The Peter Charles - 54. Chapter 54

For the next several weeks until school was out, we fished the week-ends and worked during the week. We did see Scott and Travis at Stella’s a few times with Terry. They were always excited to see us. Scott said he sold one of his paintings and he was happy about that. He said we needed to come and look at the Gallery, they have added some new paintings.

Thursday evening Glen and I went to check out the Gallery. I saw paintings of gardens which I knew came from the photos he had taken at the Chinese restaurant . There were other paintings that were not done by Scott or Travis. I looked at Scott as he showed us the new paintings.

“Scott, who painted this, it isn’t your’s or Travis’s style?”

“My art professor asked if we’d let some of his students display their art in our Gallery. I agreed and those are the ones he said would be good for the students to show. Tony priced them. I think Diane is coming over in two weeks with an art dealer.”

“These new paintings are okay but I like your style better.”

“You’re prejudiced Dad.”

“Yes, I am”

I spoke to Tony before I left, “What do you know about this art dealer that Diane is bringing out to see the paintings?”

“He’s a very reputable man and has been a friend of Diane’s for a long time. He was impressed with the paintings she took back with her. He wants to see more.”

“Good, I hope he likes what he sees.”

“I think he will.”

“Tony, you are pretty young to be involved with art. Did you study it in school?”

“No, my dad is a painter and is well known in Italy. I think I have always known about art, in my home that is all they talked about. At dinner when Dad had his friends over they would discuss art in terms of techniques, colors and the old masters. You learn a lot if you keep your mind open and your mouth shut.”

I thought that’s good advice regardless of who you are.

The next fishing trip I noticed Jim’s boat in his docking space. “I think Tony did a fine job on putting fiberglass on Jim’s boat. This will allow him to go further out if he wants.”

“Kev, look who is going down the road.”

It was Jim, “Glen, let’s go to the bridge and watch.”

I told Tony to use a bright color. The bottom which would be below water was black but he used a bright orange for above the water line. Jim, stopped at the entrance to the dock. He looked and then turned around and looked again. He walked to his boat, felt the sides then got on board. His keys fit, he was perplexed, this looked like his boat but he was perplexed as he scratched his head.

“Hey Jim, we won’t miss you out there. That bright paint will show up for miles.”

“I don’t know who did this. I didn’t tell Tony to put fiberglass on my boat. This is too expensive for me.”

“Maybe he had some leftover and decided to help you out. My guess he evaluated your wood and decided if you were going to continue to fish, he’d use what scraps he had and put it on your boat.”

“I’ll call him and ask him how much it cost. I’ll have to pay him a little each trip.” I watched as his men came and when they saw his boat they laughed.

The boys came back with the chicken from Chicken Shack, we ordered pizza to be delivered, Glen and I went shopping at the local grocery store. We had Stella’s pastrami for lunch.

We followed Jim out of the dock, I tooted our horn as we passed him. He was at the five mile mark where he fished last year, we went to Charles’s mark. I watched as he steered the boat, I had full confidence in him after last year’s cruise.

Later with a cup of coffee, “Charles is going to be a no nonsense type of guy. He takes responsibility very seriously.”

“And your support had nothing to do with it?”

“No, I support all of our kids.”

“Yes, you do but with Charles you treat different, you encourage him to think for himself and you give him a chance to fail, you don’t do that with all of the kids.”

“Each child is different, Charles had to fill in for his father with Peter, that’s a sobering experience for a kid. How many boys would take their younger brother and sit and tell him about his dead parents. Charles did that with Peter. Do you remember when we went to measure the boys? I was sitting on the bed with Peter on my lap, I had my arms around him pulling him in to me. He started to cry, when I asked him why he said that Charles use to tell him how he felt when their dad did that to him and now he knew what it felt like. Only a serious child would do that, Charles was making sure Peter didn’t forget his parents. How many twelve years olds would do that. I have a very special place for Charles and many times I neglect him, not on purpose, but because the others needed us more.”

“That was the night I saw you in a different light. I watched you with the boys, you were wearing your heart on your shirt sleeve, Those boys looked at you with such a look, I knew then that you were my man. Charles and Peter had love in their eyes when they looked at you, even Gram had tears in her eyes. I’m not sure even to this day, if it was the look in your eyes or the boys eyes that made me realize I wanted to be a permanent part of your life.”

I leaned over and kiss him, “I’m just glad you said yes.”

Before we could say anything else, I heard Charles, “Johnny, get the anchor” We had arrived.

The boys headed to drop the bow nets, Jonathan and Joseph went to drop the stern nets while Peter took one of the crab pails to them for bait. Scott and Steve began to prepare dinner.

We didn’t blow the horn at four, Glen and I handle the nets. I let the boys sleep till six, then I blew the horn. They came up ready to bring in the nets, I told them they must have been so tired they slept through the four o’clock horn, so Pop and I brought the nets in. They looked at me as to not believe me, Glen started to laugh and soon I was laughing as well.

Charles wanted to know how full the nets were. “I told him they were half full.”

“Dad, you’re teasing, I bet they were full. The mermaids said they would be full.”

