Fiction. A Walk along the Sands

A Walk along the Beach.
Robert and Alan Larsen were cousins, also partners in a very successful prawn trawler business and had just invested in a second boat. They were hard workers and had an even harder social life, spending a lot of their spare time at the local Wharf Pub.
One night while both were well on the way to a drunken state an argument which was unusual for them, all about an acquaintance of theirs, Mary Robinson who Robert had taken out a few times and he just found out that Alan was also doing his best to persuade Mary to come to dinner with him next time the boat came in again. Robert had a jealous streak about him and accused his cousin of trying to steal his girl. Alan tried to convince Robert that she was not a serious girlfriend of either of them and it would be up to her to choose who she goes out with.
The argument carried on into the next day and made life very uncomfortable with the two members of their crew. On the way out to the prawn beds, the crew tried to sort out the two of them but as the day progressed the tempers had built up to life threats. Finally Robert told Alan they should fight for the girl in an old fashioned duel.
The trawler was stopped, anchor set and each cousin looked around for a suitable weapon. Robert found a long handled knife used for cutting away debris from the prawn nets, Alan settled on the heavy, razor sharp knife used for filleting fish.
The cousins were presently involved in settling their differences with an old fashioned duel, yelling out abuse and threatening to fight to the end. The two crew members shouted encouragement, as this was some excitement from their boring lives on a prawn trawler. The knives glistened in the sun as each cousin tried to make contact, frenzy was building up and tempers increased, before long Robert managed a well-planted slash on Alan’s forearm and blood oozed from the wound. The pain had increased Alan’s rage of temper and using all his strength took a swift sideways aim towards his cousin’s head. Soon there was blood gushing from Robert’s throat and he fell to the deck clutching the wound and screaming with pain but soon he was silent and became very still and limp.
Alan had a look of terror on his face and started into an hysterical scream as he looked down on his cousin.
The two crew members eventually calm Alan down and told him he had killed Robert in self-defence and the best thing to do was to toss his body overboard and hope the ocean would banish all evidence. They suggested that it would be best if they just carried on fishing and arrive into port at the usual time and promised not to breath a word to anyone.
Included in my daily activities is a walk along one of our lovely beaches on the Sunshine Coast.
As usual this morning was a particularly beautiful sunny and calm one with the waves breaking on the beach at half tide.
There were not very many people around at 6.30 am and I felt the whole sandy expanse belonged to me. There were a few prawn boats anchored near the entrance to the harbour, a container ship on the horizon plus a passenger jet taking off from the local airport. The crows were making their early morning noise among the Casuarina trees.
Suddenly I felt cold and started to shiver, no reason for this on such a beautiful warm morning. The next moment I was cast in a state of shock as I noticed a partly exposed bundle of dark clothes, on a closer examination I soon realised there was a human being inside the tattered remains.
What to do about my find raced through my brain, if I leave the scene the body could be taken out to sea on the next tide and I wasn’t very happy about pulling the remains further up the beach. Different thoughts raced through my mind and the obvious answer was to use my mobile phone to ring the police.
I was told to stand guard over the body till they arrived, still no one else on the beach to share the horror of my find so I kept watch for what seemed an age, finally the police appeared on the beach in two four wheel drive vans and soon there was an abundance of equipment and officers everywhere. I thought I would be able to leave the sordid scene and scurry home for a strong cup of coffee but I was told to stick around for a statement.
The body was turned over onto it’s back, put on a stretcher, there were cuts and abrasions all over it’s face and hands, and what looked like a sharp cut across the throat. This is something I sure didn’t want to view and was pleased when after a further search of the beach area I was asked to come to the police station with them.
I retold my story again and was asked to sign the statement.
A week went by, the police were kept busy with interviews and I was asked twice more to repeat some of my statement One night I had a very unusual phone call from Mary Robinson, whom I had worked with about five years ago, unknown to me she was the girl who was friendly with the dead man whom I had found on the beach and had been interviewed by the police. She had a fear that something was wrong with the finding of Roberts body and Alan was always ringing her, trying to persuade her not to mention too much about the arguments between the cousins, maybe he would try to keep her quiet under force.
It took another week before the police made an announcement that they had arrested Alan and charged him with murder; the crew members were also detained and charged with helping to dispose of the body. The news media had stated one of the crew had decided to give a full account of the whole sordid affair.
Alan was sent for trial and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, the two crew members were also found guilty of assisting to dispose of the body and each received ten year jail sentence.
This experience was almost enough to put me off walking the beach for my daily exercises, hopefully the chance of a further horrible findings will be very minor and not spoil something I love doing. Maybe I might find a pirates chest full of precious jewels?