In the Jaws of a Shark
佚名 / Anonymous
Except for the seals bobbing their black beads in and out of the green Pacific waters， brothers Eric and Nick Larsen seemed to have the ocean to themselves.
Dressed in wet suits， gloves on their hands， they straddled their rocking surfboards under a brilliant blue sky. There was a southerly flow to the ocean this cool Monday morning， July 1， 1991. Four-foot waves were sweeping into a narrow， deserted beach， one of the many coves on the coastline north of California' s Monterey Bay.
Sometime after 8 a.m.， 50-year-old Nick pointed his board toward the shore about 150 yards away. "I' m going to the truck to warm up. " he said.
"I' ll stay a little longer. " Eric called after him.
Until ten weeks earlier， Eric had been a software engineer for a Silicon Valley company writing programs for a fiber-optic data network for the proposed NASA space station. But he found the pace too slow and wanted to be outdoors.
So when the company began laying off employee， the 32-year-old told management he' d take a leave of absence.
At six-foot-one and 175 pounds， Eric was always in shape. Now he brought himself to peak fitness， running， swimming， bicycling， surfing and canoeing.
Awaiting the break of a good wave， Eric gazed seaward. Then he noticed a swirling turbulence close by. There' s something really big down there， he thought.
In that instant， he felt a powerful clamp on his left leg. Gaping in horror， he saw two wide rows of white， triangular teeth， bared to the gums， biting through flesh.Thigh to shin， his leg was caught in the jaws of a great white shark at least 15 feet long.
Pry them loose！ In lightning-fast reflex， Eric shot his gloved left hand to the top of the monster' s snout， his right to the bottom. He pushed mightily against the jaws， while the shark tugged.