ARROW - 192. Chapter 192

Saturday, the day of the fishing trip arrived. All week the boys had their fishing rods out. Looking over the boys, I knew I would need a few more rods. Pepe has his driving license so he now drove the bus from the Home. Colin got the vans, he would drive one and he conned Ronnie into driving the other. I suggested we load one of the vans with rods and the two coolers for the fish. No way, each boy who had a rod had to hold it. It wasn’t a bad idea as I knew I would need to buy a few more,

Colin said with these fishermen he needed three coolers. I wasn’t sure but it did give the boys the idea they were going to catch a lot of fish. Considering our Italian friends he may be right.

The boys from the Home were on the bus with Pepe. I counted four boys without rods. I asked them to ride with me. Of our Italian crew, we needed 6 new rods. “Colin, what happened to the rods we bought last year?” He pointed to the bus with the boys from the Home. Then I remembered the last time we went fishing, I gave the extra fishing rods to my new sons. I expected to buy new rods for some of the boys. I had everyone who did not have a rod to ride with me in one of the vans. With me driving, we didn’t need Ronnie to drive. I gave him the option, to come with us or stay home. With a devil smile, he decided to stay home, but I did need to promise him he could join us at the club for dinner.

Arriving at the docks, excitement is seen to increase at an alarming rate. I was following the van which was following the bus. I could hear the boys singing.

I stopped at the fishing store, the owner always smiled when he saw me. The boys lined up as he handed them a rod. I paid him, and leaving the store there were the boys. The Italian crew started singing which reminded me they did that every time we went fishing when they were here. Of course, they drew attention from the other boats, merchants, and everyone on the pier. Our boys didn’t know the song or tune. I made a mental note before Geno and the group left they would all know that song.

The Captain and first mate were watching from the bridge as they heard the singing.

The atmosphere these boys created was catching. Some of the people along the way knew the music and began to sing along, only in English. Now they had me laughing, the song was no longer melodious but was more like a cacophony of noise. If you listened carefully, you could hear the melody and the Italian boys singing.

Arriving at the boat, the boys saluted the Captain and his first mate. They played their part, “Welcome aboard” Then they rush to get a seat.

Everyone seated and belted in, rods baited but not in the water yet, the Captain blew the horn and we were off. Heading north, I knew we would have at least 30 to 40 minutes before we could start fishing. I was wrong, as soon as the boat started to head north, rods were in the water.

“Colin, what are they using for bait?” I knew the bait we had was in one of the coolers. He held up some bread the boys from the Home had. It was a part of their breakfast which they put in their pockets. I just smiled as they were having a good time.

We were about an hour out from the dock when the first fish was caught. It wouldn’t be good to eat but we could use it for bait. I gutted it, which I would use in my trap, then cut it up into small pieces for bait. It seemed every 10 to 15 minutes, the boys would catch a small fish. They were too small to eat but great for bait.

Forty-five minutes out, the Captain said we would be at our spot in fifteen minutes. I told him I needed several lobsters and shrimp. He knew I would give him a share of the lobster and shrimp. He went below and came up with four traps. Thanks to the boys, I had enough bait for all four.

While baiting the traps I asked the Captain if we had fished further north or east from our spot. “We have fished north of here but never northeast of here. Want to try?”

“Yes, I have six new sons on this trip and our Italian guests. I’d like to give them the thrill of catching a big fish.” He smiled and soon we were moving very slowly to the North East. The boys hardly noticed when one of the older Italian boy's line almost doubled over. Colin and the first mate saw it,. They were on it in seconds. The mate had a large net, and Colin helped to land it, as soon as the mate saw it, the net was in the water and he had it. I have seen large fish before particularly when we were fishing in Barcelona. No question that this was the largest fish I had ever seen in these waters. For a moment I wanted to let it go, only for a moment.

Now everyone fishing wanted to catch a big fish. I asked the Captain where we were. He said we are about 5 miles east of the mainland. I smiled the boys were having a great time. I told the Captain if this keeps up we will be heading home soon. He asked if the problems are the coolers. “Yes we brought three but if the size of the fish caught is any idea of what we will catch, then the coolers we brought won’t be enough.”

“I have two collards downstairs you can use. They are a little bigger than those three, I’ll show you and you can help carry them up to the deck.”

So now we have a total of five coolers. The boys kept catching fish/ Not all were as large as the first but they were a good size. We had a mixture of cod and North Atlantic Salmon.

I decided to pull my traps. The first trap had quite a few shrimp but no lobster. I was a little disappointed. I baited the trap and sent it back down again. The second trap was loaded with shrimp but again no lobster. I baited the second trap and sent it down again. I was expecting the third trap to be full of shrimp as well. I was surprised, I had three lobsters. I looked at the captain, and he just smiled.

