Looking Through The Lens

http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/ryansylander/www/

Chapter 21: The Ocean

Back Home

When Heather and I met on the pier the following morning, it was clear that the intense experience of the night before had left us changed.  Instead of the usual playful greeting and banter, Heather ran into my arms as I approached, and hugged me for a long time.

“How are you?” she asked, searching my eyes.

“Feeling pretty good.  You?”

She just smiled, and squeezed me tighter.

“I brought the pictures.  Maybe we won’t get distracted, this time,” I said.

Heather looked around me and down the pier.  “You sure about that last statement?”

I laughed.  “Yeah, I’m sure.  Look, people right over there.”  I pointed at the shore.

Heather made a face.  “Too bad.  All right, let’s see them.”

We spent a good half hour looking at the pictures.  One by one, we examined them, critiqued them, and tried to see what could have been better.

Most of them were run of the mill, or mistakes, or test shots.  The two pictures of her bucket on the pier came out exactly as she promised.  I couldn’t remember anymore which shot was the one with bucket upside down and which was right side up, but it didn’t matter; one was clearly in focus to the horizon and the other was blurry a few yards past the bucket.

Heather grabbed at the picture of me standing against the rail, cooing at it.  I didn’t think I looked particularly great in it, but she claimed it for her own. 

Finally we turned to the shot that Heather had taken in the park. 

“Wow, is that us?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“That’s a sweet picture!”

Framed between the triangular supports of the swings, Heather and I were lying head to head, our bodies pointing away from each other.  Above us, a faint quarter circle barely outlined the path of the moving swing.  The whole shot had a grainy orange cast to it.

The effect was surreal.  It was even more interesting because Heather had taken it moments before we had first kissed.

“Looks like a drawing compass,” Heather said, tracing the swing supports.  “We’ll call it ‘Couple with Compasses.’ ”

“Mm.  But we weren’t quite a couple yet,” I said.

“Yeah, we were.”

I grinned and replied, “Well, yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“In some ways I think we were together since we first met,” Heather said.

“I know what you mean.  I wish I had done things differently last year.”

“Me, too,” Heather agreed.  “Hey, I was talking to my parents at breakfast this morning.”

“About?”

“About coming to visit.”

My heart jumped.  “Really?  And?”

“They were all for it.”

“Oh, sweet!  Have you told them about my parents?”

“No, but I really doubt if they will have a problem.”

“All right.  When?”

We put the pictures away, and compared mental schedules.  The first obvious opportunity for Heather to visit was Thanksgiving.  Most years the skiing season would have started by then, and if not, there were plenty of other things to do.  After that, we had the two weeks of Christmas break.  Then there was the winter break in February, as well.  Maybe even a few long weekends.

“Well, let’s start with Thanksgiving,” I said, trying not to get too hopeful about seeing her every month.  “We’ll see about the rest, later.  Your parents probably won’t want to drive up every weekend.”

“If there’s any skiing to be done, my dad won’t mind at all.”

I laughed.  “Well, there’s always skiing to be done.”

“Seriously, he’s that obsessed.”

“Is he really good?”

“Yeah.  He’ll ski anything.”

“Me, too,” I said.

“Will you a least ski a few runs with me before you go off with him for the day?” Heather said with a pout.

“Of course, I was just saying.  Haven’t you been skiing for a while?”

“I get around,” she said, smiling.

“Too bad you can’t come up in September.  We could go fly-fishing.”

“Ooh, that would be so fun!”

“There’s a bunch of beautiful streams up there.  I’d love to take you to them.”

“Well, you have to promise to take me anyway,” Heather said.  “You will teach me how to fly fish, right?”

“I will.”

“Do you want to fish now?” she asked.

I looked at her.  “Are you feeling lucky?”

She looked at the sky for a second, and considered.  “Very.”

I laughed as I moved to prepare my line.  “You’re never going to give me a break!”

“Nope!”

