entirely. That seems to support the claim that the sharks are being driven to find new sources of food.”

Kai chuckled.

“Or maybe they’ve just developed a more refined taste. Hehe.”

“And then, I don’t know if you’ve heard the case of that surfer in Australia a few years ago ... “

“Which one? There’ve been a few, y’know.”

“Well, in this case, witnesses to the attack claim that, instead of just killing the guy and eating him right away, the shark first spent some time toying with him, kind of like a cat playing with a mouse.”

Kai paused for a moment, looking down with a pensive look on his face.

“It played with him first?” he said with a muted voice. “Hmmm. That’s something that had never occurred to me.”

Then he looked back up at Ethan with a grin.

“So, aren’t you afraid to go in the water now?”

“Not me, dude. Surfing’s my life. Nothing could keep me away. And, like they say, you just have to remember that when you’re out in the ocean, you’re in the shark’s domain, not ours.”

“So you’d be okay with it if one decides to have you for lunch?”

Ethan laughed.

“No, it’s just that you have to take precautions. And, that you have to have the respect for them, like the Hawaiians do.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the Hawaiians even have a legend that sharks sometimes came on land and mate with human women. The offspring were called manokanaka, which means ‘shark man’. According to their folklore, they could change their shape from human to shark when in the ocean.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that too.”

“Say, you said your full name is ‘Kaikane’, right? Isn’t that a Hawaiian name?”

“Right. My mom thought it’d be a good idea for me to have a Hawaiian name. It means ‘strong sea’ or ‘masculine sea’.”

“How did your dad feel about that?”

“Oh, I never met my dad,” Kai chuckled. “Although I have a strong suspicion he must’ve been some sort of lawyer. Hehe.”

Not getting Kai’s private joke, Ethan stood up and smoothed his shaggy, sun-bleached hair with one hand.

“I’d better get moving if I’m going to be in the water for the best waves. You coming?”

“In a little while. Maybe I’ll run into you out there.”

Ethan picked up his surfboard and started walking down to the beach.

“Alright. Later!”

Kai sat for a moment longer, watching the roll of Ethan’s hips as they shifted under the fabric of the board shorts while he walked. Kai licked his lips.

“So it played with the dude first,” he mused. “That’s bitchin!”

Then he shook himself into action. If it was true that low tide was the best time for finding good waves, then, by that very fact, it was also true that it was the best time for finding a wide selection of surfer dudes gathered in one place. He jumped to his feet and hurried off, but in the opposite direction.

Instead, he made his way a couple hundred yards down the road. Then he clambered down a short, rocky escarpment to a small cove that was hidden from view above by some dense underbrush and only accessible by climbing down the rocks. Once he reached the water’s edge, he lowered himself into it with a sigh of content. At first he just let the water buoy him up as he soaked in its life-giving force. Truly, here was where he was in his element. Over the next few minutes, he felt himself not just growing in size, but also growing in strength and force. As his senses grew more acute, he began to perceive even faint, distant smells and, finally, the tip of his snout began to tingle as its electroreceptor cells were stimulated by the tiny electric signals being emitted by nearby fish. At last, when he sensed that he was at peak strength, he ducked all the way into the salty water. As usual, there was a split second when he had to briefly gasp for breath until, with a strenuous shake of his muscular tail, he propelled himself forward, causing water to flow through his gills, thus supplying him with its abundance of dissolved oxygen.

As he cruised through the water several yards below the surface, Kai savored the sensation of being enveloped in the warm, marine environment. His electric sense was stimulated by the periodic tingle generated by nearby fish, but he was hunting for something more substantial. Finally, as he neared the area frequented by surfers, he was able to sense a stronger electric field at the same time as a young dude’s aroma was becoming more clearly distinguishable to his olfactory sense. Hungrily looking up, he could perceive the surface of the water. Against the background of the sunlight being dappled by the motion of the waves, he was able to discern the elliptical shadow of a surfboard. And, what he saw had him amped. There were two legs dangling down into the water on either side. When Kai recognized the floral patterned board shorts clothing those thighs, he immediately began to salivate. Since his eyes were now on the sides of his head, instead of aiming for the board by vision, he had to rely on his electrical sense to hone in on his prey as he gathered his energy into one burst and rocketed toward the shadow on the water’s surface.

Straddling his surfboard, Ethan had been resting on the calm water while waiting for the next big wave. Then, without warning, something suddenly crashed into him from below, sending him and his board somersaulting into the air. After he plopped back in the water and fought his to the surface again, sputtering for air, he suddenly felt a chill in the pit of his stomach at the sight of a shark fin passing within a few feet of him.

“Okay, now for some fun,” Kai thought.

At first, he just swam alongside Ethan, casually bumping into his side each time he moved past. That was enough to shake Ethan out of his first shock, and he started trying to frantically swim away.

“Might as well have a little taste test first.”

Kai dipped below the surface and grabbed one of Ethan’s thighs in his jaws in a vise-like grip. As he dived further down, dragging Ethan along with him, his mouth was filled with the flavor of young male flesh caused by Ethan’s smooth skin rubbing against his taste glands as he twisted and turned in a desperate attempt to break loose. When Kai could sense that Ethan wouldn’t be able to hold his breath any longer, he let him loose and Ethan swam back to the surface as quickly as he could. Then he started trying to swim away again.

Kai felt an impulse to look Ethan in the eye. He was curious to see for himself exactly how Ethan was reacting to the realization that he was about to be devoured. As Ethan was paddling, Kai passed directly in front of him, blocking his way, which gave him an opportunity to take a close look out of the eye facing Ethan. For one brief second, they were looking right into each other’s eyes. Panting from exertion and terror, Ethan could only stare back at Kai through the long bangs plastered by the water covering his eyes, which were wide open in panic.

