A beautiful fish

Dhekelia
Cyprus
Early 1980s

Once I found a dead sea bream on the pebbled beach of Fisherman's Cove.

Glistening silver in the bright Mediterranean sunshine. A beautiful fish. An elusive one that I had never caught in the shallow waters off that little pier.

I went to that shop where a Cypriot man used to sell sweets and other things. Cypriot style 'Mars bars'. What were they called now?

I showed him the fish and asked him if he wanted to buy it! Cheeky me. He looked interested, eyeing its silvery skin.

He reached into the till and gave me… a measly 10p or thereabouts! I probably got a little Mars bar thing. And left.

One day I went back to the shop.

He looked at me suspiciously.

'Where did you get that fish?' he asked

'Caught it' I said

'Because it tasted of petrol' he said!

My mind saw the oil tankers I often spotted on the distant horizon.

My heart beat faster. I turned around and left as soon as I could, feeling guilty as hell.

That Cypriot shopkeeper just knew what I had done!