Pet King

Intense heavy metal music reverberated in this old off-road vehicle that had been sold and changed hands many times. Salem nodded his head along with the drum beat and hummed to the tune, anticipating today’s surfing.

Not long ago, he’d learned to surf with his cousin who worked in Alexandria Harbor and immediately became fascinated with this exciting sport. As long as his work allowed it, he would always find time to run to the seaside to practice.

On the outside, he looked quite tanned and like a shy adolescent, but deep inside, he was passionate and rebellious like rock music.

Coming out to surf on his own was a way for him to express the intense emotions that he had suppressed for a long time.

Unlike his fellow tribesmen, he hated deserts and the smell of camels, and he liked the sea, the smell of gasoline, the lifestyle of big cities, the trendy digital equipment, and the foreign girls roaming the streets of big cities.

But his father often had people pass on the message to ask him to go back and take over the family business.

Goodness knows, what sort of family business did he have to take over? It was just a few broken down huts!

It was already the new era. Why did they have to keep holding onto those ancient living traditions?

He rebelled against his father in silence, stayed stubbornly in the Port of Mersa Matruh to work, and was determined to go to Cairo and even other more prosperous places one day to work there.

Surfing was his way of rebelling.

He dared not practice surfing on crowded hot beaches because he knew that his poor skills could hurt people, and he’d feel humiliated if he failed in front of beautiful girls.

The familiar shoreline appeared in front of him. Salem stopped the car and switched off the engine, taking off his jacket and exposing his swimsuit.

He had been to this seaside several times. There were few tourists, and it even had a few cafes and restaurants nearby, but they were not open now. It was a good place for surfing—at least he himself felt that way.

He rushed out of the car and took out the surfboard. He wanted to plunge into the sea immediately, enjoy the gentle embrace and cooling feeling of the water, and enjoy the feeling of conquest of trampling the waves under his feet.

Huh?

He noticed that there was a car parked a little farther away, and there was a man standing there with a parasol beside him. As for the other details, because the distance was too far to see clearly, he could not even see if that person was a man or a woman, but judging from his clothes, it seemed that he was a man.

It turned out that someone had come. It was probably an ordinary tourist. Looking at his clothing, it looked like he did not plan on going to sea. It should not affect Salem’s surfing.

Salem averted his gaze and closed the door, but he just so happened to look into another pair of eyes.

Nearby, in the grass, a black-and-white kitten crouched furtively as if hiding from something.

What beautiful eyes!

Salem was slightly startled. He had seen many cats, but none of them had such silver-gray eyes. For a long time, he seemed to be sucked in by them. It was like lying in the desert, looking up at the stars in the dark sky.

Where had this cat come from? Was it someone else’s cat or a stray cat?

It was a pity that his workplace did not let people keep pets. He really wanted to bring it back and keep it.

He smiled widely, raising his arm to wave at it. “Hello!”

The black and white cat was still staring at him. The man a good distance away thought that Salem was waving at him and also waved his hand.

That was awkward.

Out of politeness, Salem could only wave his hand at the other man.

“Meow!”

The black and white cat softly called out, as sweet as milk rice with ice cream.

He had always missed the milk rice meal he’d had in Alexandria Port. His cousin had treated him to a meal. It was cooked with milk, butter and rice, and they poured ice cream onto it, along with crushed nuts and coconut.

Was he imagining things?

The black and white cat was shaking its head at him, like it was saying, “Don’t.”

Don’t do what?

Don’t go to the sea and surf?

He laughed. How could a cat talk? How could a cat understand the enjoyment of surfing?

“Goodbye. I hope that you will still be here when I get on shore.”

He lowered his head, carrying the surfboard and running towards the sea.

He threw the surfboard into the sea. Jumping onto the surfboard, he rowed towards the middle of the sea.

That familiar feeling came back again, and his excitement in his heart increased even more.

At that moment, he forgot everything else. The tribe, work, girls, dreams, and money were no longer important. He just wanted to surf and conquer the sea, a person and his surfboard!

The wave rose, and the wave fell.

His concentration was high, and his brain flashed with the techniques of surfing. He only had eyes for the wave.

In his eyes, the waves seemed to have a life. They were born at different trajectories, grew strong, aged, and finally broke into pieces and died.

No two waves were exactly the same.

His cousin had praised him and said that he had a lot of talent and learned things very fast. He felt that that was not wrong. He had always been very smart.

The surfboard became an extension of his limbs, rising and falling with him in the water.

Occasionally the bitter sea water that splashed into his mouth made him more excited. The inheritance in his blood was stimulated, and he made a mid-level-difficulty turn while cheering.

He has become more and more familiar with the waves in this area, and after he practiced a few more times, perhaps he could try to go to a public beach and perform in front of beautiful girls.

Surfing time always passed very quickly. If he was extremely focused on surfing, he noticed that the sky seemed to be getting dark when he was paddling. Now it was the period of time with the longest daytime in a year, and it should not end so quickly.

The people in other countries might’ve felt that it was going to rain as their first reaction, but please, this was Egypt!

He glanced westward and saw the towering walls of sand and dust and the dark red in the dusk.

Oh…this was the harmattan wind that was rarely seen in this season.

As a child who’d grown up in the desert, he recognized the name of the storm at a glance and had no fluctuation in his heart, because he was very familiar with the characteristics of the wind. He knew that the harmattan wind was not dangerous, and furthermore, he was at sea and not in the desert.

Should he go back to shore?

Never mind, it was still too early. He would find a slightly calm sea surface and continue surfing until the wind passed. He was not drenched in seawater, and if he went back onshore and was blown by the wind, he would be covered in mud. Getting in the car to seek shelter from the wind with his whole body wet would not be very good. The car was not his, and if he got it dirty, it would be difficult for him to borrow the car next time.

He looked around and suddenly noticed an area of unexpectedly calm waters on the undulating sea not far away.

Actually, he had noticed that area before, but if the sea was too calm, it was impossible to surf, so he’d never gone there before.

The passion and accomplishment he felt from surfing was still in his body. He didn’t think much about why that part of the sea was different, so he lay down on the surfboard and used his limbs to row toward it.