“The dude actually looks rather darling with that panic stricken face,” Kai thought.

He was really beginning to enjoy this game and was even beginning to feel rather fond of his prey. He swam past Ethan, then turned around and bumped into him again. Fueled by a burst of adrenalin, Ethan wildly smacked him on the snout with one hand.

“Ouch! That really smarts!”

Kai had never realized how sensitive the tip of his nose was.

“But right on, Ethan! Show me how much fight you’ve got in you.”

Kai dived below the surface again and came up underneath Ethan, who was vigorously paddling away. He grabbed Ethan in his jaws around the torso and lifted him above the water. It felt so good to feel his mouth full of the soft, warm, twisting body, as he shook Ethan about by rocking his head swiftly back and forth. Panting for breath, Ethan was flailing with his arms and legs, trying to land another punch, but he was only able to make contact with the tougher hide on the side of the head and Kai hardly even noticed it. Then, with a toss of his head, he launched Ethan into air again. Ethan landed back in the water with a splash and, once he’d reached the surface again, started trying to escape once more, his heart pounding in fear. In the meantime, Kai was easily keeping pace and swimming in circles around him.

“I’ve got to hand it to him,” Kai thought. “I’m bigger than him, stronger than him and faster than him. He has to know deep down that it’s hopeless and it’s just a matter of time before he’ll be gobbled up. But he keeps on trying to get away anyway, as if there was any chance of that ever happening.”

Over the next few minutes, Kai continued to play with Ethan, as if he was some sort of toy. Sometimes he’d bump into him; sometimes he’d grab him and shake him around; sometimes he’d toss him in the air and sometimes he’d drag him below the surface. Once he even surfaced just beneath Ethan, so that Ethan was lying sprawled on his back for a moment before he dived again. However, as time went on, Ethan started to run out of steam. His attempts at punching Kai grew weaker and weaker. Whereas at first he’d been able to swim with vigorous strokes while trying to escape, eventually the adrenaline wasn’t enough to keep him going and he was just ineffectually floundering about. Now that he wasn’t able to put up as much of a fight, playing with him wasn’t as much fun.

“C’mon, broskie! Don’t give up already!”

But Ethan clearly was beat down.

Besides, Kai was beginning to feel somewhat intoxicated. Although, in order to keep the game from ending too quickly, he’d tried to be relatively gentle, by shark standards, and do as little initial damage as possible, it hadn’t been possible to avoid the occasional scratch or cut from his razor-sharp teeth. Like all his kind, the smell of even a tiny amount of blood was almost like a drug for him. And, if it was beginning to whip him into a frenzy, the smell was probably also being detected by his more dim-witted cousins in the vicinity, who’d soon start crowding in trying to snatch their share of the food. It was time to stop playing and start eating.

Once again, he grabbed Ethan around the torso. In his mouth, he could feel the heaving of Ethan’s flanks as Ethan panted for air out of sheer exhaustion, even as he kept on feebly struggling. Then he tossed Ethan into the air one last time. Ethan turned a somersault in mid-air and fell back down, head first. The last sight that met his eyes was a gaping maw lined with dagger-like teeth, poised to engulf him. His last sensation was that of clammy esophageal muscles tightly constricting about his torso before he was sucked inexorably down into darkness and unconsciousness.

Kai took a big gulp and, as Ethan was rubbing against the sides of his throat while continuing to squirm even as he was being gulped down, Kai’s throat was filled with the delicious taste of surfer dude, his favorite food. Kai took a moment to savor the flavor lingering in his mouth, before cruising back into the ocean depths. All in the all, this was one of the most satisfying meals he’d had in a long time.

After making his way back to the shelter of his hidden cove, Kai swam leisurely about in circles while he was digesting Ethan. He could feel himself getting smaller and eventually just floated on his back, with his head above water, after his gills had disappeared. Over the next couple hours, he just floated on the surface, eyes closed in contentment, as he continued digesting his stomach full of surfer.

Finally, he got out of the water, flexed his arms and legs in a big stretch, and climbed back up the rocks to the roadway. Still feeling repleted even after most of his meal had been digested, he sauntered down the road back in the direction of the beach. As he was getting closer, he could detect the sounds of a commotion. In the distance, the flashing lights of a squad car could be discerned. He was going to keep going, but was intercepted by a shaggy-haired young man carrying a surfboard who had crossed his path walking in the opposite direction.

“No point going down to the beach today. It’s been closed. No one can go in the water.”

“I can’t go in the water now anyway; I just ate a big meal. But why? What happened?”

“There just was a shark attack.”

“Really? Did you see it?”

“Dude, it was insane. A shark was actually tossing a surfer around like he was just a plaything. It must have lasted for several minutes. I hear they haven’t found a body yet, just his surfboard, so they think it must have eaten him. Man! What a way to go!”

“Word! I think I’ll go check it out.”

Kai paused to give the new surfer a closer look. He liked what he saw. The dude would make an excellent dinner candidate.

“So . . . I don’t remember seeing you before. Did you just get here?”

“Yeah, what a bummer! My first day on the beach and it’s closed. Hopefully it’ll be open again tomorrow and I can get some surfing in.”

“Well, I sure hope you’ll make it into the water tomorrow. Later!”

Kai turned to head back toward the beach, while the surfer continued on his way. However, after a few yards, he turned around again, in order to give the surfer’s edibility another appraisal as viewed from behind. The surfer must have felt that eyes were on him, since he also turned around and glanced back. Kai waved ‘so long’ with a big smile. As the surfer went his way, he didn’t understand why, for some reason, that smile made him uncomfortable.    

That big, toothy smile.

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29.06.14