A Jaws Retelling

Beaches Open and Mouths Closed

Ellen generously gave Ruth some clothes and directed her to the shower, where she was also given the necessary things with which to clean herself up. The water ran for a minute before she got to courage to step into the shower, slowly and with her eyes squinted shut- every time she looked at the cascading droplets she could see the ocean spray that surrounded Chrissie Watkins as she struggled to get away from the horrid jaws of the shark that were clamped around her, ripping her flesh and spitting blood as it dragged her down into the dark ocean...

Ruth drew in a sharp breath and tried to shake the nightmarish memory from her head. She quickly showered and got out of the bathroom as fast as she could; as good as the warm water felt as it enveloped her, every time she got comfortable her mind would wander and she'd find herself in the dark, the warm shower water turned to a cold, salty spray, tinted with the metallic taste of blood. With her hair dried and her borrowed clothes on, she crept quietly back down the stairs, where she could hear the Brody's talking.

"I like her, momma." The littlest one was saying. Ellen giggled and made a slight noise as she hoisted her son up into her lap.

"I do, too, Sean." Ellen said, making Ruth grin a little. "That's why we're going to do all we can to help her until she remembers again, okay?" Sean nodded, and put his head in the crook of his mother's neck.

"Where will she stay, Mom?" The older Brody son asked. Ellen looked silently to Brody, as if asking for a decision to a question they had previously been mulling over.

"I was thinking she could stay at the station, in my office. To sleep and all that. Either Polly, Hendricks, or I will always be there, and she can help me out when I'm working- with the...you know." Ellen smiled and put a supportive hand on her husband's.

Throughout the whole conversation, Ruth had been slowly making her way towards the family as they sat at the kitchen table. Brody leaned back in the wooden chair and turned his head slightly as she entered.

"There's a town meeting today." Brody said, taking his glasses off and rubbing the lenses with his shirt tail. "Will you go? I figure afterwards we can get you settled at the station." Ruth gently bit her lip, hoping she wouldn't have to talk about the shark there.

"When?" She asked quietly. Brody glanced at the clock and then slid his glasses back up his nose. He paused to calculate time in his head.

"In about a half hour. We'd better get going, actually." Ruth nodded and stood back to wait for Brody as he kissed Ellen and his boys goodbye. To Ruth's surprise, as soon as Sean was released from his father's embrace, he ran to Ruth and wrapped his arms around her legs.

"Bye, Ruthie." He said sweetly. Ellen rose a little, worried that her son may be making Ruth uncomfortable, but Ruth just smiled at the incredibly cute little boy.

"Goodbye, Sean." She said, gently ruffling his hair. Ellen and Brody smiled at the two. "Nice to meet you. And you, Michael." Michael nodded in response, grinning.

"Bye!" He said, through a mouthful of breakfast cereal. Ellen shot him a warning look and he blushed.

"Do you want to swallow your cereal and try that again, Michael Brody?" Ellen asked her son. Brody watched from the kitchen entryway, stifling a smile at his wife. Michael let his spoon slip back into the bowl of cereal and he chewed for a minute before swallowing and turning back to Ruth.

"Bye, Ruth!" He said again, free of cereal but just as cheerfully as before. "Sorry, mom." Ellen nodded at her son before reaching down to pick up the remnants of everyone's breakfast, chuckling quietly as she turned towards the sink. Chief Brody turned to leave and Ruth lingered behind him for a moment.

"Thank you, Mrs Brody." She said sincerely, in as loud a voice as she could muster, which wasn't too audible, but Ellen smiled at her nonetheless.

"You're welcome, Ruth. And please, call me Ellen." She replied with just as much sincerity. "I'll see you again soon." She waved goodbye with grin and Sean mimicked his mother, waving loosely at Ruth and prompting her to smile as she turned away and caught up with Brody, who was just outside the door.

Brody wordlessly put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, sensing that she was very nervous about the town meeting. He knew she probably wouldn't want to talk- hell, she couldn't even really talk to him at a normal octave- but he needed to make it clear to these people, especially the mayor, who would almost definitely become an advocate to keep the beaches open, that the threat that the shark posed was very real and terrifying.

When Brody arrived at the town hall, a very nervous and shaky Ruth in tow, he was surprised and a little angry when he saw the parking lot was nearly empty. He bounded up the steps, but was met at the top by the Mayor of Amity and a ticked-off looking Hendricks. Hendricks held a few signs in his arms that said Beaches closed- keep off!

"What's all this about, then?" Brody asked, crossing his arms. The Mayor copied this action in an attempt to seem just as intimidating, but Brody wasn't fooled- only annoyed further. "Where is everybody? I called a town meeting today!"

"Yes, and I vetoed it." The Mayor said matter-of-factly. Brody threw his hands up in the air, causing Ruth and Hendricks to jump and Hendricks to almost loose the bundle of signs in his arms.

"What the hell for?!" Brody yelled. "We've got a serious problem on our hands! There's a god damn man-eater out there! Someone got killed last night!" The Mayor showed no reaction to his outburst, only waited patiently for him to finish. His lack of acknowledgement deeply bothered Ruth, and it was obviously getting under Brody's skin as well.

"For God's sake, Martin, keep your voice down." Was all he said. It was as if Brody had simply been talking about the weather, rather than a killer shark in their ocean that would threaten the island's entire income and reputation if not dealt with.

"Keep my voice down?!" Brody did quite the opposite as his volume grew with each word he uttered. Hendricks looked like he was really struggling with the signs, and he was so on edge from the morning's events that every time one of the two shouted (more often than not it was Brody) he would nearly drop all the signs he held. Ruth reached over and took some from his arms, and though he was initially startled, Hendricks gave Ruth a small smile and nodded in thanks. "Listen to me, Larry-"

"No Martin, I'm the Mayor and you'll listen to me, dammit!" Ruth didn't like the way the Mayor was talking to Chief Brody, and before she had time to realize what she was doing she had stepped away from Hendricks and towards Brody and the Mayor arguing. Both eyed her, waiting for her to do something, but she hadn't meant to do anything and all she could do was glare at the Mayor while Chief Brody looked at her with appreciation hidden amongst the anger in his eyes. "You close the beaches, the town has a fit, no tourists come in because you've scared them off, and we lose our income for this whole damn year!"

"And what happens when the shark kills all of these tourists, and people find out that we knew about it all the time?" The Mayor didn't have an answer to that, but wasn't deterred and remained adamant that the beaches remain open.

"Who's to say the shark is even still here, Martin?"

"Who's to say he's gone?" Brody retorted. The Mayor rolled his eyes and rudely grabbed one of the signs from Hendricks' arms without warning, causing him to finally drop all of them. Hendricks growled in exasperation and shot daggers at the Mayor, who didn't notice.

"Hey-" Ruth, never one to speak out, was unable to watch the clueless, asshole Mayor kick around her only friend on this island.

"Shut up, kid." The Mayor said dismissively, waving a hand at her without even taking his eyes from Brody's as the two stared each other down.

"Hey, you leave her alone, Larry." The Mayor gave a short laugh, barely acknowledging Brody's words. He held up the sign, which underneath the words had a crudely drawn shark on it, that in any other situation would've been comical.

"Whatever, Martin." Larry said. "You see this? This is what's going to kill this summer for us. You yell 'piranha!', people say 'huh? what?' You yell 'shark!'...well, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July."