“Why are you doing that?”
“Training.”
“What are you training for?”
“Revenge.”
The old man tsked, and shook his head, and looped another coil of rope around his strong, naked arm. “Do you see the muscles here?” he asked, indicating his strong shoulders.
“Yes,” the boy said, though from where he stood on the boat’s roof, his grandfather’s shoulder was hard to see.
“Do you know how I got these muscles?” the old man asked.
“Being a soldier,” said the boy. His arms were like sticks, and when he moved from one position to the next, his leg shook.
“From being a soldier,” the old man agreed. “And do you know why I have these muscles now?”
The boy pondered the question. The simple answer – from being a fisherman – was no doubt not what his grandfather would want. “Feeding your family,” he said.
“From feeding my family,” the old man agreed.
Pleased, the boy jumped down from the boat, coming towards where the old man stood. The rope was coiled now, and as the old man placed it into the boy’s arms the child bowed from the weight of it. He struggled – stumbled, and dropped the rope. The careful coils spilled across the worn boards of the dock.
The boy cried out, and dropped his head into his hands with a wail. But when he lifted it a moment later, still sniffling, he saw that the old man was smiling; and looping a coil of rope around his strong, naked arm.
“You aren’t angry,” the boy said in surprise.
“Why would I be angry?” the old man asked. “Come here.”
The boy came, and carefully the old man laid the rope across the boy’s shoulders. He showed him how to gather the heavy coils, how to balance its weight against his body so he would not drop it.
“Do you understand?” the old man asked the boy.
“No,” he said.
The old man kissed the child’s head and smiled. “I know. But finish your training – and you will.”
And the old man stepped away, and watched as the boy slowly coiled the rope around his arm.
Photograph by Sarah Monks. Sarah is a multi-talented world wanderer, who took this photograph while traveling through Asia.