‘Hey man did you see that whale?’
Ahab turned around.
The sea was blue, bluer than the bluest blueberry, deep as a hole.
‘No’, said Captain Ahab
‘It was magisterial, like nothing you ever seen. It had a peculiar snow-white wrinkled forehead, and a high, pyramidical white hump. It must’ve been 90ft long!’ his crewmember Ishmael exclaimed.
‘Huh’, said Ahab.
He looked back out to sea, and reached down to scratch his knee, just above his prosthetic leg made of a bone.
‘Wasn’t it a whale just like that that took your leg?’ Pondered Ishmael.
‘Probably’ said Ahab.
‘Well don’t you fancy some revenge, seeing as we’re a whaling ship and all?’ Proposed Ishmael.
‘Nah’ said Ahab, who promptly turned around and hobbled back into his cabin.
The boat rocked and groaned in unison, just before it rocked back the other direction. It did this several more times. But Ahab was used to that, as an experienced seadog. He was in his cabin, doing map calculations. He was plotting a course back to Nantucket, trying to find the quickest way possible, seeing as they had already caught multiple whales and were set to make a tidy profit.
All he really cared about was getting home to his wife and child. But even that he wasn’t overly fussed by, having chosen the wrong profession if spending time with them was his primary concern. No, he was just enjoying the moment, living in the now, taking each day as it came. He saw no reason to set his sights on too lofty a goal, and was never compelled strongly by much of anything. He was a cool customer, always had been, always would be.
And, if one thing was absolutely certain, he wasn’t about to get all het up about some whale. As if the prey were hunting the predator. Quite the morbid thought for, of all people, a whaler.