“All right, then.  I’m just going to wait until you come to fish in my woods.  Then we’ll see who’s lucky and who isn’t.  Actually, we’ll see who can fish for real.  None of this easy pan fish stuff.  Trout are much more picky about how you present your bait.”

“I’m not worried,” Heather challenged.

I shrugged and smiled as I cast in.  “Big words from someone who hasn’t ever fly fished before.”

“Well, I can always blame it on my teacher if I don’t catch anything.”

I laughed, exasperated.  “Heather!”

“What?” she said innocently.

I just shook my head and rolled my eyes at her.

“Have you ever been fishing out on the sea?” she asked after a while.  Neither of us were having much luck with the fishing.

“From a boat?”

“Well, yeah, unless you can walk on water!”

“Pfft.  I did go once, on one of those giant deep-sea fishing boats.  It was really fun.  It was a little crowded, though, and I just caught one flounder.  But it was tasty.”

“Mm.  Hey look, I got one.”  Heather smiled apologetically as she put the fish into her bucket.

After Heather went to get ready for work, I went home empty handed.  The few fish we caught were small and we threw them back.  They weren’t worth the hassle of preparing.

As I approached the house, I wondered what I was going to do for six hours.  All I wanted to do was hang out with Heather.  She had a short shift today, but even that was going to seem agonizingly long.

Maybe Lara would want to hang out.  When I went into the house, she was reading on the porch.  No one else seemed to be around.

“Hey.  What’s up?” I asked.

“Not much.  You look chipper,” she said, peering at me over her book.

I wagged my eyebrows at her, and then patted her leg.  “Move over a little.”

Lara pulled her legs up and I sat down.  She replaced her legs over my lap. 

“Seatbelt on,” she said, putting her book down. 

I grinned at her as she looked at me for a moment.

“Hey, you had sex with Heather!” she suddenly blurted out.

I laughed.  “How do you girls do that?”

“How was it?” she asked, ignoring my question.

“Amazing.”

“Where?”

“Porch.”

“Here?”

“No. Her house.”

“Parents?”

“Sleeping.”

Lara nodded.  “Nice!”

I couldn’t seem to wipe the smile from my face.  “What about you?”

Lara smiled at me for a moment longer, and then sighed.  “Well, I called Julie, and she came over after some persuading.  At first she was distant, just like we were not really ever friends.  Then she started wanting to know about you and Heather.”

“Oh.  What did you say?”

“Not much, don’t worry.  But finally I did say that I thought she had fucked up.”

“And?”

“And she didn’t really like hearing that.”

“So she left?”

“No, actually she got mad for a bit, and started accusing me of breaking you and her up, and other bullshit like that.  Not letting me talk.”

“Sounds a lot like my last conversation with her,” I said knowingly.

“Well, after a while she just started crying and saying she was sorry.  I’m still not sure for what, but she was acting really strange.”

I nodded.  “Is she still with Brian?”

“I don’t know.  She doesn’t know.  Then it came out that her dad is gone again.”

“Aw crap.  That really sucks.”

“Yeah.  I guess her mom and dad had a big fight, and he just up and left the next morning to go back home.”

“Julie must be really upset about it.”

“Well, she says it’s not a big deal.  That she’s used to not having him around anyway, and all that, but I could tell she was really disappointed.”

I sat for a while with my head in my hands.  It seemed like her dad hadn’t changed after all.  I wondered how Julie really felt about it.  In some ways her relationship with me had paralleled her parents’ relationship.  I wondered how she would take this new event.  Would she be better or worse for it?

“So then she left,” Lara said.

“Did you ever talk about you and her?”

“No.  I’m not sure it will ever be the same.”

“Why?”

“There’s too much between us now.  And as I thought about it in bed last night, I think she was more into fooling around, and that it wasn’t a serious thing for her.”

I sighed.  “Well, she kind of told me as much, when I brought you up with her that night.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  I don’t know exactly if she was telling the truth,” I said cautiously, “but she said she was more into guys.  Maybe it was for my benefit, or maybe it’s really true.  I guess I should have told you, though.  I didn’t think of it until now,” I admitted.

