So no one was surprised, on that bright spring morning long ago, when they saw him racing through the main street of town towards the little bay below.
moved so quickly that it seemed he was almost flying. He spun between two boxes of fish waiting to be gutted by the lovely singing ladies at the top of the market. He grabbed one of the poles that held up old Esther’s fruit stall and vaulted over a huge basket of olives, landing majestically and taking off in one movement. To save time, he sped down a narrow path between outhouses. Suddenly he was horrified to see two tiny children playing happily on the street only yards in front of him. Their mother came out of a nearby house Reveal more and, fearing that Andrew’s thunderous feet would crush them into the dust, let out a scream that could be heard for miles around. At the last moment Andrew shifted his weight to the left and pirouetted into a white sheet hanging from a washing line at the side of the path. Half-blinded, he crashed through a low gate, demolishing it on his way and found himself bewildered, wearing the sheet around his waist, but once more on the main road leading to the bay. The children turned to their mother beaming in admiration.
hared off down the hill. “The fish wait for no man” his grandfather would say with a twinkle in his eye. At the jetty, Andrew’s father Jona, his grandfather Zeb and his brother Simon Peter were getting into their fishing boat. They untied the ropes, used the oars to push off from the wooden jetty. Still running, Andrew kept his eyes on them. He dug his heels into the steep hill that sloped down to the bay. He knew they needed him to work on the boat that day. He knew that they left at seven thirty every morning in spring, summer and autumn, and never a minute past, not for anyone. Andrew desperately wanted to be on that boat, and he reckoned with a little luck he could make it in time if he kept up his speed. He knew he had to chance it - the wood on the jetty was wet and slippery with salt water – one misplaced step and he would crash through the old wood planks or slip and break his neck. Yet there was more chance of falling if he slowed his speed now, so as he made the top of the jetty he kept his nerve even as the fishing boat pulled a few inches away, the oars slicing through the clear green water.
but regained his balance just as he saw his father stand and drop the sail. He fixed his eye on the very last sturdy plank at the end of the jetty, touched it with the front of his right foot and threw himself headlong in one gigantic leap through the air towards the boat… attempted. But at the very moment that he launched himself from the jetty, a huge gust of wind rushed through the bay and filled the sail of the little fishing boat, thrusting it suddenly forward towards the sea. Andrew plunged into the cold waters of the bay with a thunderous splash. Andrew was a fast runner and naturally agile. He thought that he had judged his jump pretty well. The fishermen fixing their nets on the jetty must have thought so too, because as Andrew arced through the air, time seemed to stand still. All the men gasped as one at the sheer bravery and madness of what Andrew had so did Simon Peter, Jona and Zeb. Andrew The fishermen howled with laughter, and was a good sport though. “Oh yes, that’s you!” he bellowed from the water, shaking his fists in mock anger. “One of your own half-drowned and all you can do is laugh like hyenas!”
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