Flash Fiction #51

Fish skeleton

PHOTO PROMPT © Douglas M. MacIlroy

TEACH A MAN TO FISH

It had been a gorgeous vacation.  They had sunned, surfed and swam.  They had been driven to the observatory on top of a mountain, to see Hawaiian snow, and the stars beyond.

Now their hotel was throwing them a farewell luau.  Bob had heard that they buried an entire pig on a bed of coals beneath the sand.  The Lanakai did something different.  They substituted Mahi Mahi, a local game fish, wrapped in palm leaves and slow-baked.  The feast was exquisite.

It might be back to the grind in Titusville on Monday, but he would remember this all his life.

Go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story.

#462

30 thoughts on “Flash Fiction #51

  1. BrainRants says:

    I’d take the roast pig myself, but I’m sure the fish was awesome.

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    • Archon's Den says:

      The wife tried it at Hyman’s, in Charleston one time, but didn’t like it. I chose something else, so I don’t know.
      The most expensive knife-maker in Canada used to throw a get-together at his house, 50 miles away, on the beach, the weekend of a local show. I got to attend a couple of times. He’d put a half-pig in a big smoker. He’d choose an attending maker to build a knife to cut it up with, then raffle off the knife. I never won, but there were a couple of beauties. 😀

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  2. any1mark66 says:

    That’s one mean mahi mahi! Good read and very different take.

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  3. aFrankAngle says:

    Well done … but (to me) so un-Archonian.

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    • Archon's Den says:

      Don’t tell anyone, ’cause it would put a dent in my online persona but, I am an unabashed, hedonist Pollyanna, always looking to enjoy the simple things in life. I love sunny days, rainbows (now there’s a contradiction) and kitten videos. I could never afford a vacation like this, but I can appreciate it vicariously, by writing about someone else’s. And now back to our regularly scheduled rants and rambles. 😆

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  4. draliman says:

    Sounds like the perfect end to a perfect holiday. I had fish baked in such a way at a wedding in Germany years ago. It was amazing!

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    • Archon's Den says:

      I didn’t even research it. I just assumed that someone must do it this way. 😉
      You had it prepared like this in Germany?? There’s not a lot of palm fronds in Germany. Did they use something else? Corn leaves or husks? I’m glad you got to try it, and enjoyed it. 🙂

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  5. gahlearner says:

    Great story, your description makes your commenters mouths water. I’ll take the fish, please. 🙂

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  6. Stop by, I have a recipe for that Mahi Mahi. 🙂

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    • Archon's Den says:

      I’ll bet you do. As noted in a comment above, the wife tried it but doesn’t like it. It’s a bit expensive for us retirees. The price of Tilapia is coming down locally – at least for frozen. If it drops any more, I’d like to try that. We unexcitingly keep to haddock, occasionally cod, and a bit of fresh salmon when it’s on sale. 😆

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Man I need to take a holiday. You paint such a lovely picture. I can feel the heat from the coals, partaking in the feast late into the night whilst drinking cocktails on the beach with the woman I love. Reminds me of my brothers wedding in Sri Lanka when we had the wedding breakfast on the beach under the stars, followed by my wife and I having a romantic meal in a tree-house overlooking the beach the night after. Thank you for re-conjuring this image for me.

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  8. Sightsnbytes says:

    nice take on the photo….now I am starving for some roast pig…

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  9. Taygibay says:

    Swam, really? Not swimmer?
    But that’s just for your rant collection, the piece is fine, Tay.

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    • Taygibay says:

      Flocking auot-spell checker : swimmeD! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

    • Archon's Den says:

      I’m glad you enjoyed the piece, however, grammatically, only ‘had sunned’ is past participle. ‘Surfed’ and ‘swam’ are simple past tense verbs, therefore ‘swam’ is correct usage. I did it that way, both for brevity, to fit the 100-word limit, and for vernacular clarity.
      Even if the final two verbs were read as past participles, the correct form would not be swimmer, nor swimmed, nor even swimmeD. It would be ‘swum’, or so my “auot-spell checker” insists. 😛

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  10. R. Todd says:

    Titusville? Florida? I know that town, just a few miles up the coast from me (miles.. hours.. same thing right?)

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    • Archon's Den says:

      I went to the observatory in this Flash Fiction, although my character was from Chicago. The Titusville I dragged into this post is in Pennsylvania, and the home of one of the knives I posted about owning.
      The FL version is just over on the Atlantic coast from where my parents and brother used to winter in Davenport. I’m guessing Miami area for you, because ‘several hours’ south of Tville is in Cuba. 😳

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  11. mjlstories says:

    This was kind of lovely, a vacation in itself.
    Reading the swim, swam, swummed stuff.
    We say dived in the UK instead of dove. Read Scott Fitzgerald in my teens and couldn’t get what this ‘dove’ (as in white bird?) into the pool was all about. Although we do say drove, as in I drove to the beach and dived into the waves whereas…
    Nice Story!

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    • Archon's Den says:

      I’m glad you enjoyed my feast. The comments can sometimes be just as entertaining. I think someone got swim-swammed. I had a ‘discussion’ once with a commenter about smelled/ smelt, and kneeled/knelt. I think I have to go back up and give someone else a grammar lesson. 😳

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  12. Margaret says:

    A wonderfully evocative piece. A feast for the senses. It’s a shame that the daily grind calls us all back to reality – way too soon.

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  13. I’m with you on the food, but I’ve eaten a lot of fish and enjoyed all kinds. I hope I never meet a fish that looks like the picture with flesh on it. 🙂 — Suzanne

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