“Yes,”the old man said.He was holding his glass and thinking of many years ago.
“But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?”
“Perico gave it to me at the bodega,”he explained.
“What do you have to eat?”the boy asked.
“That's easy. I can always borrow two dollars and a half.”
“No,”the boy said.“But I will see something that he cannot see such as a bird working and get him to come out after dolphin.”
“I'll get the cast net and go for sardines.Will you sit in the sun in the doorway?”
The boy did not know whether yesterday's paper was a fiction too.But the old man brought it out from under the bed.
“I go now for the sardines,”the boy said.
“Can I go out to get sardines for you for tomorrow?”“No.Go and play baseball.I can still row and Rogelio will throw the net.”
“I fear both the Tigers of Detroit and the Indians of Cleveland.
“A pot of yellow rice with fish.Do you want some?”
When the wind was in the east a smell came across the harbor from the shark factory;but today there was only the faint edge of the odor because the wind had backed into the north and then dropped off and it was pleasant and sunny on the Terrace.
“I'll be back when I have the sardines.I'll keep yours and mine together on ice and we can share them in the morning. When I come back you can tell me about the baseball.”