Short story finalist 2020: The Cormorant by Dan Shushko

Finalists will be revealed daily until the winner is announced on Saturday, January 25 2020.

Check out the full list of finalists so far here.

Read last year's finalists here.

"There's no wi-fi," Tamara called to her mum.

"Why don't you explore the beach?"

Tamara had wanted to stay with her dad. He lived across the road from the ocean baths, where she hung with her friends. Instead she was here.

Her mum had booked a week in a beach house in a remote part of the coast just north of Forster. The house was small but neat. It had with two antique fishing rods hanging on the wall and some old newspaper articles that had been put into frames.

Picking herself off the lounge, Tamara set off for the beach. As she left the house a southerly blew into her face which made her pull up the zipper on her hoodie.

After looking up and down the shoreline, Tamara headed to the rock pools that were at the near end of the beach. She noticed a girl, about her age, bending down looking into one of the pools. Tamara thought that a friend might make her holiday less boring and walked towards her.

When she got to the girl, Tamara saw that the girl was only wearing a pair of board shorts and t-shirt. She must have been freezing.

"Hi," called out Tamara.

The girl turned around and smiled. Tamara noticed that the girl had pigtails, and one of her front teeth was chipped.

"Aren't you cold?" asked Tamara.

"Wanna see something cool in the big rock pool over there?" The girl gestured with her head towards a larger, deeper rock pool not far from where the waves were crashing.

Tamara was unsure if to follow the girl as she waved her hand for Tamara to follow her. She decided to go and was careful not to fall and cut herself on the jagged rocks.

The waves continued to thump down and make the rocks slippery. They arrived at the big rock pool just as a wave filled it with water. Once the foamy top had disappeared, Tamara noticed why the girl was so excited. There was a long silver fish caught in the rock pool darting around looking for an escape.

Before the next wave came to fill the rock pool, the girl jumped into the rock pool, the water reaching above her waist. She put her hands into the water, and grabbed the fish with one fell swoop and brought it to the surface. Its scales were a dull grey in the afternoon sun.

"What a catch!" called Tamara. The fish was thrashing side to side, the girl holding it like a trophy. "Are you gonna take it home and eat it?" asked Tamara.

"Do you want to?" replied the girl.

Tamara shook her head, "No."

The girl smiled, "Me neither." She placed the fish back into the water and it sped under a ledge. The girl climbed out of the rock pool and stood next to Tamara. Even though the wind had picked up and the girl had been in the cold water, she wasn't shivering. The two of them left the rock pool and walked back towards the shore.

Just beyond the breakers, Tamara could see some birds diving into the water. The birds were circling a school of bait fish. The girl saw Tamara watching the birds plunge into the blue and answered Tamara's question before she could ask it.

"It's a cormorant. They nest up in the cliffs," and pointed above where they stood. "They're such beautiful birds". The girls could hear someone calling in the distance and turned to see Tamara's mum waving. "I think you might have to go," said the girl.

"I'll be back," said Tamara. "Did you want to come and have a look at our beach house?"

"Maybe next time." The girl gave her a smile. Tamara left her new friend and ran to her mum.

"Where were you? I was worried." Asked Tamara's mum.

"You're the one that told me to go exploring." They started walking back towards the house.

Once at the house, her mum pointed to a plate on the table.

"I've made you some jam sandwiches."

It wasn't until then that Tamara realised how hungry she was.

"How was the beach?"

"Great, I met a girl that showed me a huge fish that was caught in one of the rock pools."

Her mum winked at her.

"Told you we didn't need wi-fi."

As Tamara ate her second jam sandwich, she started to look at the newspaper articles that were hung on the wall. There was one about a man that had won a medal at a lifesaving competition at Bondi Beach.

The other, which hung near the kitchen window, was about a small girl that had drowned down at the beach.

Tamara read the date and it was from before she was born. She looked at the picture of the girl that had drowned and stopped chewing her sandwich. The girl in the picture had pigtails, and one of her front teeth was chipped.

Tamara looked at the picture again. She put her plate on the sink and called out to her mum.

"I'm going back down to the beach."

Tamara ran back to the beach. The late afternoon sun had turned the water a hazy grey. As she got there, she saw that the incoming tide had swallowed the rock pools.

She looked for the girl, but could see nothing.

Just as Tamara was turning to go back, a cormorant with its wings spread wide, swooped over her shoulder and let out an elegant call. Tamara stopped to look at the bird.

The cormorant glided over the top of the breaking waves and dove into the water.

In one fell swoop it dived down, brought a fish to the surface and flew back to its nest in the cliffs.

Tamara smiled to herself and walked back to her mum who had followed her to the beach. They turned and walked along the shoreline.

Tamara didn't even notice that the wind was blowing more fiercely than before.