“Well, it’s probably true.  After seeing her again, I feel differently about it, too.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Lara,” I said.

“I actually feel relieved.  And not as desperate to fall in love as I was the last couple of days,” she said with a laugh.  “But I’m still a little jealous of you.”

I looked at her with a sidelong glance.  “Obviously.”

“What?  Why?”

I smiled a little.  “You were busy in bed yesterday morning.”

Lara turned a little red.  “Oh, that.”

“You thought I didn’t notice?”

“I wasn’t sure.”

I sniggered as I asked, “Couldn’t help yourself?”

“Well, it sounded like so much fun, whatever you were doing to her.”

“What do you think I was doing?”

“I don’t know.  Stuff.”  Lara seemed unusually coy about it.

“Stuff...  All right.”

We just looked at each other for a bit, smiles on the verge of cracking.

“Were you giving her oral?” Lara asked quietly.

“Mm hmm,” I grunted affirmatively.  “I teased her like you said.”

“See!  It works!”

“Yeah, I think so,” I said, nodding.

“God.  If only James would learn that,” she said with a grimace.

I shrugged. 

 Lara threw her head back and stretched.  “Oh!  You’re making me desperate, again,” she moaned.

“Well, in a few days we’ll be heading home.  A fresh year.  Who knows what will happen?  Hey, don’t forget Muireann and Tommy.”

“Oh yeah!  What happened with that?”

“Last I heard they would be letting us know when we got back to school.”

“Mm.  That could be fun,” she said pensively.  “And since you are tied up, now, I won’t have any competition.”

I laughed.  “I’m still going to be hanging out.  We’ll have to introduce them to our swimming holes.”

“Um, they’re coming in winter?”

“Oh.  Yeah…”

“Dumb ass.  You can go swimming if you want, but I doubt they’ll join you.”

“I guess we’ll have to stick to indoor activities.  And skiing.”

The phone rang, and I went to answer it, after Lara let me free from her legs.

“Hello?”

“Hey, are you still free, tonight?” Heather asked excitedly.

“Yeah, of course.  What else would I have?”

“Can you come to the market, right now?”

“Um…  Sure, what’s up?”

“Just come as soon as you can.  Bye!”

“Bye?”

She was gone.

“Who was it?”

“Heather.  She wants me to come to her store.  You want to go for a bike ride?”

“So I can watch you get mushy in the back room?”

“Um...”

“Okay!” 

Lara hopped up and put on her shoes as she giggled at me.

When we went into Martin’s fish market, Heather spotted me immediately.  She practically threw her customer’s order into his arms, and came around to give me a little peck on the cheek.  She greeted Lara with a quick hug.

“Come,” she said, pulling me out the front door. 

“Where are we going?”

“There.”

I looked ahead.  We were headed toward the docks.

Heather stopped and pointed to the boats.

“See that white boat with the red trim over there?” 

I scanned the rows of white hulls and found the one with red trim.  It was a sport fishing boat.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going out on it, tonight.”

“What?”

“Fishing for striped bass.”

“Are you serious?  What... How much does that cost?”

I’d looked at the charter boat rates before, and even a half-day of fishing ran several hundred dollars.  I’d dreamed of, but never considered chartering one.

“Nothing!  The captain is one of my dad’s best friends, and he owes me a fishing trip from a while ago, when I won a bet,” Heather said, the words pouring out at full speed.  “I told him I wanted to cash in the other day.  He just came by, today, and told me he could go out tonight.  He’ll take you and me for stripers, and I said yes.  That is if you want to go?”

Heather was practically jumping up and down in front of me.  Lara was watching us with a wistful smile.

“Well, of course I want to go!”  I was almost speechless.  “How long will we be out?”

“Until about midnight or so, I think.  Maybe a bit later.”

“All right.  Hopefully, that should be cool with my folks.”

Heather turned to Lara.  “Do you want to come too?”

Lara seemed taken aback.  “Um, I don’t know.”

“There’s plenty of room.  Bring James if you want.”

