The Gentle People
by Irwin Shaw

THE STORY: Two middle-aged cronies love to fish in their off hours.

Each of them has his domestic and financial difficulties, but when they go fishing the world is their own.

Just as they are planning a glorious jaunt in southern waters, a tough young gangster appears to extort “protection” money from them.

They pay, knowing that otherwise their boat will be destroyed.

But the gangster meets one of their daughter's and learns the old men have saved a large sum toward the purchase of a new boat.

He demands the full amount of these savings, and the despairing fishermen appeal to the law.

In court, however, they are victimized again by a crooked judge, who dismisses the case.

Knowing the gangster will stop at nothing, they realize they must take justice into their own hands.

The take him for a short boat ride, from which he does not return.

And in the end the fishermen, contented and reasonably secure, again plan their dream cruise off the coast of Cuba where ”the water's warm and the sun shines for eleven months a year.”