Gucci shoes for little Maria

I am following the Prompt for Round 1 of "Invalid Item" 

The link to the location is here:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/north_east_asia/hong_kong/hong_kong.htm

Maria had never seen Gucci shoes as she was a boat-person who stayed in a dilapidated stationary boat with her 13-member strong family just off the Mai Po Marsh. This was situated a little distance off the rural Yuen Long district of the New Territories of Hong Kong.

Then she saw a TV item displaying immaculate crocodile skin shoes on the feet of the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi. Zhang Ziyi was speaking to the interviewer. He had asked her a question about her favourite item of attire and she had promptly stood and thrust her right foot in front of the camera and said, "This!" What Maria saw were those burgundy-coloured shoes that sparkled in the glare of the studio lights. "They're Gucci!" Zhang had proclaimed innocently, as if that mattered to the viewers!

In fact, it did. At least to little Maria, who was all of eight years old. All day long she ran around the house telling Nana and Nani she wanted "Guchchi" shoes made from "cocodile" skin!

Her father, Lee Kwang, was a poor fisherman who took a small skiff out to sea each day morning; his father, Koh Twain had been a legendary fisherman in his hey days. He had even received a medal from the Town Mayor in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen 25 years ago! After Koh died, his sons Lee, Dey and Chang continued to bask in the reflected glory of their father for some years. As the memory of Koh faded from the public's restless mind, however, the fortunes of the Kwang brothers declined and they were forced to take to fishing to earn money. All the three brothers went in the skiff with their carefully stitched nets and other paraphernalia and returned home to their boat at about 10 p.m., feeling dog-tired. Immediately, they salted the fish and buried it in their coolers, only to wake up at 4:00 a.m. the next morning to take the fish to the market to sell.

It was a hard life, and the family did back-breaking drudgery to earn their meals and save a little for the dream house on mainland China.

The brothers returned as usual that day too. As soon as Maria saw her father, she ran to him and jumped into his tired but willing arms. Father and daughter kissed and hugged each other for a while. Then Sharon, Maria's mother, intervened and asked Maria to "leave her father so that he could go and wash himself".

Maria reluctantly climbed down her father's arms. Lee gave a smile to Sharon, and went and paid his respects to Nana and Nani, who both sat in their bamboo chairs in one corner of the living room.

"Something unusual happened today, Nana." Lee began casually. In the silence that ensued, all female members strained their ears to hear what had occurred.

"What happened?"

"We never have ugly crocodiles on this side, Nana, but today, we heard people talk about a crocodile, almost 3 meters long, that was seen in our side of the sea!"

Everyone was listening with interest. Lee continued, "I didna' see it, you see, but they said it was huge ..."

Maria came close to her father as the latter related the story.

"They have begun to call him ... er ... what's the name of those brand of shoes?" Lee turned to his wife for an answer. The reply came from an unexpected quarter.

"Guchchi!" shouted Maria as she danced with glee.

"Yes, that's it, you are right!" Lee looked at Maria with awe and surprise. "How did she know?" he asked Sharon. The latter shrugged and laughed.

"I do not know, but she's been saying this word all morning!" said Sharon as she began to move away towards the kitchen to serve dinner to the males. The wives of Dey and Chang also followed her in. The social part of the evening was drawing to a close when Maria suddenly called out to her father: "Dad, I want Guchchi shoes! Like Zhang!"

"Zhang? Who is Zhang? Is it someone I know?" asked an obviously irritated Lee.

"Of course, you know her, Lee. You remember the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"? This came from Heela, Dey's wife.

"Yes, I do." said Lee.

"She was the heroine, Lee," Heela replied.

Sharon raised her brows and started to go into the kitchen once again. The discussion was at an end, and Maria was feeling cheated.

"I want Guchchi shoes!" she began again.

"Okay, okay, we'll see tomorrow, okay?" said Lee as he disentangled himself and went in for dinner.