“Well... I’ll see what he says.  I can call you.”

“Nah, just show up.  Be here at five, then!  I have to get back to the counter.  People are probably getting impatient,” she said, as she led us back to the store. 

Right before she went in, I grabbed her and gave her a quick hard kiss.

“Thanks,” I said.

“No problem!  It’ll be so much fun.  Oh, and bring your camera so you can take pictures of all the big meaty fish I catch!”

Lara and I both laughed.  “All right, see you at five,” I said.

She ran back into the store with a wave.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Lara said as we stepped onto our bikes and pedaled back home.

“What?”

“James would never do something like that for me.”

I didn’t really have an answer.  “Are you coming?”

“I don’t know.  It was nice of her to ask, but she probably wants to be alone with you.”

“No, she wouldn’t ask if she didn’t want you to come.  I say you should.  Even come alone, if you don’t want to invite James.”

“Then I’ll just be in the way of you two hanging out.”

“Look, I don’t mind you getting to know Heather,” I said honestly.  “Hopefully, you’ll be seeing her a lot this year.”

I watched Lara smile. 

“All right, I guess I’ll go then, if our moms let me.”

“It’s more likely they’ll let both of us go, than me alone, anyway.”

Lara smiled again.  “I don’t even fish much.”

“Eh, so what.  It sounds like Heather will be doing all the big catching anyway.”

Lara laughed.  “Does she always tease you like that?”

“Pretty much.”

“Good for her.”

I just made a face at her.

Hans was really jealous.  He had gone on a few chartered fishing trips over the years, and he said it was really a blast.  Although Melissa and Sarah had a few reservations about us being out in the ocean at night, Hans did all the arguing for me, saying that this was an opportunity not to be missed.  Luckily he was persuasive, and at quarter to five Sarah was driving Lara and me to the docks.  We had a small bag of snacks and another bag with a few warm clothes.  I had remembered to bring my camera, too.

When we went in, Heather was not behind the counter.  We waited a bit.  A moment later, she came in the front door.  She smiled slightly more than she already was upon seeing my mom.

“Hi!  We’re down at the boat…  Come on!” 

She led us down towards the docks.  “I’m glad you decided to come, Lara.”

“Are you sure it’s all right?”

“Of course!”

When we got to the long dock where the fishing boat sat anchored, Aongus and another man were talking, with their muscled arms crossed in front of their chests.  As we approached, the unknown man watched the four of us with a grin.  He said something to Aongus, and then hopped onto the boat and fired up the engine.

“Ah, here we are, then,” Aongus said amiably.

I introduced my mom to Aongus, and they exchanged greetings.

“Is Mairead here, yet?” he asked Heather.

“Yes, she just pulled up.”

“Uh oh!  I better get back to work then,” he grumbled, and then called out to the man on the boat.  “We’ll talk more later, Fred.  Take care of these kids, right?”

The man, evidently the boat’s captain, waved back and grinned. 

“Of course,” he bellowed over the noisy idling.

“He’s the best.  Don’t worry,” Aongus said quietly to Sarah.  He then looked out at the water.  “You kids are lucky; conditions look good for tonight.  Wish I could come, too.”

“Why don’t you?” I asked, feeling magnanimous about the trip.

“Eh.  You know how it is,” he answered, gesturing with a thumb towards the store.  “Mairead would row out to find me, and then make me swim back.”

“Tell her I pulled out before you could get off the boat,” the captain said, as he rejoined us on the dock.

“I’ve used that one already, Fred, and it didn’t work.” Aongus said with a laugh.  “Right then, I’m off.  Have fun!”

“He’s in the wrong business.”   The man chuckled as he watched Aongus walk away.  He then turned to us, and bowed grandly. 

“I am Frej Norgaard, captain of the Valdemar II here.  The finest sport fishing boat on the island.  And even finer off of it!  I see we will be five this evening,” he said, as he looked at my mom with a large grin.

“Oh, no!  I was just dropping them off,” Sarah explained hastily.

