ARROW - 145. Chapter 145

Arriving home, the older boys had a surprise for us. They moved their rooms from the second floor to the third floor. According to Richie they thought the younger boys should be closer to Colin and I.

Colin was surprised how the older boys took over their responsibility as older brothers. Marie became Aunt Marie, even Richie called her that.

“I thought that the older boys would have resentment for our growing family.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, the time we share with them would now be shared with the new boys.”

“I don’t understand. You will still take the boys golfing and soon the new boys will be caddying for you and then they will be playing golf. The older boys will help them, don’t forget they understand their new brothers and sisters background. If anything, they will be closer and take them in hand.”

Of the boys, Ivan’s interests and Colin’s interests didn’t line up. Ivan played golf but I had the distinct feeling he preferred to be attending to a garden rather playing golf. I was right, two months later, he didn’t go golfing with the boys and Colin. When I asked him where he was going, it was the Home. On one of trips to the Home, he wanted to show me something. What he wanted to show me was a garden tractor. One of our neighbor farmers was paying him to help him on his farm. Now he wanted to put in a garden at the Home.

When I told Colin, he was all for it.”I knew he wasn’t into golf like the other three. He spent more time looking for flowers and small trees then where his ball landed. The cooks will like that.”

So Ivan got his tractor and a shed to store it. The barn would have been ideal except it was turned into a garage for the buses. What little space was left was for Pat’s car.

With his tractor, we only saw Ivan for breakfast and dinner. I noticed more and more catalogues and books about farming. I also noticed flower plants around the front of our home. Mom had him help her with her garden. I also noticed a few trees being planted along the back of their house. I didn’t mind, Ivan was happy and the Grands gave him pats on the back.

On one of my trips to the home, Ivan wanted to show me the area he had plowed. He planted corn and they were about 4 to 6 inches above the ground. He was quite proud.

“I guess you will want to raise chickens next.” The way his face lit up I knew the Home would have chickens.

That night I told Colin about Ivan’s garden at the Home. “I’ll stop by on the way home tomorrow and check it out. I think he’s going to be a farmer.”

“We’ll need to find a school for him to attend. If he is going to be a farmer, we should make sure he has an education in anima; husbandry. Want to bet by the time he graduates high school he’ll have one or two cows at the Home.”

“No way, he’s talking chickens now. He’s spending time with Mr. Griffin.”

“Which one is he?”

“He’s owns the farm about 5 miles down the road.”

“Is he still working at that nursery?”

“Only when she needs help. I think she pays him in flowers and trees.”

“We need to plan our European trip.”

“How did we jump from Ivan and his farm to our European trip?”

“I was thinking that this year we would only be gone 2 weeks. Ronnie will have football camp in August, we will have to be back for that. We will need to buy school clothes, enroll the boys and Mary Ann. So we could fly into Paris, spend a few days there, then go to Spain, see Carlos before Barcelona. There we could take the boys fishing, you can conclude your business with Alesander and then we’ll go to Italy before coming home.”

“What if their friends want to come over again?”

“They could come over with Nonna. We are going to be busy before school starts. The boys will need new clothes, the children at the Home will need new clothes and I’m not sure what school supplies they will need. When is the city going to remove the old orphanage?”

‘I don’t know. Maybe Roger could threaten to sue them for contract violations. Why?”

“That would be a good project for Ivan. He could work with the ecology and environmental students.”

“Tomorrow, I want to show you the boat. If the final checks are good, we might go fishing on Saturday.”

“Have you said anything to the boys?”

“”No, I need to make sure it is ready to float.”

Snuggling, Colin went to sleep. I thought the boys will be excited to go fishing. GG came and said everything will be okay. The boat is ready.

In the morning, the older boys came to the table with their fishing rods. I looked at Colin, we agreed we wouldn’t say anything until he checked out the boat.

“Pop, were going fishing right after we finish breakfast.”

“Who said the boat was ready?”

“ Grandmother who visits at night.” Looking at Colin, “GG”

Now the cat is out of the bag. Colin dug out a cooler from the basement, filled it with ice. “I’ll stop at the club and get the second cooler.”

“I’ll drive Pop.”

I got to drive the Van. The new boys needed fishing rods, they left theirs at the Home and I didn’t want to stop and get them. For a maiden voyage, it would be better with a smaller group.

I knew there was a place on the way to the docks that sold fishing supplies. I stopped there, the boys who didn’t have a rod got one. New rods. new boat, and the excitement was running high.

Parking the van, the boys saw Colin on the boat and there was no way to prevent them from taking off to meet Colin. The older boys came to get one of the cooler chests. I parked the van next to Ronny’s jeep and headed for the dock where the boat was moored. By the time I got there, the older boys had the younger boys belted in one of the seats. Around the railing were these seats that were bolted into the decks. There was a strap bolted to the back of the seats, that fitted over the shoulders and bolted across the waist of the boys. I laughed they weren’t going to be pulled into the ocean.

Everyone bolted in their seats, the First Mate, baited their rods, the Captain blew the horn and we headed out to sea.

I don’t think the boys cared if we fished or not. The fact we were on the boat and heading out to sea was enough for them.

The Captain, told the boys to bait their fishing rods, “We will fish here.”

Now the older boys baited the lines for the younger boys. The traps came out, the older boys took care of baiting the traps.

Colin and I kept an eye on the fishing rods. I knew if they caught anything, they would need help.

The Captain told us that these waters were far enough north that the chances of catching big fish is good. He no sooner said that when one of the boys got excited. I looked at his line, it was tight and running out. Colin was on it, I watched as Colin struggled. What ever that fish on his line was, he was pulling hard to get away. Once Colin got the fish to where we could see it, the boys got excited. I knew that the these waters had cod, haddock, mackerel and herring. These were cold water fishes.

As the fish broke the surface, it was a haddock. I wasn’t sure who was more excited, Colin or the boy with the rod.

Now I had enough to bait one of the traps. Cutting off the head, opening the fish removing the entails, I baited a trap.

It seemed we started to catch fish. Now Colin was moving from boy to boy. Our boys, joined in. It seemed we hit a school of fish

Traps were baited and set on the bottom, or close to the bottom as they could get.

The boys were getting tired. I checked with the older boys, and they were excited.

We had been fishing for 4 hours. I knew the boys were getting tired and hungry. “Colin, let’s go in. The boys are hungry. We can do this again.”

We continued to fish all the way back to the dock. Pulling the traps, we had a lot of shrimp and several lobsters. I gave two lobsters to the Captain for him and the first mate.

On the way back to our home, we stopped to get something to eat. Hot dogs and French fries.

Arriving at the Home, when they brought the chests in and opened them, the cooks mouth was beginning to water. Fresh fish, shrimp and several lobsters. Tommy stayed, Colin and the boys rode home with me. I knew the boys wanted to stay at the Home for dinner.

Arriving home, “Guys, take a shower get the fish smell off of you. We’ll go to the club for dinner.” What they didn’t know I had one chest with shrimp, lobster and several large fish.

Walking into the kitchen, I handed Marcel the chest. Looking at me, he opened the chest. I swear he smiled. a mischievous smile. We sat at the kitchen table, watching Marcel weave his magic. Our boys had a big smile on their face. The aromas in that kitchen as Marcel worked his magic.

I have eaten seafood in Europe prepared by first class chefs, none of it compared to the food Marcel set before us.