A Plastic Bag Of Fish

Sindu Wanata

(Top 10 Short Stories English Language Fiesta 2021)

In a village there lived a fisherman named Asep. Asep lives in a simple and small house with his wife and child. Every night, after Isya prayer, Asep goes to sea to look for fish, then returns home before subuh’s call to prayer. Asep is a good and generous fisherman. He was diligent in worship and never left the congregational prayer in the mosque, even the sunnah prayers he did regularly.

After returning from fishing, if the catch is more than enough, Asep always sets aside some fish to be distributed to people who are in trouble or less fortunate. Asep put the fish in a plastic bag and hung it on the door of a poor villagers house. He did it because he felt pity for the poor. This Asep did when the villagers were still asleep, so the villagers who got the plastic bag containing the fish were confused, because they didn’t know who distributed the fish.

Villagers that got plastic bags filled with fish secretly gathered in one of the villagers’ houses, out of curiosity about the incident. then one of them proposes to do night patrol. After a long discussion, they agreed to take turns daily night patrols for men starting at 23:00 PM and stopping at subuh’s call to prayer.

On the first day of the night patrol, the villagers had not found anyone distributing plastic bags containing fish. Because at that time Asep was seriously ill so he could not find fish in the sea. for several days, the asep did not heal. Villagers who carry out patrols are almost desperate, because they can’t find the person they are looking for, and no one else distributes fish to villagers.

A few days later, Asep who had recovered from his illness decided to go back to fishing in the sea and he caught a lot of fish that day, so he could share some of his fish to the villagers. Villagers who had felt desperate and almost stopped to do night patrols, finally that night they managed to find the person who distributed fish to the villagers. At 03.30 am the villagers saw someone hanging a plastic bag on the door of one of the villagers’ houses. Villagers immediately approached the person, they were surprised that the person who had been distributing plastic bags filled with fish was Asep. Villagers are surprised because to their knowledge Asep is a poor person and not a rich person.

Asep who was distributing fish was surprised by the arrival of the villagers, who turned out to be doing night patrols. Then the villagers asked Asep, why did Asep do this. Then Asep replied, “I distributed the fish because I felt pity for the villagers who did not have enough money to buy fish. Then one of the villagers asked, “Doesn’t your life also lack?” Then Asep replied “Fellow human beings we should share with each other under any conditions.” After hearing Asep’s explanation, the villagers were amazed and then hugged him and thanked Asep for having distributed fish for free.

The next day, news of Asep’s generosity and kindness had spread. After hearing the news, Pak Heru, who is one of the rich people in Asep’s village and owns several restaurants in the city, immediately went to Asep’s residence and offered to cooperate with him. Pak Heru asked Asep to be one of the fish suppliers in his restaurant. then Asep gladly accepted the offer of cooperation from Mr. Heru.

Since then Asep’s life began to change. His income is increasing every week and his economic life is improving. Asep even opens up job opportunities for villagers who don’t have jobs and are in trouble. Asep also provides free food for villagers every Friday.

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