“There is always room for a first mate,” the captain said, eyes glinting.

Sarah laughed airily.  “Thank you, but some other time.  I’m Sarah, by the way, their mother,” she said, gesturing to Lara and me.

“A pleasure.” 

Frej took her hand and gave it a kiss.  Heather tittered, and Lara rolled her eyes.

Sarah grinned back at him.  “Well, Captain Norgaard, take care of my children,” she said.  Her voice sounded… different.

“They will be like my own on the boat.  Do not worry.  Have a good evening.”

Sarah nodded and turned to go.

“Bye, Mom?” Lara called out, sporting an amused smile.

“Oh, bye, sweeties.  Have a good time.” 

She kissed us and then went to the car.

“So is it Fred, or Frey?” Lara asked. 

I was wondering the same thing.  With Aongus and this man’s thick accents, it was hard to catch his name.

“Either.  My name is Frej, but land folk sometimes call me Fred.  And Aongus calls me that because he thinks it riles me up.  It does no such thing.”

Lara laughed.  Frej shook our hands and we told him our names, but he already knew them from Heather.

“Well, the fish are waiting.  Are you ready?” he asked.

Frej helped Lara hop into the boat, and then I went in after her.  Heather and Frej set about untying the mooring lines, and then he jumped in as she undid the headfast.  After tossing the line into the boat she climbed down onto the deck herself, as Frej eased the boat out of its berth and into the harbor.

I gave Heather a quick kiss and a squeeze. 

“This is really cool,” I said seriously.

“Good.”

I eyed her slyly.  “Are we keeping any kind of score tonight?”

“If you feel like losing, sure.”

“I’m game.”

“Fine.  You want to play total pounds, or biggest fish?”

I considered for a moment.  “Biggest fish wins.”

Heather smiled.  “All right.” 

She was laughing and her eyes held a secret.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

I shrugged.  “Fine, be mysterious.”

While the girls talked in the small galley, I climbed up to the helm and watched Frej guide the craft. 

“Heather tells me you fish a good deal.”

“Yeah, though I’ve never been on a trip like this.”

Frej nodded.  “It looks like a good night.  You should do well.”

“Good.  This is a nice boat.”

“Just got her last year,” he said, tapping the console.

“Thanks for taking us out in it.”

“No problem.  I owed Heather a trip, so I do not mind a few more friends.”

“She said she won a bet with you?” I asked.

Frej laughed.  “Yes, she did.  I will give you some advice.  Do not ever make bets with Heather.  She has been winning them since she was very young.”

I laughed, imagining a little five-year old Heather beating this large seaman at a bet. 

“What was the bet this time?” I asked him.

“The last time we went out she said she would catch a thirty-five pounder that night.”

“Thirty-five pounds?  That sounds large.”

“It is big, all right.  Not the biggest bass I have seen, but still a very good catch.”

“And she did it then?”

“Yes.  Thirty-seven pounds it ended up being.  She won another trip out,” Frej said, and laughed heartily. 

“Great,” I groaned.  “We have a game to see who gets the biggest fish tonight.  Looks like I’m gonna lose.”

Frej laughed knowingly.  “The trip we were on that night was from another bet she won.”

“Sounds like you should take your own advice and not bet her anymore,” I offered.

“Hah! Yes, I should.  But then I would never see her,” Frej confided.  “She is like a daughter to me, so I don’t mind losing these games if they mean spending more time with her.”

“Have you known her family long?”

“For a long time, yes.  Aongus and I used to run charter boats here.  We were business partners.  Those were the days!  Elise and Mairead and Aongus and I would cruise around the island, living on the sea between jobs.  Those were grand times.” 

Frej kept his eyes straight ahead, seeing something besides the quiet waves in front of us.

“Is Elise your wife?”

“Yes, she was, once.  She died a long while ago.”

“I’m really sorry,” I said quietly.  I didn’t know if he’d heard me over the engines.

Frej seemed to be reminiscing, so I stayed silent.

