Adam Blake - 16. Chapter 16

I called Dad to ask him to find out who stocked the cabin. I wanted to pay them for the food and thank them for doing it. He said he’ll call me back. “Do you want to eat at the diner or go to a pizza place near where we’re going fishing?

“Let’s have pizza, a small one, there’s a lot of carbs in a pizza.”

“Carbs are ok as long as we run them off.”

As I drove toward the fishing wharf, I spotted a seafood restaurant, “ Billy, how about a seafood restaurant instead of pizza?”

“Didn’t you say we’ll have fish tonight for dinner?”

“Yes, so pizza it is.”

I let Billy order the pizza, there were the carbs but there was a lot of meat on that pizza. I looked at it, he smiled, “Balance” that was all he said.

Pizza finished, we headed to the boat. The captain was a friend of one of my profs at my school, we had to spend some time chatting about school and how his friends were doing, Billy was anxious to get fishing. He took us out about 2-3 miles, “You’ll find a lot of fish here. It has always been a good spot.”

He was right, Billy caught the first fish and it was a beaut, that fish would last for two meals. The captain told Billy what kind of fish it was, I didn’t pay attention to what they were discussing. The captain took the opportunity to teach Billy how to clean the fish. I noticed Billy squirming a little but he stuck with it. The next fish he caught, he cleaned it without the captain’s help. “Adam, no luck?”

“No, did you put any bait on my hook?”

“Didn’t you bait your hook?”

“No, I thought you did it when I saw you doing Billy’s.”

Billy laughed, the captain gave me the scraps from Billy’s fish, “Bait your line with this and drop it to the floor. You’ll know when your line goes slack.”

I did as he said, soon I felt a tug on my line. The captain was watching, “When you feel the next tug, pull your line up and reel it in as fast as you can.”

I did that and I had a large lobster on my line. Billy looked at it. “You get fish and I’ll get lobster.”

For the next 3 hours, Billy fished and I caught lobsters. Billy wanted to try, but he caught crabs and shrimps. He was using small pieces of fish discards. When we were done fishing, the captain threw all of the scraps overboard, he was making a feeding ground for the shellfish.

Arriving back at the dock, I paid the captain and offered him some of our fish and lobster. He took one lobster and several pieces of fish. Wrapping up everything in a newspaper we headed home.

Arriving at the cabin, I asked Billy to take the bucket and bring back some water for the lobsters. There was a washing tub that was used to rinse out bathing suits which were perfect for the lobster. With the lobsters in the tub, we rinsed the fish fillets, wrapped them in wax paper, and put them in the refrigerator. We had enough food for several days.

“Billy, we need to go shopping. We have enough breakfast food for 4 more days, but we need to get some food for lunches and dinners.”

So we drove the 30 miles back toward the diner and the small grocery store that catered to the campers. Billy took a cart, “Billy, if you see anything you like, get it.”

I watched as he loaded up on fruit, a couple of cartons of orange juice, and a half-gallon of soy milk. I wondered what that would taste like. I picked up the carton and noted it was very high in protein. Billy looked at me and smiled. We got some vegetables to go along with our fish and some items I knew we’d need like soap and toilet tissues. When we had everything we needed, we checked out. I paid, Billy bagged.

Once back at the cabin, we put everything away and went and sat on the porch, me with a cup of coffee and Billy with a glass of orange juice. While we were sitting there listening to the ocean, an older man stopped and ask if everything was all right. I told him it was and in the ensuing conversation I found out he was the person who stocked the refrigerator. I asked him for the bill so I could reimburse him for the the cost of the food. He said he was already paid. I asked him who paid, he wouldn’t say, I’ll ask Dad he’ll know.

I offered him a cup of coffee or a glass of orange juice, He accepted the cup of coffee, following me in the cabin he noted the lobsters. “Those are big lobsters you have there. Did you catch them today?” I nodded yes, “It’s been a long time since the missus and I have eaten lobster.”

Now I wasn’t born on the dark side of the moon, I offered one to him for stocking the refrigerator. He said he couldn’t take it, but I insisted, and since I insisted he took one and left me holding a cup of coffee.

“Did he take one of our lobsters?”

“Yes, he said his wife and him haven’t had lobster for quite a while. So I gave him one for stocking our refrigerator.”

Now Billy is only a kid, but he’s smart. “He backed you into a corner and you had no choice, right?”

I just smiled and nodded. “We can always get more, those two will do us very well.”

We went back outside to sit on the porch. The man came back with the lobster, “My wife said I tricked you into giving me this lobster and I was to return it and apologize”

“You go right back and tell your wife I insisted that you have it as repayment for your kindness in stocking our refrigerator. And if she still wants you to bring it back, you bring her back and I’ll cook it for you.”

He just smiled as he left, with the lobster. That was the last we saw him that night. “I guess she let him keep it.”

“Have you ever eaten lobster?”

“No”

“Well, you’ll find out pretty quick why everyone likes it. But that’ll be tomorrow, tonight we’ll have some of that fish you cleaned.”