By shifting his weight on the board he
zigzagged up and down the height of the wave. At the end of his ride, he
skillfully turned the front of his board into the wave and kept his balance as
the wave passed. In the trough which followed he lay down and propelled himself
back to his friends.
"Adam," one of his companions shouted, pointing, "look at
what's coming towards you!" His friends dug their arms into the water
and paddled frantically away from Adam toward the shore.
Adam turned to look in the direction his friend had pointed - and froze.
Swimming directly for him was a shark whose large dorsal fin projected out
of the water. There wasn't time to flee. Within moments he could see the
shark's cold unfeeling eyes and he recognized it as a tiger shark. He had
seen many of them hanging on wharves, caught by fishermen. There was a mad
rush of water as the shark, swimming swiftly, neared him. The whole length of shark's body broke the surface and the great jaws opened,
revealing rows of massive, triangular teeth. Adam didn't have time to think;
he only had time to react. At the last second Adam rolled off his board into
the water. The teeth of the shark clamped down on the board with a loud
crunch. The board snapped in its bite.
The slow-witted shark realized that it wasn't the board it wanted, and
began to circle around Adam in the water. "It's twelve feet at
least," Adam thought to himself as he watched it circle him. With a
flick of its tail, the shark turned and darted towards its prey. Adam felt a
deep pain in his side as a piece of his flesh was torn away. Wounded, Adam
knew he didn't have the strength to resist another attack. Hopeless and
helpless to defend himself, he watched the circling shark.