“When Mairead had Heather,” he said after some time, “Aongus started getting out of the charter business.  He wanted to be home, more.  What was funny, though, is that Heather just loved the boat.  She would have lived on it if she could.”

“She does seem at home on it,” I agreed. 

“But there was school, and everything else that comes with being a child.  So Aongus started his market.  Now he slaves away at it,” Frej said, and let out a wistful laugh.  “He had more time with Mairead when he worked with me.”

“Why didn’t you partner in his market?”

“Me?  No, I could never.  I was born on the sea, and I will die here.”

“Where were you born?”

“Denmark.  Really, I was born on a boat.”

“Wow.”

“My family goes far back, all seafarers.”

“That’s really neat.”

“So that was about when everything changed,” Frej continued, his voice nostalgic.  “Elise found she had cancer.  For a time it looked good.  We would go out to sail the sea often, since it took her mind off the treatment...  Now I go out alone.  Aongus has not fished in years.  Mairead will not even go for a cruise.

“The wind feels different than it used to.  I always welcomed the sea air when we motored through the waves.  Elise would stand at my side – much like you are now – and she would let her pale hair out in the wind.  At least, until...”  Frej stopped, and then shook his head.  “Well, Aongus and Mairead were always fooling around in the fishing chairs down on deck.  Some things never change, I suppose.” 

Frej chuckled, and then sighed.

“Now the wind is hard.  Endlessly so.”

The wind suddenly became apparent to me, whipping at my ears and eyes.  I could see how riding through it day in and day out could become tiresome, especially without Heather at my side.

“Things will never be the same.  I wish I was young again, if only to see Elise once more.”

Frej suddenly laughed, and swept his serious mood away with a clap on my back. 

“Well!  A long answer to a short question, Matt,” he said amiably.  “That is why I still make bets with Heather.  When we sail out together, it is like returning to those times twenty years ago.  I do not mind losing.  Heather has grown up to be a wonderful person.”

Before I could agree, Frej cut the throttle and slowed the craft. 

“We will see what we have over there.”

He slowly drifted closer to the shore, and then disengaged the engines.  He waited for a few minutes, watching.  I wondered what he was looking for, but didn’t ask.  With trout fishing, it was common to watch for fish biting the surface, but I doubted that striped bass did the same.

“Let us try here, to start,” Frej said, apparently pleased with what he saw.

He motioned to me, and we hopped down into the rear of the boat.  Lara and Heather came out.

“Good spot?” Heather asked.

“We will see,” Frej said.  He stooped and went into the galley, and returned with two fishing poles.  “Lara,” he called, “would you open that floor hatch for me there?”

Lara pointed questioningly, and Frej nodded.  He was grinning.

She pulled on the handle, looked inside, and let out a screech.  She slammed shut the hatch with a thud.

“Frej!” Heather scolded, although she was laughing along with him.

“What’s in there?” I asked. 

Lara was clutching her chest.

“Take a look,” Frej offered.

I approached carefully, and pulled the hatch up slightly.  The sight was a bit disgusting, but I didn’t freak out like Lara did.

“Snakes?”

“Eels,” Heather said.

“For?”

“The big fish like them,” she explained.

I looked warily at the eels.  They were writhing around the holding tank in a black squiggly mass.

“Do they sting or bite?” I asked.

“No, they are harmless,” Frej dismissed.  “Grab one.  Heather will show you how to hook it.”

I looked at Heather, wondering if Frej was still joking, but she nodded for me to go ahead.  I reached gingerly into the pile of eels, and tried to grab one.  After more than a few slipped through my fingers, I finally pinched one around the neck and pulled it out.  Heather was giggling.  The eel was about a foot long, and squirmy like anything.

Heather had the hook ready and she threaded it behind the eel’s lips. 

“There you are,” she said, handing me the rod.

Lara was still uneasy at the sight of the eel flailing about on the end of the line.

Heather reached in and grabbed her own eel.  I noticed she used a towel to get a grip on it.  Clearly, she had thought it would be funny to watch me struggle trying to grab one with my bare hands.

