Fig of Hell

In the old village in the tropics lived an old woman and her granddaughter, Maria. Everyday, while Grandmother washed clothes at the well near the bay, Maria would go for a swim and explore the deep wide ocean.

While she was underwater she saw all sorts of creatures. 

She swam with the group of warrior porpoises with rounded snouts and huge dorsal fins that moved tremendous swaths of water with their tails.

She lept with the dolphins, and did tricks with the seals. She smoothly slothed with the sea lions.

All the animals loved her.  All except a guppy named Fig.

Fig loathed the fact that Maria could swim so carefree. He hated that she had such a gentle manner that even the surly crabs blushed and cooed around her. He especially could not stand the girl's speedy swimming.

"What right does this earth walker have to be faster than I," the little fish cried, every time the girl zoomed by him, laughing mirthfully with a giant squid, or an ugly octopus.

“How dare she do as she likes," Fig often muttered to himself, envying the fact that even the sharks let her hang with them. The guppy never socialized with the sharks; one wrong word could mean death.

One day, Maria approached the guppy.

“Hello Mr. Guppy," Maria said with a brilliant smile, "Would you like to play?"

Fig was transfixed. He had never been asked by the girl to play.

Before he knew it, he was rifling through the ocean faster than he ever had, with the girl at his side, laughing, singing and having more fun than he had ever had before.

He had never felt to free, so open, so fresh... so young. When they heard Grandmother call for young Maria, Guppy suddenly knew that he had to have her to himself. He had never been so alive.

“Maria," said the fish, “won't you play with me tomorrow? We can swim and laugh and carry on as we did today."

The girl tossed her head back and laughed.

“I haven't a clue who I'll hang out with tomorrow, but it will certainly be someone new. I'm sorry, dear fish, today was fun, but there are so many more creatures to meet!"

Fig could feel the rage of rejection build in his heart and his jealousy knew no bound. He hid it, though, behind a sad smile.

“Maria, I didn't want you to know but I must be frank with you. I saw jellyfish laughing at you yesterday. The whales think it's weird that you have no fins, and the coral find you dull. The sea horses believe you move too fast and the dolphins think you slow. Now there are many many things out in the sea, this is true enough. But there are few things that you'll find that love you as I do. "

He had expected her to embrace him. Thank him for illuminating the deep ocean for her. Promise that she would always be by his side. Pledge her undying adoration for him.

He was surprised when tears filled Maria's eyes. Without a word, she turned from him and swam away. She did not wave at the porpoises that blew kisses at her. She avoided the sea urchin's lopsided grin. She seemed not to hear the plankton's  excited chants. 

She did not come back the next day, nor the next day after that, nor the day after that and the sea creatures were crestfallen  and devastated for awhile. As with all things though, time marched on and on, erasing the angels and demons of yesteryear. 

Shortly, the old village was supplanted by an enormous resort, and many of the things that Maria had loved were fished and overfished, snuffed out by man's overreaching arm. Those creatures that could leave did. 

The Guppy remained though. He waited and waited.  And waited and waited.  He ate little, slept less, and hung on to life by a thread. Hope sustained him.

Then one night he had a dream. In it he chased the young Maria. He swam as hard has he could as she glided  past the porpoises and the sharks. He struggled mightily to keep up with her impossible speed as she  bulleted by  the coral and the sea horses and the manatees.   His tail and fins burned in exhaustion as he trailed her past the stingrays and the jellyfish and the swordfish and the lobsters and the crabs and the seals and the squid and octopi, and onward and and onward and onward. Finally, he found himself in a vast and brilliant part of the sea he had never before traversed. It was resplendent and full of life. It was majestic.  

Hell never looked grander to Fig. Maria was nowhere to be found.