Now we all laughed, “Yes, Charles they were full.”

Our chefs had scramble eggs with sausage and toast. The boys dug right in, as soon as you heard Amen, you could hear forks against the plate.

Fishing was good, Charles would look at me and smile, it was his way of saying, ‘see I told you so’. We went back in on Sunday morning with a full load. The symphony started, cannery truck and workers helping to unload the boat, Charles checking weights, Uncle selling fish and Glen went to get the truck while Sammy went to get the van. All the boys over sixteen had their driving license and those under sixteen were anxious to get theirs.

Everything loaded we were heading home to shower and change. Mary got her share of fish and shrimp. The lobsters we kept this time.

Now we headed to Gram’s, Peter ran into the house and told her we were here. I gave her two fish and a lot of shrimp. Her sister Jane was living here now so she needed the extra. If she ever wanted more, I’d give it to her from our freezer.

Her neighbor, Mrs. Logan, came out and got her fish. She said she missed it when we were away. Charles and Marie came with her dad. Charles had progressed in his intentions, they’re now at the hand holding stage. I looked upon them with a slight smile and a twinkle in my eyes. Young love was always special and so much more because of Charles.

Mom and Dad said we were too early for lunch, we said that is okay we already had breakfast. “Will grab something to eat at the Wharf”

Even though Jamie wasn’t with us, I still stopped and gave Grace and Bob their fish and I had some shrimp for them as well. Next stop was Johnny’s, we dropped off the fish and shrimp and then he came with us as we went to Paul’s and Gus’s house. Last stop was Rusty’s before heading home. The boys would stay over and go to school in the morning with our boys.

When we got home, the boys fixed themselves a sandwich, they knew we were going to the Wharf for dinner. “I trust all of your homework is finished.” They said it was. Peter fed Gus, it looked like he was getting bigger.

Glen and I were reading the Sunday paper when we heard a boat horn. I looked at Glen, “That must be Jim coming in, let’s go and see how he did.”

“We can check on the Crab Master and his crew as well.”

Jim wasn’t the only boat fishing from our docks, but Jim we knew very well. I knew the other captains to see them but that’s all. The captain’s table use to have five but when Uncle moved they were down to two. As we walked to the dock, Peter brought the boys to go crabbing. Glen and I stood and watched Jim come in. He had a big smile on his face. I knew he was full. As they unloaded, Jim came over to us. “I never saw so many fish as we did when we pulled our nets. I was afraid the wench would break.”

“How far out did you go?”

“Well, I was shooting for five miles but I overshot it. I must have been about five and a half miles out.”

“You would’ve caught your load at four miles, the mermaids loved your colors.”

I looked at Glen, he normally doesn’t say much to Jim. Then we laughed.

We watched the boys for a few minutes and then decide we’d meet them in the Wharf. I told Peter when he was hungry to come to the Wharf. We were talking to Barney, drinking our beers when the boys came in. “We’re hungry Dad.”

“Okay, go and wash your hands and get a table.” I went and told Mary that we had come for a late lunch or early dinner. She said she just made a pot of chicken noodle soup, so I guess it’ll be a late lunch.

She brought out soup bowls, Steve went to help. It was a heavy well seasoned soup. She had warmed bread to go with it. One bowl was enough for Glen and I but the older boys asked if they good have more. For dessert, we walked to the ice cream parlor and got an ice cream cone.

Picking up the crab buckets, we walked home. I knew the older kids would be hungry soon, so they made themselves a sandwich before turning in for the night.

We continued to fish till school was out. We had to wait and extra week for Scott and Travis too finish, something about needing to finish an art project. Nicky and Jamie decided they were going to take summer school, so they stayed at home.

It was time for us to head south to the Panama Canal. We only stopped for fuel and water, the longest delay was waiting our turn to enter the Canal. We sailed up the Eastern coast and stopped at the Keyes, instead of Miami. Again we took advantage of topping off the fuel and water tanks, then headed north to Norfolk, Virginia. The boys weren’t going to take the chance of not dancing on a Navy vessel. Unfortunately, there were no ships in the harbor. Glen and Scott and Steve went shopping, as soon as they were back we headed for our next stop, Canada.

When we pulled into the fishing village we stopped at last year, the boys met the same woman. She remembered them and they had a chat while we topped off the tanks and emptied the waste tank. I was laughing, Glen asked why do they charge more for the wastes than they do for the water.

I brought on board several large ice blocks and stored them in the holds. Then we were back out on the sea heading for Ireland and England. Ireland would be our first stop, Shawn let Callum know and I was sure he’d meet us when we docked in Ireland. We did fish for cod and we did catch a few. They were cleaned and put into the hold with the ice.

As we pulled into the marina, there was Callum standing on the dock waiting for us. The boys headed off the boat to welcome him. You’d think they never saw him, it was only a few weeks, I flew him home when school was out.