Lara shook her head and made a face when Heather offered her the baited rod.

 Frej hopped up the ladder to the helm and pushed on the throttle, moving the boat a little closer to the shore. 

“So when Frej gives the signal, drop your line,” Heather said.

Frej let the boat drift some, and then called out.  Heather and I both released the spools, and the eels disappeared under the dark water.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Wait until the line goes slack.  They swim to the bottom, where the stripers are hanging out.”

The eels steadily pulled out more and more line.  Heather’s line suddenly lost tension, and she engaged the reel to pull the eel back slightly.

I did the same to my line a moment later.  In the meantime Frej watched us closely, occasionally nudging the boat with the throttle.

“Let the reel loose,” Heather said.  “Now we wait.  Let the eels do the work.”

A few moments went by.  Suddenly there was a thump on my line.

“There you go, Matt!  Excellent!” cried Frej from the bridge, almost before I even felt it.  I watched in amazement as line started to fly off the spool. 

“Reel in and set the hook!” Heather said. 

I fumbled with the reel, finally engaging the gear again and pulling up sharp on the line.  A fish pulled back on the other end.  It felt nothing like the pan fish we caught on the pier, and nothing like the trout I caught back in my streams.  This was a big fish! 

I looked at Heather, and she smiled at me. 

“Looks like someone is lucky tonight,” she said.

If she only knew, I thought as I wrestled with the fish.

That was the first of many that night.  The regulations were two striped bass per person, but we didn’t think we would be able to eat more than one of these monsters.  We let the largest one swim around in the holding tank, replacing it if there was a larger catch.

Around ten, the fishing was at its peak.  Frej knew all the good spots, apparently.  To my surprise, I was winning with a thirty-two pound fish.  Heather had only managed twenty-seven pounds.  Lara had not wanted to try yet.  She had gotten over the eels, though, and was caught up in the excitement of Heather’s and my challenge, so I knew she could be persuaded.

“Come on, Lara, it’s a thrill to land one of these fish,” I said.

“I don’t know.  Do I have to hook the eel myself?”

“No, of course not.  I’ll do it for you,” I offered.

Lara agreed, and soon she was holding the pole, with an eel dangling from the hook.  She examined it, but not too closely.

“Matt!” Frej called down to me.

“Yeah?”

“Come up, I will show you how to guide the boat.”

I practically flew up to the bridge in my excitement.

Frej spoke in a low voice, after glancing at Heather.  “You see, a good bit of the fishing happens from up here.”

I frowned.  “How so?”

“Stripers are very picky.  Particularly the big ones.  That is how they got big, you know.  So if your eel does not look completely natural, they will not go for it at all.”

“We seem to be lucky tonight, then, because I’m just letting them swim down on their own.”

“True.  But, in order to let them swim, they need to have a free line.  No drag.  That is where the captain comes in.  Here, stand at the helm.”

I switched places with him, and laid a hand on the wheel.

“Now, push on the throttle there. Yes, good.”

Frej had me move the boat for a minute.  “Now, put it in idle.  Watch the shore.”

I looked out at the shore, and wondered what I was supposed to see.  Then I knew what it was.

“We’re drifting?”

“Right!  There is a current, and also some wind.  So it is all about timing.  And control.  This boat is very maneuverable.  She can turn on a dime, and move very carefully.”

“So what do I do?” I asked.

“Take us back to where we started our drift.”

I did, carefully engaging the throttle.

“Now drift again.” 

Frej watched the shore, and then called out to Lara and Heather.  “Drop!”

“Now, watch their lines, Matt.  You want to keep them straight up and down into the water.  That way you keep the boat drifting with the eels, and they will not be dragged along.”

It was dark, but I could see their lines shimmering from the light Frej had on the deck.  Both lines began to angle away from the hull.

“Um...”  I stood still, not knowing how to make the boat move sideways.  Frej smiled and turned the wheel, adjusting the throttle slightly. 

“There.  The wind is pushing us a little,” Frej said.

