Jaws PRL2.doc

Introduction

The boy stopped, and the shark swam below him. Then it turned again. The shark swam up fast. Its mouth opened...

Amity is a quiet town near New York. Nothing happens there.

One night a young woman goes for a swim in the sea. She doesn't come back. The next morning the police find her dead on the beach.

Brody is a good policeman, and he thinks there's a shark near Amity. Young Matt Hooper says it's a Great White shark - the fish they call the 'man-eater'.

Brody tries to close the beaches, but the important people in Amity won't listen to him.

Then, on a sunny afternoon, a young boy goes into the sea...

Peter Benchley was born in 1940. In the 1960s he had many different jobs. He worked for the newspaper the Washington Post and for Newsweek magazine. From 1967 to 1969 he worked at the White House for President Johnson. After working in television for three years, he started writing.

He wrote Jaws in 1974. The next year, Steven Spielberg made a very exciting film from the book. The film made Spielberg world-famous. People of all ages went to see the film, and cried out in the cinema because they were so afraid! Peter Benchley helped to write the story for the film, and you can see him in it. He is the man from the newspaper on the beach.

After Jaws, Peter Benchley wrote many more books. The most famous are The Deep (1976) and The Island (1979). He also wrote the films of these books. Twenty years later, he wrote about sharks again - he wrote White Shark in 1994.

PART ONE

Chapter 1    Night Swim

The shark moved through the night water without a sound. It swam towards the shore, with its eyes and mouth open.

Between the sea and the shore was a long beach. Behind that each there was a house, with lights in its windows.

The front door of the house opened, and a man and woman came out. They stood for a short time and looked at the sea. Then they ran down to the beach.

The man sat down and closed his eyes. The woman smiled at him and said, 'Do you want to go for a swim?' 'You go on. I'll wait for you here.'

She began walking out towards the sea. The water came up round her feet. It was a warm June night, but the water felt cold. The woman called back. 'Come and have a swim with me!' But there was no answer from the man.

She ran into the sea, and soon the water was up to her head. She began to swim.

The shark was a hundred metres from the beach. It could not see the woman — it could not see anything in the dark water — but it felt the sea move. It turned towards the shore.

The woman swam away from the beach. After about a hundred metres she began to feel tired and stopped for a short time. Then she turned and began swimming back to the shore.

The shark moved closer to the woman. For the first time she felt afraid, but she did not know why. She looked up and saw the lights in the house. She was about seventy metres from the shore. She began to swim faster.

The shark was now above the water, about fifteen metres from the woman. Suddenly it dropped down to the left.

The woman felt something hit her right leg. She put her hand into the water and tried to find her foot. Then she cried out.

The shark turned and then turned again. This time it attacked the woman from below. It swam up fast and pushed her out of the water.

The shark carried the woman away in its mouth. It came up out of the water and then went under again. A short time later it began swimming away from the shore.

The man opened his eyes. It was dark and he felt cold. He stood up and began to dress. It was then he saw the woman's shoes on the beach. He picked up the shoes and walked back to the house.

The door to the woman's room was open, and the light was on. But she was not there.

There were two more rooms in the house. The man opened the door of the first bedroom and went across to the bed.

'Jack.'

The man in the bed opened his eyes. 'What?'

'It's me. Tom. I think there's something wrong. Where's Chrissie?'

'I thought she was with you.'

'No, she isn't. I can't find her. She's not in the house and she's not on the beach.'

Jack sat up and turned on a light. He looked at his watch. It was five in the morning. 'I'll phone the police,' he said.

Chapter 2    Body on the Beach

'Mr Brody, this is Hendricks. We've got a problem. We had a call from a house on Old Mill Road a few minutes ago. A girl went out on the beach there last night and she didn't come back. They -'

'What time is it?'

'Five-thirty. Sorry!'

'No, you were right to call. Tell me everything you know.'

It was nearly six-thirty when Brody drove his police car along Old Mill Road. He looked all along the beach but did not see anything unusual. At eight o'clock Hendricks arrived, and the two policemen called at Jack Foote's house.

A young man opened the door. 'I'm Tom Cassidy,' he said.

'No, Mr Cassidy, we didn't find her,' said Brody. 'We're going to look on the beach now.'

'I want to come, too,' said Cassidy.

