the Scuffy - 20. Chapter 20

The week followed a pattern that would become our modus operandi, breakfast with Marge at the kiosk, Glen bringing me lunch on Mondays, lunch at the deli the rest of the week.

Nicky wanted to have another party on Thursday. We were okay with that. “Nicky, is Jamie coming with us tomorrow?”

“Yes, he said he made arrangements at the pizza parlor to have the week-ends off.”

Friday morning we were ready to go, The workout was good and I could feel my muscles tightening up. Glen was coming along as well, I smiled as I looked at him, I was one lucky guy.

Friday at lunch, I picked up some sweats and T-shirts for the boys, thinking we should all have the same T-shirts, I picked up six, including Jamie in the group. “Glen, call Nicky to remind Jamie to bring a pair of sweats and flip flops with him. I need to get some flip flops for the boys.”

“I’ll get them, you get to work.”

“Yes, boss” a kiss and I was heading for my office.

Heading home, “Did you like the chicken we had the last couple of weeks?”

“Yes, I thought it was pretty good. The kids liked it.”

“I’ll get some more for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll make that a regular Friday dinner.”

Puling into the garage, “Where’s Nicky?”

“Hey guys,” Nicky was exiting the house.

“Key works”

“Yep, do you guys want a snack?”

“Nope, we need to go. You ready?” He took off his pants, he had his blue shorts on.

“Did you tell Jamie about the sweats and the flip flops?”

“Yes, he told me.” There was Jamie right behind Nicky.

“As soon as we change, we’ll be ready to go.”

“Don’t worry Jamie, it’ll take them a while.” I went to slap Nicky on the head, he ducked and ran down the driveway laughing.

We quickly changed and then went to get the boys. I stopped at Chicken Shack, while Glen drove the car to the dock. I noticed they sold a bucket of legs and thighs for less than a regular bucket. When I asked why, the owner told me that everyone wanted the breast and wings. So I took a bucket of breast and wings, a bucket of legs and thighs with extra mash potatoes and gravy. Got a regular coleslaw, he threw in an extra. I saw him take a tray of biscuits from the oven, I bought the whole tray. I was carrying the bags back to the boat when Charles saw me and came to help.

“Thanks son” I stopped and gave him one of the very warm biscuits and I decided to eat one as well. He smiled as we walked back to the boat. When we arrived, Peter was fishing for crabs and Jamie was helping him. I looked into the bucket and it was almost full. “You guys doing all right?”

“Yes, but we need a bigger pail. I never realized how many crabs there are here.”

“You can thank my uncle for that. He dumps the fish tailings into the water here when he finishes selling the fish. They are well fed.”

“Are you ready to go?”

“Soon, when you hear the horn, you can board. You’ll have time.”

I put the chicken on the counter, Nicky and Glen took a biscuit.

“These are warm and good.” Uncle heard us and came out of his cabin and had one.

“Where did you get these?”

“At Chicken Shack”

I went to the stern with Charles, “We need to pull the anchor. Take this lever and move it back towards yourself. This causes the wheel to reverse and lift the anchor out of the water.” I watched as he did that.

“Dad, If I wanted to drop the anchor, I would push the lever forward.”

“Yes, but you must be careful, when the anchor drops it will go faster because the weight of the anchor will pull it down. I’ll show you how to do that when we reach our fishing grounds.”

“Peter, Jamie, bring the crabs on board we’ll be leaving in a few minutes.” The anchor was up, we just needed to untie the lines from the dock cleats.

Walking into the cabin, “Nicky, do you have the our spot selected?”

“I was thinking since we were fishing in a semi-circle, we should go here.”

“Let’s see what the weather report is. Uncle, what’s the weather report?”

“Swells two to three feet, calm sea, a slight wind out of the Northeast. Looks good.”

“Okay Nicky, plot your course and let’s go.”