Predators and Prejudices

Emily had to admit, the view was spectacular. The pool area of her resort overlooked the beach across the street and she watched as the waves crashed at regular intervals. She sat there with her coffee, enjoying the solitude. The sun lit up the sky in citrus hues and, for now, it was just for her alone.

She’d been reluctant to go through with this trip. It was originally booked as a romantic getaway with her ex. Her friend Sharon talked her into going. It would be good, she said, to get a change of scenery.

But sometimes she’d look out at the scenery and imagine Lou running along the beach with the woman she’d caught him with. These stupid montages in her thoughts were in slow motion with subtle instrumental music playing in the background. Louis would be wearing an open button-down shirt that flowed in the breeze as he ran. She pictured him turning his head to give a sappy smile to the Panera Bread cashier who, in Emily’s imagining, would still be in her Panera uniform, for some reason.

The whole image was ridiculous, she chastised herself. Louis wouldn't be caught dead running.

They broke up more than a month ago. Emily knew she was better off without the man who was a terrible liar and barely contributed to expenses. She hated her memory for steering her thoughts toward the good moments and happier times.

She remembered how they met, at a concert. Louis said he didn’t think she was having a good time; she seemed far too serious. He told her he’d been assigned to the event to make her laugh. She fell for that mischievous smile right away.

Emily thought she finally met someone who “got her”. They were interested in the same things and he didn’t feel the need to talk all the time. He even moved in, briefly thank goodness. She might still miss him but at least she had her privacy back.

Since resuming her spinster status, her well-meaning friends made joking references to her crazy cat lady persona because she had a few felines. With Louis, they’d seen a glimmer of ‘normalcy’ in their private friend. Now, ever since the break-up, her friends and coworkers pointed out men for her. She didn’t understand the obsession partnered people had in paring up all the single people. Emily was OK being alone.

As she looked out towards the ocean, she noticed a taxi stopping in front of the hotel. Her friend Sharon got out. Sharon was the Lou replacement on this trip. Last night, Sharon met a guy named Joe at the bar, and apparently, things worked out well. (Or, maybe the early morning arrival meant the opposite, Emily couldn't be sure.)

Sharon looked up and saw Emily and waved excitedly. Emily knew, by the way she ran into the hotel, her quiet morning would be ending in three to five minutes. Emily braced herself for the explicit details she knew were coming.

Sharon was a fun friend to have. She was comfortable in her skin, seemed to be perpetually happy, and loved an adventure. She was also one of the only people who wasn’t encouraging her to date (”You need time to heal, girl!”). It was Sharon who encouraged Emily to continue with the trip (“It’s on his credit card, consider this the rent he never paid you.”) and she had a pragmatic side too (“If the trip doesn’t get refunded it’s less money being spent at Panera.”).

Sharon seemed very giddy.

“Get ready, Emily,” she said. “A van will be here in an hour to pick us up. We’re going scuba diving!”

“Scuba?” Emily asked. “I’m not certified.”

“Neither am I. But Joe’s an instructor. He’s taking us on a supervised dive!”

“I don’t know,” said Emily. But she did know. She wasn’t interested in being a third wheel. “Why don’t just the two of you go?”

“Oh, come on, you’ll love it,” she said. “Plus, it’s not a good idea for us to do these things alone with strangers. I mean, I’m sure I could take him, if, you know, anything happened.” She gave a wink and laughed.

She did have a point about going out on a boat with a stranger. Emily also didn’t have the energy to protest against the enthusiastic woman who was riding on the high of an orgasm. She knew she wouldn't leave her alone until she talked her into it. She reluctantly agreed.

Two hours later they were on a boat cruising across the Atlantic. Joe was going through his Scuba for Dummies tutorial. Emily got creepy vibes from the boat operator who gave her a big smile whenever she glanced in his direction. She was also uncomfortable watching the secret couple-language Sharon and Joe had already developed. Did she and Louis do this? Probably. Maybe. It was hard to remember.

Joe was certainly good-looking, charming too. He gave off that confidence vibe that’s far sexier than a lean body and an attractive face. Sharon had scored on this getaway, thought Emily. She was happy for her.

Soon the three of them put on their gear and fell backward into the ocean. She probably annoyed Joe by having him show her how to un-fog her mask several times but soon Emily got the hang of it and started enjoying the experience.

