It didn’t take long for the main artery roadway between the sleepy washed up beachtown of Muizenburg and the N1 highway to be clogged with distracted drivers looking for a spot to offload their vehicles. Everybody was joining the masses running in the sand, skirts hiked high above their knees, flipflops bumping in their hands, steadily drawn towards the nets. 
The fishermen had arrived in a land rover and having jumped out the back, were now getting a grip on the emerald green nets, ready to start hauling them out of the flashing waters. 
Within seconds, the growing crowd was moving swiftly, drunkenly, stumbling over their feet to get a closer look at the action as it moved from left to right. The moment belonged to the fishermen. Everybody was pumped with anticipation, which had spread like a virus from the fishermen to the watchers. It was a haul that belonged to them all. 
Soon, the fishermen were yelling with broken teeth at the people to get off the nets, and sticking their elbows out, blocking the children from grabbing at lone fish jumping out of the nets with flicking tails. They were silvery and slippery, and agitated at having been stripped of the warm, salty cocoon of sea waters. The seagulls swooped ahead, aggressively snatching at the catch and simultaneously dropping fish from the sky above when something glittering below caught their eye. It was raining fish. One of the catchers stuck his thumb in a fish’s neck, ripping its head off and splattering the closely thronging onlookers with gritty guts. A giant jellyfish was detached from the twitching heap and set to one side, drawing a crowd of pointing and screeching children. One fisherman dragged a stingray with gaping pornographic mouth across the sand and up the hill. Set aside for later, like the antlers of a hunted deer. 
Not unlike the hoist of a drug cartel deal, the fuss was over almost before it began, and the scene cleared, leaving the crowd excited and deflated all at once. Tiny flicks of bloody sand splattered across their faces, bleached t-shirts and fancy sandals. Wondering whether it had all really happened, they dissipated as the land rover revved its engine and disappeared once again into the landscape of the beautiful, bountiful coast.
