The Iron Quest 6 by João Coelho
David and Goliath
David and Goliath is a famous biblical story about a young shepherd boy who defeats a giant called Goliath, a heavily armed Philistine giant who defied the army of Israel for 40 days to send a man to fight him. No one would face this warrior until David, armed only with a sling and stones, volunteered. David hit the giant in the forehead with a rock and killed him, a story that teaches an important lesson in bravery, courage and faith.
More than 50 centuries later, on a deserted and forgotten beach, this story repeats itself, but it repeats itself every day. David, nicknamed “Bad Siss”, is the leader of the Titanic Gang, a group of young men who bravely face immense risks working in a ship graveyard, using only their hands, strength and dexterity.
In the water lie iron giants that challenge any man to fight. They are the Goliaths of this story. Their strength, size and weight are enormous and they also have a powerful ally, the sea, which throws dangerous waves and currents around them. As if fate had wanted to make this fight even more unequal, the bay has recently been patrolled by huge sharks that have challenged the fishermen in a fight between other Davids and other Goliaths. The Titanic gang is at a distinct disadvantage in this battle, and it will take all of their courage, ingenuity, and teamwork to win. Instead of heavy iron armor, they wear old, torn clothes, mismatched shoes that the tides bring ashore at night, and a pair of worn-out gloves.
They dive long into the dark and gloomy world that awaits them below, groping the bottom with their hands until they find pieces of iron that they can detach from the rusty hulls. When they emerge from the dense, almost palpable darkness, they look like ghostly beings from a surreal world, anxiously searching for oxygen on the surface. They bring with them pieces of flesh torn from the submerged Goliath as if they were small trophies. Their fatigue is evident, but an even greater effort awaits them when they succeed in removing larger portions of the giant's body.
But the fight isn't over yet; they can't claim victory over Goliath until his flesh is deposited on the beach and dried in the sun to be weighed. They use fragile rafts made of pieces of styrofoam wrapped in a fishing net to carry the smallest pieces to the shallowest waters of the bay. But when it comes to pieces of their hulls weighing more than 200 kilos, they have to drag them along the seabed to the beach, a superhuman effort.
Dusk is falling on the beach when Goliath is defeated. They celebrate in silence, as if the victory had a bitter taste, knowing that tomorrow it will start all over again. A simple cigarette is the reward many have longed for. The younger ones, exhausted and shivering from being in the water all day, light a fire to warm themselves because they will have to spend the night on the beach. The tide has risen and the bikes can no longer pick them up to take them back to the village where they live, about 8 km away. Another day passed in this isolated cove, where only the wind and the sound of the waves witnessed the story of David and Goliath.
