"La mar", as they called it in their village, was rough, strong waves were shaking Vicente's little boat, making him regret his decision. That morning he had decided to do what, in his more than thirty years as a fisherman, he had not done, to venture out to sea by himself; his son, who accompanied him during the vacations, had already started his classes at the town's high school and his compadre Rubén, his companion for the day, was sick with flu.
He didn't lack experience to do it, but if there was one thing he had learned from his father, it was to never feel too comfortable at sea, no matter how calm it seemed and how clear the sky was, everything could change suddenly and that was what had just happened. At one o'clock in the morning, when he had pushed his boat on the sand into the water, there were hardly any waves and a light and refreshing breeze was blowing, which contrasted with the heat inside his precarious house. What could happen, he thought, at this time of year it hardly ever rained and the sky was completely clear and calm.
More adventurous than usual, he put up his reels, the bait, the breakfast that his wife had made for him, a container of water and went into the sea, he would not go far from the coast, so that in case of any emergency, his neighbors could see him from the beach. He couldn't afford not to go out and miss the day's fishing, it was becoming less and less profitable for him to go out, because of the price of fuel and how difficult it was to get it.
After six o'clock in the morning, when he had been casting his lines for several hours without much success, a warm and intense breeze started blowing from the island and the current changed, being carried away by an intense swell, which in a short time took him away from the beach. At the same time the sky, which had already cleared up, with the rising of the sun, began to darken suddenly, with dense clouds of a deep gray lead color, which hid the dawn and seemed to transform it, again, into a dismal night.
Frightened by the sudden change in the sea, he quickly began to pick up the longline, which for his fortune, had not broken; just as it had been all morning, all the hooks were still with the bait intact, no fish had even come close to bite it, the same happened with the other fishing lines that he also picked up in a hurry. The violent swaying of the small boat made him reconsider how good his decision had been to go alone, preferring to pick up everything and return in a hurry to the beach.
It was then when the blackness of the sky seemed to break for a moment, as if to make way for a huge object similar to a large oyster, which surrounded by a bright green glow, fell in a hurry, remaining suspended a few meters above Vicente's head.
Terrified, the man let go of the line he was picking up and without caring about the other two he had left in the water, he began to pull on the rope to try to start the engine to get away from that thing, but as usual, his, now old Suzuki, did not want to respond immediately.
Before he could do anything, Vicente felt that the boat stayed very still, almost as if he were not touching the sea. He released the rope from the engine and leaned forward, hiding his face between his knees and putting his hands on the back of his head, closed his eyes and waited with his teeth clenched, hoping that everything would pass and that when he lifted his head, everything would be over.
When Vincent raised his head, instead of being in the middle of the sea, as he had expected, he found himself reflected on a pair of very round eyes without sclera, with a large yellow pupil and three black irises, which formed a perfect equilateral triangle, in the center of each one.
The man shouted and jumped backward, falling backwards on the ground. He was no longer in his rock, or even in the sea; on his head there was a high silvery ceiling, which seemingly reflected a light whose origin he could not determine; lying down on his back, almost paralyzed, he dared to lean his head forward to see the owner of those disturbing yellow eyes.
-Damn mommy, what a sheath this is! -he shouted, and as he could, he began to crawl backwards, pushing himself with his feet, elbows and forearms.
In front of him, leaning forward, like someone who was bending over to get a closer look at a worm crawling on the ground, there was a gigantic hairy being like a monkey, but with a silky blond coat, like that of one of those gringos who used to come by the piles to visit the island, his two enormous eyes decorated an elongated head, in a position far above what would be on any animal he knew, it was as if they seemed to come out from above his forehead. At the height of what could be his cheeks, on each side of his face, there were two big, dark holes which he believed were the holes in his nose, and in the middle of both holes, almost at the height of what could be his jaw, there was a big mouth with two fleshy, bluish lips.
-Cousin you are so ugly! -he exclaimed innocently, seeing the hairy giant.
-I am The Ud, -said the giant, with a shrill and funny voice, which reminded him of the Japanese cartoon girls his son used to see.
-What is this, where am I? -he asked, backing up even further on the floor and trying to sit up.
-You are in my ship, tell me, what year is this? -asked the funny giant ape.
-Cousin, how can you not know what year it is, -he said, before laughing -shit, you really are ugly.
-What year is this? -said the giant creature again, now walking towards him, with a threatening gesture, that seemed to lose seriousness, before his peculiar appearance and funny voice.
-It's 2020, you brought me here no more than to ask me that question, -said Vicente trying to hold back his laughter.
-It's not time yet, -said the indifferent creature of the dazed fisherman.
He stretched out his hand, and in the face of a failed attempt by Vicente to avoid it, the enormous limb with only three fingers landed on the man's face, covering it completely and wrapping his fingers around his head. Vicente's sight became completely black, while he felt the weight of the hand on his head, the man felt that this lasted only a few seconds, when he no longer felt the pressure on his skull, he opened his eyes, hoping to see the strange creature again, but this time he was on the sand of the beach, sitting with his legs stretched out and his clothes gnawed, completely soaked in what he immediately knew was salt water.
Surprised, he stood up and looked around, his boat was lying on its side a few meters away from him and all his gear was inside, in the distance he could see his village and in it his house, the catire monkey, had left him back on the beach, and he did not even know how he had done it. He stood up and ran with difficulty through the sand until he reached his house, opened the door noisily and on the sofa in the living room, sitting in front of the TV, was his wife, watching what she thought was the midday news.
-Maria, you won't believe what happened to me! -he said, full of excitement.
-What a lie you're going to tell me, you motherfucker, where the fuck you've been these three days, - shouted his wife angrily, as she threatened him by waving a fist.
-Maria, I was kidnapped by a blond monkey, who spoke like a little girl and took me to his spaceship to ask me the date, -said Vicente innocently.
-Damn that shit, you're going to tell to your mother, great shit, you were drinking rum somewhere - shouted his wife, as she made him leave the house by slapping him on the back and head.