*****

On the next day, although Maria did not speak about her "Guchchi shoes", she continued to dream about how she would wear them to school and impress all her other friends. I'd give a lot of money to see that hoity toity Sylvia squirm!

*****

Two months later.

The skiff moved smoothly on the water on the Hau Hoi Wan or the Deep Bay. Lee stood on the aft, his eyes cast downwards to see the sea and the fish within. His mind was at peace whenever he was like this, right at the front of his small fishing boat. His brothers were nearer the stern, making baits and doing all the small, insignificant things fishermen at sea do as they await the filling of the net.

Lee thought back about the crocodile story. It had really grown big. Initially, Hong Kong conservation officials had tried to catch "Gucci" and had failed; then an Australian hunter called John Lever had been summoned to catch the beast as the government feared for the life of the citizens of its country. He had boasted that he would just "go in and grab the bugger ..." and had failed miserably. Next, it had been the turn of the Chinese croc expert He Zhanzhao. He had led a team of hunters, but the wily crocodile had evaded capture to date. He Zhanzhao was to begin another attempt in a day or two, or so Lee had read in a paper.

Lee smiled to himself as he thought about Maria's dance and demand for "Guchchi" shoes. She is really too good for a simpleton like me.

Suddenly, without any warning, the boat lurched and heaved to one side. Chang screamed loudly, as Lee fell backwards on to the deck. As he got up awkwardly and looked behind, he saw Dey being lifted from the deck by a huge crocodile! The crocodile was two meters long, and had the sharpest teeth Lee had ever seen in any sea creature. Grabbing Dey by the right leg, it was trying to drag its victim into the water. Chang looked on stupidly, his wits strewn about him helplessly.

Lee immediately apprised the situation. He had a few seconds at best, if he were to save his brother's life. He lunged for the stern, whipping out from his belt a 10 inch knife that he used to carve chickens to feed into the sea to catch sharks. The crocodile was winning, although Dey had grasped a thick rope and was not leaving it so easily. His thigh was bleeding, and if not attended to soon, he would bleed to unconsciousness. Lee ran up to the stern and began to plunge the knife just below the lower jaw of the crocodile, into its soft undersurface. The crocodile never saw the knife, and even when it plunged into its brain, it could not remove its jaws from around its victim in time. The knife hit it squarely inside the brain where millions of neurons screamed in agony. Lee withdrew the knife and plunged it in again. He repeated this six times; with each thrust, the crocodile's movements decreased, until it stopped thrashing about.

The grip around Dey's thigh finally loosened. The crocodile began to slip into the sea. Suddenly, Lee recalled Maria's demand for Guchchi shoes. He jumped into the sea beside the dying crocodile. He located the croc's mouth and clamped its jaws shut with his left hand. The reptile thrashed about valiantly, but it had lost a lot of blood and its brain was in a sorry mess. Its life ebbed out, and presently, it died.

While Chang attended to Dey's wounds, Lee tied the dead croc to the side of the boat and re-directed the skiff back to his boat-home, almost six nautical miles away. It was 6:00 p.m., and Shekou's lights shone in the far distance.

The skiff returned home by eight. Lee unharnessed the carcass of the crocodile and with the help of his brother Chang, he brought it into the boat.

Maria saw the crocodile and jumped with joy and excitement.

Dey was taken to a local hospital. The doctors heard about it first. It was all over town by the next day morning. A Kwang household member had bested the notorious crocodile "Gucci".

*****

Lee had small mocassins made from the stripped skin of the crocodile after the hullabaloo over his kill had made the rounds of Hong Kong over the next 24 hours. One of the T.V. interviewers connected his heroic achievement to those of his father Koh. Lee felt very proud that he had redeemed his family's honour!

That night, he presented the shoes to Maria. She could hardly believe it. She now had shoes similar to the ones Zhang had worn in the T.V. interview months ago.

She kissed and hugged her father. Her family looked on with pride and a sense of fulfillment. Nani summed up everyone's feelings when she summoned Lee to her and hugged him with tears in her eyes.