"... What? ... In the nets of a trawler? When? ... That big? And you estimate its weight at ... half a ton? Good heavens! ... Where? ... Well, listen, I'll come around noon: it'll still be there, I suppose ... Ah! ... Ask him to make several, my friend, can I count on you?... Actually, this is my first time, but I figured there could be some this big... See you later!“
Grandpa returns the headphones to the radio operator, who stands beside him and asks if he heard. ”Yes, Major! I saw one when I was his age, washed up on the beach, but not as big." He gestures vaguely toward the toddler playing with toy cars on the floor, who is listening, without seeming to, to the conversation between the officer and his soldier. The white man shows his interest in this surprising news by reflexively sucking on his pipe, producing a cloud of blue smoke. He leans toward the little troublemaker: “We caught the Sun! Do you want to come see it with Grandpa?”
Excited by this remarkable news, he runs to tell his mother, who is reading in the living room, with a clever hairstyle on her head for a perm that is characterized by lasting very little time in this humid climate. She pushes him away: today, she wants some peace and quiet!
He runs out onto the terrace: it is still light, but as there are clouds, you cannot see the sun in what remains of the blue sky. There is no sun in the sky anymore! He goes back to pestering his grandfather: “The jeep! The jeep? Later!”
As the child circles his seat, Grandfather gets up and shows him on the large clock the position the hands must reach before departure. The kid will watch their slow rotation at least twenty times. He went to retrieve a yellow ball from the garden and hid it under a handkerchief: “Caught, sun!” The Major is amazed and the Black man laughs in a high-pitched tone.
Grandfather pretends not to notice the hands reaching the fateful hour, but his grandson is watching. He comes and tugs at his shorts, pointing to the oval clock, which attracts attention by producing a deep dong dong sound
Amused, the ancestor gets up, warns his daughter that he is kidnapping her offspring, and the two of them head for the service vehicle. Today, he will drive himself. As he starts the engine, his wife bursts out of the house, like a succubus, with a headscarf on her hair and the air of a big cleaning day. “Bring back some laundry soap when you come back!”
Her husband loves this kind of instruction! He usually passes this type of chore on to one of his assistants, but here he has no one on hand to pass it on to. He grumbles, “You'll see, I'll forget and she'll give me an earful...” He drives the vehicle with the pipe in the wind, which makes the little boy smile, as he thinks it looks like a smoking boat.
We arrive at a beach covered with a chatty and laughing crowd. The people move aside with fearful respect when the administrator arrives, but send friendly gestures to the little boy accompanying him.
Surrounded by white people taking pictures, a huge, almost round fish hangs from a pulley attached to a coconut tree. A cable wraps around it twice, passing behind its pectoral fins. With its mouth open, its eyes glazed over, its skin damaged by the maneuvers to extract it from the ocean and bring it into this position, it nevertheless retains a certain majesty due to its imposing mass. The child refuses to approach it, much to the delight of the spectators. His grandfather had imagined sitting him under the slobbering mouth to take the photo!
Imagine his grandson's enthusiasm and the likely reaction of the women when they return! “It's a sunfish,” insists the Major. Yes, okay! But where is the promised sun? The kid looks in all directions and catches sight of the sun shining through the palm trees on the beach.
He immediately catches the Commander's attention: “Gone, sun!” Remembering what he had announced to young ears that very morning, the Major bursts out laughing! He tells the story to his neighbors. Everyone gently teases the child, observing the Major, who is displaying a rather rare image of good humor.
Come on, we have to go home! The driver teases his grandson, whose nose wrinkles in annoyance. He doesn't understand what they are teasing him about, but senses that it is directed at him. With an air of nonchalance, the little imp thinks for a moment and commits the very first act of revenge in his short life. He waits until they leave the city to remind his ironic mentor: “Soap!” The sudden braking that follows this triumphant cry causes him to slide under the dashboard, fortunately without injury. “Misery, you're right!”
A quick U-turn and a stop at the first grocery store still open! It is run by a talkative and affable Italian who pulls a packet of fragrant white powder from the shelves. The Major congratulates his grandson, who puffs himself up with pride. Thanks to him, they have escaped an unpleasant lecture. “We avoided a scolding, dear child! Absolutely! And how? By buying soap!” Of course, the humor is lost on the kid, but he laughs because he senses his grandfather is in a cheerful mood.