For the next few minutes, I worked hard to keep the lines straight.  More often than not I was correcting my own overcorrections.  It didn’t take much to make the boat change course slightly, and I realized it was really an issue of anticipating what I needed to do. 

No fish took the bait, so Frej had me reposition the boat for another pass while the girls reeled in their eels.  As I floated over the spot again, he let them know when to drop.

Lara and Heather had both bottomed out their lines and were waiting again.  I was starting to get the hang of nudging the boat.

“Good, Matt,” Frej said encouragingly.

Suddenly, Lara shrieked out, “I think I got one!” 

Frej peered down at her.  “Yes!  Set the hook!”

Lara had no idea what to do, so Heather showed her.  Luckily the fish hung onto the eel during the excitement.  After a moment, Lara had hooked her first bass.

It became apparent that she had a large one on the line, as the fish put up a really solid fight.  Eventually Lara reeled it in, and got it close to the boat.  Frej jumped down onto the deck and brought the fish over the side.

“Well, I think Ms. Lara has just soundly beaten you all!” Frej exclaimed.

I watched from the bridge as Frej unhooked the fish, and weighed it.

“Heh, heh,” he chuckled.

“How much?” I called from the bridge.

“Forty-two!”

Did he really say forty-two?

“Damn!”

Lara was giddy.  “Forty-two pounds?  Does that mean I win?”

I smiled, watching the joy on my sister’s face at having caught her first trophy fish.  I really hoped this would make her want to fish with me back at home more often.

Lara wanted to return her fish to the sea, so we ended up keeping my thirty-two pound bass.  Heather had managed a thirty-pounder after Lara’s monster, but then it was time to cruise home.  Even though Lara wasn’t officially part of the game, we all agreed she had won.

The moon was full and high when Frej turned the boat back towards Montauk. 

“There are some sodas in a cooler in the galley,” he said, hopping up to the helm.  “Help yourself.  I’ll take us back a little slower than we came out.”

The three of us piled into the galley, suddenly feeling exhausted.  The wind and sea air, combined with the excitement of the fishing, had worn us out.

Lara and Heather plopped down at the small table.  I pulled three sodas from the fridge and passed two to them.  We clicked cans together.

“Cheers,” I said. 

“This was really fun,” Lara said.

“Yeah, thanks for inviting us,” I added.

“No problem.  It definitely was fun.”

“I hope I didn’t interfere with a romantic evening,” Lara said.

“No, absolutely not,” Heather reassured her.  “I’m really glad you came out.  And even more glad that you won the game.  I’d never hear the end of it if Matt had won.”

“What?” I exclaimed.  “I still beat you.”

Heather ignored me, although she did smile and give me a sidelong glance after a moment. 

“I’m going to see if Frej will let me drive some more,” I said. 

I leaned over and gave Heather a sweet kiss.  She murmured onto my lips. 

As I walked out of the galley, I heard Lara call after me, “What about my kiss?”

Heather and Lara tittered behind me, as I just smiled and went onto the deck, wondering what they were going to talk about.

Frej smiled when I climbed up next to him.

“Good job keeping her steady back there, Matt.  It takes real skill to maneuver a boat.  Perhaps you have some salt in you after all.”

I shrugged with a small smile, feeling a little warm at the compliment.

“You want to take her home?”

“Sure!” I answered.

As I held the wheel tightly, I looked up at the full moon glowing brightly overhead.  The stars were thick, and the waves were calm.  I felt some connection to Frej, though I didn’t know exactly why.

“Why didn’t you ever remarry?” I asked him after a while.

He was silent for a long time… so long that I almost repeated my question.  Then he spoke.  His voice was distant.

“If you are lucky, you may find someone who is both your first mate and your captain.  I was lucky, Matt.  Now, I am just waiting until I can meet her again.  One day, my ship will be swallowed by the sea, and I’ll find my Elise swimming there.  And we will be together.  Just like it once was.”

I had nothing to offer in response.  But even though I was just a kid, and had none of his experience, I knew exactly what he meant.

Forward to Chapter 22

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