The Day The Crows Flew By (Part 1)

...and this is the 1st part of the story, a brief introduction of the setting and first 3 characters

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The tide beat a hasty retreat as it rescinded to the open sea. A score of casuarina trees lined the shore in this rather remote fishing village 15 miles from Teluk Anting.

Clutching his hands firmly to the side of his small meranti sampan, Ah Kow paused as he waited for his partner, Tan Ah Tit, to get off.

They had just returned from their morning fishing trip.

“Okay! Let’s get this thing on the beach!” hollered Ah Kow

Weather-beaten Ah Kow has been a fisherman all his life and is quite used to the kind of life he leads. He used to say he will never get rich – moreover, what’s the use?

At sixty-two, albeit not the senile sixty-two, Ah Kow is a healthy specimen for a man his age.

“If I have the chance to get rich,” he said as he dragged along his ‘life' – the sampan – towards the beach, “...I’ll make sure that people like us us better boats, outboard motors, better nets!...and we can sell our catch without going through Hor Pek!”

“Don’t you trust him?” Tan Ah Tit asked inquisitively.

“I do! ...in fact ther are only three persons in this world that I I trust ...Hor Pek, you, and my wife. Yes ...only the three of you,” Ah Kow declared.

Tan Ah Tit is two years younger than Ah Kow but with with the varicose so distinct in his forearms and sharp creases over his face and body, Ah Tit looks more like 70.

Hor Pek is a wealthy fish-dealer and middle-man. He would buy the 10 to 15 katis of fishes and shrimps that Ah Kow brings in daily for $15. This amount is then equally shared between Ah Kow and his partner.

“Hor Pek gives us enough for our survival,” said Ah Kow, “...and what more can we ask of him? ...The city folks come only on Sundays and moreover, they are so stingy! They treat us like beggars – sometimes they laugh at our small catch and offer us just $5 for our blood, sweat and tears!”

Phooi! Ah Kow spat to the beach with a grudged spite....

(...more to come)