I went to the office and arranged for a bus trip for the Ring of Kerry, the boys liked the young lass who was our guide. We walked through a small village where the boys picked up some souvenirs and books. We had lunch at a cafe close to the sea. And then we went to the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone, each boy had to kiss the Stone. I thought they’d be scared since you have to be held by your feet to reach it, no, as long as Glen had one leg and I had another, they wanted to do it.

Getting back to the boat we had a traditional Irish meal, Shepard’s pie with Cheesy Guinness bread. We spent the evening in the marina and left in the morning for London. Entering London on the Thames River, I knew we’d stay here for a few days. Callum took over the tour guide book and lined up two tours per day, between each tour we had fish and chips for lunch. I watched the boys as they were served their meal in a newspaper. We had to have an orange drink to go along with it. I watched my cooks, we had fresh cod in our hold so I expect we’ll have fish and chips.

Touring the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Changing of the Guard, Big Ben, which was being repaired, but we saw the tower where it would reside, and the London Eye. The boys had to ride that, I watched.

We spent a day at the British Museum, they were fascinated by the various exhibits, making comments about seeing similar statutes when we were in Greece.

Scott heard about the Portobello Market, so we had to go there. I think that’s the largest flea market in the world, if not, it comes in second. The boys wanted to try some of the places that sold food, like meat pies.

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about dinner tonight. Was there any meat pie they haven’t tried?”

“I liked the lamb pie but one is certainly enough for me. Want to bet we’ll have those when we get home, I think Scott is building a good repertoire of English and Irish food.”

“Steve is not far behind, look he’s talking to that woman at the stall. Want to bet she’s telling him how to make them?”

“No”

The boys had some money so they picked up a few trinkets as souvenirs and they took a lot of pictures. “I think the Gallery is going to have some new paintings.”

“You know what I haven’t seen Scott paint, the boys in their Scottish kilts and those that are playing the pipes. I thought he’d have done something like that.”

“You’re right. He doesn’t paint too many portraits.”

Next stop Scotland, and we did have those meat pies that next night for dinner. Before we docked in Scotland, the boys took the cod, fillet several and froze them in our freezers. They put some in the refrigerator chests for us to eat on our way home.

Docking, I saw the bus and Callum’s dad. “Do you have any cod to sell.”

I looked on the other sided of the dock, there was a man who I hadn’t see before with a delivery truck. I looked at Glen and laughed, “The word is out. Yes, how many do you want?”

“What’s the price?”

Now Alban had come on board. He heard the yelling. “2 pounds per kilogram, that is cleaned.” The man wanted to come on board to see the fish. I waved him on, I showed him the fish in the hold, he said he would like five. No problem, I called the boys and told them to clean five of the cod. He watched as they took out the entails and removed the head. The entails were saved for the shrimp or crabs, the heads would be for Gus I’m sure. He smiled when he realized that he had almost ninety percent salable meat.

While the boys were cleaning the fish, he said he owned a small village store and his customers mentioned that the Americans brought fresh cod. So when he heard we were coming, he wanted to make sure he got some.

I thought there was no hurry, the people from last year weren’t here yet. Then Glen pulled me to the other side, and there they were. Like last time, I let Alban handle the selling of our catch. He knew we’d saved some for him.

We relaxed now that we were done sailing for a while. We planned on staying around Alban’s village except for one trip to see our Swiss friends. I was quite pleased with the introduction of the mini MRI.

We had spent a week with the boys dancing every night, “Glen want to go fishing?”

“Where? Here”

“Sure why not, it’s the ocean, there’s fish there. Let’s do it. We’ll take the village children, it’ll be fun.”

That night at dinner I told Alban about my idea of taking the village kids fishing on my boat.

“Do you know how many kids are in this village?”

“No, but we can go out early in the morning and return at night. If there are too many, then we’ll take groups.”

“What are you going to do with the fish?”

“Like we do at home, each kid’s family gets enough fish for a meal.”

“And what’s left over or not enough to go around?”

“The left over we sell, not enough to go around, we continue to fish till every child has a fish. Come on it’ll be fun.”

How long do you think it would take for the word to get around. Less than five minutes, parents were coming to the pub. “Shawn, Callum, we can only safely take twenty kids at a time. I want you to make slips for each child, then on twenty slips mark the number 1, the next twenty, mark 2 until all the slips are numbered. The kids can draw to determine which trip they go on.”

They liked that idea, so Shawn and Callum explained it to the people in the pub. Like any small village, word spreads like a wild fire in a wind storm. The next morning there was a line out side of the pub. Parents brought their kids, the kids picked from the bag that Shawn had, they understood.

“For those with a number one, you must meet here at six in the morning. A bus will take you to the boat. Wear old clothes. If you are not here, and miss your turn, there will be a make up trip at the end of the week.”

“Do you think someone is going to miss?”

“No, but you never know. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“We’re spending the night on the boat. We’ll come back in the morning on the bus, and then return.”

“The boys also?”

“Yes, why not? Scott and Steve can have breakfast for everyone as we go out.”

“You’re really enjoying this”

“Yes, this was a great idea you had.”

“This wasn’t my idea, it was yours”

“I’m sure I heard you say we should fish here.”

He grabbed me, “You are something else, but I love you.”