Short story

Merlin Hannon

5/12/13

English 2

Mark Hertz

                                                           Short Story

        There was a man named Joseph, who lived on the Kamchatka Krai peninsula in Russia, in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of the federal subject Kamchatka Krai. The year is 1945, and the Cold War has begun.  But to Joseph, the politics of Moscow were far away and none of his concern.  His mind was on other things, like if the yearly salmon run would produce enough profit to support his family.

To Joseph, it was another day on the water until he came into port.  He was startled by the presence of Russian Naval men all around him, and two massive cargo ships bearing the Naval symbol.  He approached and asked one of the officers what is going on.   The officer told him that the Navy is adding onto and expanding the submarine base, and putting in three additional submarine factories.

At first this information didn’t seem important: the Navy had operated the submarine base across the bay from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky for a long time. Then, the man who Joseph sold his fish to told him that they need to provide more fish to satisfy the Naval employees and factory workers.  Joseph was not concerned because there wasn’t a shortage of fish.

There was something that Joseph didn’t take into account: pollution from construction was killing all the fish, which didn’t become apparent until much later in the season, when construction was about halfway complete and the demand for fish was much higher due to the construction workers, workers in the factories, and the Navy personnel.  Only then was the reality of the situation truly realized.  

Due to the increased demand and the lack of fish, Joseph was forced to assimilate into the workforce in order to find a new job to support his famil