The legend of Sharky
A lot of people think they know the story
of the legend of Sharky, but they don’t. what they know is drips
and drabs and figments and fictions. Most of these tell you more
about the teller then about what the story is really about. But
that’s just the way it is.
Maybe it’s a story better never
completely told. You know, a wise man once said, “We get all the
truth we can stand and the rest, that which we are unprepared to
believe – that which we can never believe - just washes off us
like water off a duck’s back.
Those who tell you they were his friend –
they lie. He had no friends, only associates and even they sooner or
later could not resist the urge to succumb to his abilities. He
made things happen. The women who loved him asked for nothing in
return. Just to be seen with him was their reward.
And I’ll tell you right out loud right
now that I never met the man; what I know has been pieced together
from scraps, so if at a later time we discover that I’ve gotten a
few facts wrong then I apologize, but nevertheless the core of the
story is as I shall relate it.
There are some, it is true, who say that
Sharky was like many of us back in the seventies, he was a seeker
after the great truths, and the primary difference between him and
the rest of us is that he had the resources, granted to him by a
wealthy family, that enabled him to carry on his journey further then
the rest of us. I am not of this opinion. Nor can I subscribe to the
idea that he, early on, joined the Peace Corps and led an exemplary
life of voluntary poverty from an early age.
What is by far his most likely origin is
among the hard nosed Yankee businessmen of his new England roots. His
family was long settled in the area and respectable, but in recent
years had fallen on comparatively hard times. It is very likely the
erudition and breadth of knowledge that he displayed early in life
came from a comparatively enriched environment as a youth. One
hesistates at this point to draw too many conclusions or suggest that
he was overmuch influenced by the situation in Massachusetts in the
second half of the twentieth century.
Whether it was from want of adequate
opportunity, or, as most chose to believe, from a yearning to see the
world it is known that he had left Salem before the age of eighteen,
initialed to attend school in Northern Falls, Minnesota and then to
various ports of call throughout and across the Pacific Ocean.
This is the romantic Sharky that we
hear so much about. What often is not mentioned is that this period
only lasted three years. His physical beauty was such that he never
wanted for a place to stay in any city he visited. As well there are
a number of prostitutes even today, nearly forty years after, who
claim to be his daughters. As to sons however there are none who
make this claim, which in an of itself is not astounding. Sharky made
enemies as well as friends, especially among men who’s wives and
daughters he had seduced, and who’s sons he had borrowed money
from never to return.
What is certain is that on July second
nineteen eighty a middle aged man checked into a Hong Kong Hospital
giving only the name “Sharky”. Over then next year there are
several other apparently voluntary admittances to this and other
Pacific rim Hospitals. In each case the patient walked in and in all
but the last he walked out without assistance. The official cause of
admittance was given as “Influenza” This is problematic because
there were no other reported cases of the disease in the locale at
the time of his being struck by it.
He never was reported missing and so there
was at no times and active search for him. Among the teeming hundreds
of millions in Southeast Asia one more American who had sought
enlightenment and found only death in a back alley would be no
surprise. I happen to know for certain that there were reports of
sightings soon after and for many years: sightings of a man in the
deep ocean, of a man who, upon being seen, continued his lonely
voyage across the waves.
When on occasion the ships that sighted
“Sharky” went to investigate they found nothing. Gradually the
legend grew and eventually, the story of the man who left family and
friends to gambol on the waves became a legend and went viral, but as
we know the legend is somewhat incorrect. He had already left the
security of his Salem home to attempt to find happiness in the
fleshpots and opium dens of the worlds.
Some claim they have seen him on dry land,
but none of these claims are from though who knew him before his
transformation. Some claim that he has undergone a physical change
of lower form; his legs have fused together to form the lower
extremities of a powerful fish. When this insight is combined with
that of recent discoveries of captured dolphins the picture becomes
much more clear.
There is at present a significant human dolphin breeding
program being undertaken on behalf of certain elements in the new
world order. What is more the pioneer of this program went into it
fully aware of the consequences and with no intention of personal
reward other then the satisfaction of seeing the boundaries of
science pushed back.
Because of the shape of the mouth it
is impossible for Dolphins to speak as humans do, but their hearing is
excellent and it’s long been suggested that they understand not
only dolphin, but human speech as well. Along with this the
Prognikov theorem which states that once the initail form of the DNA
code is broken human can survive with as little as a fifty per cent
amount of standard Code.
Along with this is the suggestion that
once codes become intermingled secondary and tertiary codes
can be added with little additional damage to the species
survivability. We have long used the introduction of cold water fish
DNA into vegetables to make them more cold resistant and have a
greater shelf life: the addition of the Turtles recombinant DNA, with
it’s ability to live two hundred years and longer could mean that
if that were done in Sharky’s case he’d still be with us, alive,
today.
He certainly lives on in popular lore and legend.
There are comic books and popular songs written about him nearly
every day. As well, several of our major universities now offer
classes on the Sharky Ethos, on Sharky in the Heroic Dimension and
other interesting topics.
There are many among us who feel that if he
ever was then by now anyway he’s dead. There are too many stories
of his sightings for them all to be true. On the other hand
sympathizers and Dolphin rights advocates are said to be
surreptitiously arming them by leaving weapons on the shore. This
much we know. Someone or something is coming to take the weapons
away.
Naturally supporters and believers must
maintain a low profile, but all this begs the question which is “Why
did he do it?” All the indications are that it was a voluntary
decision on the part of the man from Salem. Conservative Christians
see a Satanic influence, suggesting witches from a coven that has
been located there for hundreds of years and has never been
successfully eradicated.
In the final analysis all we know is we just
don’t know.
-Tamlin
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