The water wasn’t that clear and everything they saw had a dark haze. It almost seemed like the haunted version of the crystal-clear waterscape they show in videos advertising scuba. Emily actually preferred this to the Caribbean diving experience on the education materials Joe had used. It felt more like a treasure hunt. You could focus on what was around you instead of being overwhelmed with colossal technicolor surroundings.

Joe’s initial game plan seemed to be to allow the women to swim ahead while he followed directly behind. But Emily sometimes turned around to find that she was an appreciable distance away from the only certified diver, as he was frequently horsing around with her Lou replacement.

Emily’s high opinion of Joe was waning. It was one thing to feel like an intruder on their new ocean romance but, for crying out loud, this was a safety concern. Emily felt a little neglected swimming around them as they touched and wrapped themselves around each other. She was getting ready to write a sternly worded admonishment on the whiteboard Joe had brought down when she saw the shark.

Emily took the whiteboard and instead wrote simply, “Shark”.

It wasn’t that easy to see the animal in the foggy water ahead but the shape was unmistakable. Joe had told them they might see one. Emily wished they’d brought a camera.

She turned to look at Joe and saw a look of terror under his mask. Sharon was panicked as well. Emily glanced back at the shark and saw that it was rather large and seemed to look an awful lot like a great white, the ‘man-eater’.

What were they supposed to do in this situation? Joe hadn’t gone over that on the boat.

The large fish seemed to be coming closer to them. Emily knew she should have been terrified. Joe and Sharon certainly were. But Emily wasn’t.

The great white shark seemed graceful and serene gliding effortlessly through the water with a subtle effort of his tail. Emily was mesmerized by his incredible presence and his blasé attitude towards the visitors in his territory that he most definitely saw but was unconcerned with. The shark had a bit of that Joe-confidence-vibe in that he was very comfortable handling anything that came his way. She loved his solitary nature and how his attitude reflected an appearance of being unbothered by the opinions of others.

As the shark glided by even closer, Emily could see that his silvery skin was covered in scars. She knew they lived a long time and thought this guy probably had some interesting stories to tell. She also felt that his darting eyes gave him the appearance that he had things on his mind that he was working out in his head.

One thing the shark wasn’t doing was the chattering mouth thing she’d seen on television. She remembered it because it reminded her of the way her cats uncontrollably chattered when they wanted to murder the birds outside the window. It was more concerning if the shark was doing it since it meant the same thing, except they weren’t interested in birds, usually.

The more Emily thought about it, the shark was less of a predator than her cats who would gladly massacre songbirds on a full stomach. But the shark wasn’t interested in killing the trio for the sake of killing something. He traveled alone and the risk involved in going after these large creatures indiscriminately was too dangerous for him to take if he didn’t need to eat.

She thought the hysteria and fright these amazing animals inspired was based on misunderstanding and fear stoked by a scary movie made decades ago. These sharks were definitely dangerous and intimidating, but not mindless killing machines.

Emily watched as the shark continued on his journey, peacefully gliding by, doing calculations in his head. She now thought better of this excursion she hadn’t wanted to go on. What an amazing experience this was!

Emily looked around the thick blueness for Sharon and Joe but she didn’t see them. Had they abandoned her? Again?

She swam around the vicinity a bit before she found the two of them cowering in a corner of the reef. Emily was furious but she could also see they were frozen in terror. The shark was long gone and they still refused to move.

A slight movement in the distance caught Emily’s eye. As it came closer, she could see it was a diver. People aren’t supposed to dive alone, she remembered that clearly from Joe’s abridged scuba class.

The diver turned out to be Miguel, the boat captain. He had seen the great shark from the top of the water and was worried about the three of them. He didn’t bring any weapons or anything to distract the animal so it was hard to discern what his game plan was. But he was worried enough to come down and check on them.

He later told them he knew where to find them because Joe always took the same route around the same reef. Miguel and Emily spoke about the shark at length, both of them in awe of seeing the fascinating creature. Sharon and Joe remained shell-shocked for the entire boat ride, not saying a word to anyone or each other.

Emily had misjudged the boat captain. He seemed to be a genuinely caring and selfless individual. She severely overestimated Joe’s caliber as well. What could she say about Sharon? She was the confident one, the fearless one. Perhaps, not so much. All of them were individuals with flaws and admirable qualities, some with more of one than the other. Like the complex animal they had encountered, none of them deserved a simplistic delineation. There had been far too many incorrect first impressions, labels, and assumptions made lately.