Читать книгу Half-Minute Horrors - Литагент HarperCollins USD - Страница 20

SARAH WEEKS

One of a Kind

When I felt the first tug, I knew I had something big on the line.

“Ka-ching!” I thought.

People pay big bucks for fresh tuna, and big bucks was exactly what I needed. I’d spent a wad on Gloria’s engagement ring—way more than I could afford—but love makes a man do crazy things sometimes.

“One of a kind,” the guy at the jewelry store had told me when he showed me the diamond ring.

“Perfect,” I said, “’cause that’s what my Gloria is. One of a kind.”

It took me a good half hour to reel in the fish. It put up quite a fight. But when it finally broke the surface of the water, my heart sank.

“Mako,” I said when I saw the gray fin.

Shark meat wouldn’t bring in nearly as much as tuna, but I pulled the fish into the boat anyway. After stomping on the head a couple of times with my boot heel to stun it, I took a knife and starting at the throat, sliced downward, opening up the gut. The usual fish heads and stomach juice spilled out onto the deck, but then something sparkled and caught my eye. There amid the slimy stomach contents lay a hand, a woman’s left hand, and on the second finger was a ring. It was one of a kind.