The three men walked down to the beach. 'I went to sleep here,' said Cassidy. 'And I found the shoes here.'

Brody looked up and down the beach. 'Let's walk,' he said. 'Come with me, Mr Cassidy. Leonard, can you walk back towards Mr Foote's house?'

Hendricks took his shoes off and began to walk. The beach felt cold and wet under his feet. After about fifteen minutes he turned and looked back. Brody and Cassidy were now a half kilometre down the beach so he began to walk towards them.

Suddenly Hendricks saw something in front of him. He walked quickly towards it and then stopped. For a short time he did not move. Then he cried out.

     In front of him was a woman's head and some of her arm.

Brody and Cassidy ran down the beach to Hendricks. Brody arrived first. He looked down and saw the woman. Then he closed his eyes. 'Mr Cassidy, is this her?'

Cassidy was very afraid. His eyes moved from Hendricks to Brody. Then he looked down.

'Oh no!' he cried, and he put his hand to his mouth.

'Is it her?'

He turned away. 'Yes,' he said. 'What happened?'

'I' don't know,' said Brody. 'But I think a shark attacked her.'

That night Brody met his friend Harry Meadows. Harry wrote for the town's newspaper, The Amity Leader.

'I think it was a shark attack,' said Brody.

'You're right,' said Meadows. 'This afternoon I talked to a young man called Matt Hooper. He knows everything about sharks.'

'What did he say?'

'He thinks it's a Great White Shark. They call the Great White the "man-eater". Other sharks don't usually attack people.'

'Does he think it will attack again?'

'No. Hooper thinks this was an accident. He thinks the shark is now far away'. Meadows looked at Brody. 'It's not going to happen again,' he said. 'And I'm not going to write about the accident in The Amity Leader!

'But it's a big story for your newspaper.'

'I know, Martin. But it's summer and this town must have visitors in the summer. People are afraid of sharks.'

'That's true, Harry,' said Brody. 'But I want to close the beaches for one or two days. And I want you to write the story.'

Meadows sat back in his chair. 'I can't do that, Harry' he said. 'My bosses don't want me to. And I don't want to lose my job.'

Ten minutes later, Lawrence P. Vaughan came into Brody's office.

Larry Vaughan was an old friend of Brody's. He bought and sold houses, and made a lot of money. He was one of the most important people in the town.

Vaughan sat down. 'Please don't close the beaches,' he said. 'It will soon be the Fourth of July. That's our best weekend every summer.'

'I don't want any more shark attacks,' said Brody.

'There won't be any more shark attacks! But people will read about sharks in Amity, and they won't come here!'

Brody looked at his old friend. He liked Larry, but he did not see him much these days. 'OK, 'he said. 'I' don't like it, but I won't close the beaches.'

Vaughan smiled for the first time. 'Thanks, Martin,' he said.

Brody arrived home two or three minutes before five. His wife, Ellen, was in the living-room.

'Hello,' she  said. 'What's  wrong?  Did  something happen

today?'

He went and sat next to her.

'A shark killed a girl near Old Mill Beach.'

She looked at him. 'What are you going to do?'

'Nothing. Larry Vaughan doesn't want me to do anything. He

wants the beaches to stay open.'

Chapter 3    No Time to Cry

The next few days were hot, and summer visitors from New York began arriving in Amity.

Sunday was the twentieth of June. By twelve in the afternoon there were many people on Old Mill Beach. Children played near the water.

A boy of six walked up the beach. He sat down next to his mother. *

'Can I go swimming?' he asked.

His mother turned to look at him. 'No. It's too cold.'

'Can I go out on my boat? I won't go far. And I won't go swimming. I'll just sit on my boat.'

His mother sat up. She looked up and down the beach. Fifty metres away a man stood in the water. He had a child on his back.

'Yes. But don't go too far out. And don't swim.'

'OK,' he said. He pulled the little boat out into the water and climbed on to it.

The shark swam under the water. It was sixty metres from the shore.

The boy sat on his boat and looked back towards the beach. His mother was about fifty metres away. He put his feet into the water and kicked towards the shore.

The shark saw nothing, but it felt the sea move. It knew there was something near, and began to swim up towards the surface. It moved slowly first, then faster.

The boy stopped, and the shark swam below him. Then it turned again.

The shark swam up fast. Its mouth opened.

