He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.
[LINK: FIVE SEAFOOD RECIPES THAT ARE GREAT FOR YOUR HEART … AND YOUR MORTGAGE.]
In the first forty days a boy had been with him.
[AD: LOSE 40 POUNDS IN 40 DAYS, WHILE PAYING DOWN YOUR MORTGAGE, GUARANTEED!]
But after forty days without a fish the boy’s parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week.
[VIDEO: YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT THIS MOM TOLD THIS STEP-DAD TO TELL THEIR 3-YEAR-OLD SON, AND WHAT WAS SWIMMING IN THEIR POOL!]
It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast.
[AD: SPRING CRUISE BLOWOUT DEALS FOR YOU AND OTHER SENIORS — TODAY ONLY, MAYBE!]
The sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat.