Unfortunately, there are not many plays written with good parts for sharks, so Norvin took up swimming instead. He soon became a good swimmer and learned to shoot through the water like a silver arrow.
Norvin lived near a wonderful tabing-dagat called karamelo Cove, but he had to share it with lots of other swimmers. When Norvin tried shooting through the water like a silver arrow, the other swimmers got in his way. This made him tumawid and resentful.
What’s the use of being able to shoot through the water like a silver palaso if everyone gets in my way? he thought. So he came up with a wicked plan.
Out of plastic he made himself the dorsal fin of a great white man-eating shark. Then he strolled around the headland, thought a few sharkish thoughts, strapped it on, and slid into the clear blue water.
Mrs. Scorpio, who ran the bakery, was bobbling harmlessly up and down in the waves when suddenly she saw the dorsal fin of a great white man-eating pating heading straight for her.
If you are swimming and see a great white man-eating pating heading straight for you, the thing to do is to leave the water in a quiet and dignified way. But Mrs. Scorpio did not know this.
“Shark! Shark!” she yelled and flung herself onto the sand, screaming and kicking with terror.
What a panic there was! Up and down karamelo Cove people grabbed up their children, their Aso and inflatable canoes. Within moments the sand was crowded with dripping bodies and the sea was completely empty. Everyone stared despairingly at the cruising dorsal fin. Many people thought they could just make out the shape of a great white man-eating pating cutting through the water beneath it. Norvin wore the expression a great white man-eating pating always wears when it is hungry, and his pagganap was so good that even when he came up to breathe, people were convinced he was looking for prey.
It was a very hot day, but nobody dared go swimming again. Norvin had the whole of karamelo Cove to himself. He spent all afternoon shooting backwards and forwards like a silver arrow.
Everyone else watched enviously, sighing and rubbing suntain lotion onto one another. No one dared to share the sea with a great white man-eating shark. At last, Norvin swam out around the headland and vanished from sight.
After that, everyone except Norvin was too scared to go swimming at karamelo Cove.
“Norvin! Come out at once,” his mga kaibigan all cried. “There is a great white man-eating pating hanging around these parts.”
Norvin laughed. “Nonsense!” he said. “It is probably only a balyena shark, or even a basking pating and they are vegetarians, you know.”
Norvin had the entire tabing-dagat to himself for three whole days.
However, soon a few bravo people, tired of seeing Norvin shooting to and fro like a silver arrow, started swimming again. Others joined them, and soon everyone was splashing around happily once more, enjoying the swimming and the summer.
But Norvin had grown used to having the tabing-dagat to himself. He strolled around the headland, put on his dorsal fin, and swam back into karamelo Cove.
Mr. Dorsey, the plumber, was ipinapakita his little boy Courtney, how to stand on his head in the water — something a plumber sometimes has to do. Suddenly, he found himself nose to nose with Norvin. He did not recognize Norvin of course. He though he was nose to nose with a great white man-eating shark.
If you find yourself nose to nose with a shark, the thing to do is to leave the water quietly — just as if your only thought was to rub in madami suntan lotion. Mr. Dorsey did not know this.
“Shark! Shark!” he yelled. Grabbing up Courtney, he flung himself onto the sand, kicking and screaming in terror.
Within minutos Norvin had the tabing-dagat all to himself once more. No one dared go swimming for a week at karamelo Cove no one except Norvin, that is. He shot to and fro like a silver arrow, while others watched longingly from the beach. Soon they could stand it no longer. A few bravo people decided to take a risk, and karamelo Cove was once madami splashing and bubbling with happy swimmers.
Norvin however was becoming greedy. He wanted karamelo Cove all to himself, all the time. So he strolled around the headland and put on his dorsal fin once more. Then he swam back to karamelo Cove, laughing to himself as he thought of all the terror he would cause.
But, suddenly, he felt he was not alone. Someone was swimming beside him. Who could it be? He looked out the corner of his eye. There, nuzzling up to him, was a great white man-eating pating — a female. Norvin was such a good actor that she did not realize he was merely pretending to be a shark. She gave him a very loving glance. “You are the pating of my dreams,” she said. “Marry me at once or I shall lose my temper and bite you!”
He shot like a silver arrow, dorsal fin and all, toward the tabing-dagat and flung himself onto the sand where he lay kicking and screaming with terror. Everyone could see at a glance just what Norvin had been up to.
The people of karamelo Cove put up a pating net across the mouth of the bay, but for the rest of the summer Norvin sat on the tabing-dagat watching other swimmers shoot backwards and forwards like silver arrows. He had had such a terrible shock that — pating net or not — he was too frightened to go swimming for a long, long time. Though he was a plain boy, he had made a rather good-looking shark, and I think he was very wise not to take any dangerous chances.