The boy could not cry out - he had no time. The shark's head hit the boat and pushed it out of the water. Nearly half of the fish — with the boy and most of the boat in its mouth — came above the surface. Its jaws closed together and cut off the boy's legs. They dropped slowly down into the water.

On the beach the man with the child turned to his son and pointed at the sea. 'Did you see that?'

'What, Daddy?' His child looked up at him.

'Out there! A shark or something! Something very big!' The boy's mother opened her eyes. She looked over at the

man, and saw him point at the water. People were running away from the sea.

She sat up. Suddenly she remembered. 'Alex,' she said.

The phone rang. Brody got up from his lunch and answered it. When he came back he looked afraid and angry.

'What is it?' asked Ellen.

'A shark attack. On a child.'

'Oh no!' And you didn't close the beaches .. .'She stopped.

'Yes, I know,' he said. 'I didn't do my job.'

Twenty minutes later Brody arrived at the police station. The boy's mother was in the office.

'I'm sorry,' said Brody.

The woman began to cry.

Suddenly the door opened and Hendricks ran into the room. 'Shark attack!' he cried.

'We know, Leonard,' said Brody. 'This is the boy's mother.' 'Boy?' said Hendricks. 'What boy? This was a man, an old man. Five minutes ago.'

On Monday morning, Brody arrived at the police station soon after seven. He went into his office and found a newspaper on his desk. On the front of the newspaper it said, SHARK ATTACK KILLS TWO IN AMITY.

Brody sat down and began to read the story.

'Is that from New York?'

Brody looked up and saw Meadows at the door. 'Yes. Did you write about it, too?'

'I did,' said Meadows. 'And I spoke to Matt Hooper last night.'

'Does he think that one fish is doing all this?'

'He doesn't know, but he thinks it is. He thinks it's a Great White.'

'I do, too. I don't know a white shark from a green shark. But I think it's one fish. Can we do anything ...?'

'Yes, there's one thing,' said Meadows. 'We can put food in the water for the shark. That'll bring him to us.'

'But then what do we do?'

'We catch him. With a harpoon.'

'Harry, I don't have a police boat! And I don't have harpoons.'

'There are fishermen here. They have ...'A noise outside the office stopped Meadows.

Suddenly the door opened, and a woman ran into the room with a newspaper in her hand. It was the mother of Alex Kintner.

Hendricks came up behind her and said,'I'm sorry, Mr Brody, I tried to stop her.'

'That's OK, Leonard,' said Brody. 'Come in, Mrs Kintner.'

She walked up to Brody.

'What can I do ...?'

The woman hit him in the face with the newspaper. Brody jumped back. The newspaper fell to the floor. 'You knew it was dangerous!' she cried. 'You knew that the shark killed somebody on Thursday. But you didn't do anything.'

Brody did not answer for a second. Then he said,'Yes, it's true, but it's - Mrs Kintner ...'

The woman looked into Brody's eyes and began to cry. 'You killed Alex!' she said. 'Why?'

'It's ...' Brody did not have the words. 'It's a long story,' he said.

Chapter 4    Flicka

Brody sat on the beach and looked at the sea.

'Hello, Mr Brody,' Hendricks said. He walked up to Brody. 'What are you doing here?'

'Ben Gardner went out there this morning. He's looking for the shark. But I can't see him on his boat.'

'Was there anybody with him?' 'I' don't know.'

'Do you want to go and see? It'll be light for two more hours. I can get a fast boat.'

Brody felt afraid. He was a very bad swimmer. 'OK,' he said. 'You get the boat. I'll call his wife.'

Twenty minutes later Brody climbed into the Hendricks' boat.

'What did she say?' asked Hendricks.

'Nothing. She called him on his radio, but there was no answer. Perhaps he turned it off. And there was nobody with him?'

'No.'

'I' don't understand,' said Hendricks. 'Why did he turn his radio off? People don't usually do that.'

Hendricks started the boat, and they moved out to sea. Gardner's boat was more than a kilometre from the shore. As they got nearer, Brody read its name: Flicka.

When  they were fifty metres from the Flicka, Hendricks slowed the boat down.

Brody stood up and called out, 'Ben! 'There was no answer.

The two men climbed on to the fishing boat. 'Are you here, Ben?' Again, there was no answer.

...