We fished until lunchtime, Colin had hotdogs and chips. He had a bottle of soda for them. I watch, they ate in their chair and continued to fish. The fish they caught were larger than the fish we caught in our old spot which was several miles south of where we were fishing today. The boys were having a ball. Best of all, all of them were catching fish. Size didn’t matter to them, they were fishing and having a good time.

With all five coolers full, and I think there were some fish in the fridge in the boat's kitchen, we headed home. Now the boys wanted to go fishing next Saturday as well. I told them they needed to get Colin’s approval. I knew what I did, they needed to get to know Colin as well as they knew me.

On the way home, “Dad, did we catch enough lobster and shrimp for Uncle James?”

“Yes, I think we did.”

“Will we eat there tonight?”

“No, we will eat there tomorrow afternoon. Tonight we will eat fresh fish at the Home.” His smile said he was okay with that.

We stopped at the club, and James took all of the lobsters and about half of the shrimp. He also took a big fish, “This will be for the staff tonight.” The boys smiled. Pepe had the other coolers and he headed directly to the Home. When we arrived, the last of the coolers were being carried into the kitchen. Ivan was there with his truck, he must have made a delivery to the Home. The boys carried one cooler into the kitchen, he had the left over shrimp. There weren’t many so I told the staff to enjoy them.

“Where are the boys?”

“In the game room.” I opened the door and laughter seem to explode out of the room. They were watching one of Charles's cartoons and from what I could see it was a bugs bunny cartoon. I told the boys who were with me to join the fun, I was going to see Tommy and I’ll be back very soon. I wanted to make sure there was enough room for all of the boys for dinner. The problem wasn’t my six but the Italian contingent.

Knocking I walked into Tommy’s office, Pepe was telling Tommy about the large fish we caught.

He didn’t believe it so Pepe and I took him to the kitchen. When the cook showed him the fish, looking at Pepe, “The next time you stay here and I’ll go fishing. I need to catch one of those big fellers.”

“We are fishing on Saturdays when our Italian brothers are here. I hope the dining room can fit us all, we plan on eating here. Something about a fish fry.”

Poor Tommy. He headed to the dining room to count seats. I went to find my princess models. When I first started to paint them I was going to hang them in the Home’s living room but now I’ll sell them and the money will be put in a trust fund for them. I showed them the finished painting in the frame. “Now Dad, we want to be painted as clowns.” I laughed, "Suppose some of the other girls want to be painted. We should give them a chance to see themselves as princesses.”

“Okay and then you can paint us as clowns.”

I’ll use Carl for some of these paintings only if they are sold, he should keep some of the money. I can always add to the girl's account.

The noise level rose and I knew the rest of the crew had arrived, along with Ivan and his family. The surprise was Richie, Anne Marie and Maria arriving with Pat. Ronnie and Julie were there when I arrived. Now there was a question of seating.

Walking into Tommy’s office, after knocking, I had learned my lesson, he was busy trying to sit everyone. Looking up as I entered, “We have a problem.”

“If you push the chairs to gather, how many can you sit at the head table?” I watched as he listed the people who normally sat att the head table.

“Normal there are no more than six.”

“So let’s seat all the women at the head table, how many is that?”

“I count eight.”

“Ok, let’s go and see what that looks like.”

Walking into the dining room, we sat eight chairs at the head table, “We can sit two chairs at the end of the table for Geno and Ivan. Sit their wives at the end of the table next to their husband.”.

“We may need to bring additional chairs from the game room.”

“We could use one or two of those tables they use for their games and they have chairs,”

I smiled, I knew I would have a few around me.

The older boys brought up the tables and placed them at the end of the rows.

We counted the seats and we had a few extra until Charlie and Charles showed up. With a little squeezing, Charles could sit at the head table. Charlie would have to fight for a place at the kid's tables.

I went to the living room until it was time to eat. I wasn’t alone, I had all of the young girls sitting around and on me. They asked me if I could paint a picture of them.

“Can you sit still for a long time?” They all said yes while shaking their head up and down. “Ok, let’s see how long you can sit without moving. I’m going to time you.”

I didn’t expect them to sit still a long time I figured maybe 5 minutes. They surprised me, 6 minutes before someone giggled and then they all giggled. I was laughing at them. Would paint every one of them no matter how long it would take.

“Monday, after school, we’ll start your painting.”

Then the question, "Are we going to have customers?”

“How many have your Halloween custom?” A few said they thought they were put away. “Okay see if you can find them, maybe Aun tPat and Uncle Pepe can help you find them.” Now I knew what was going to happen so I escaped to the fourth floor..

It was quiet for about 20 minutes when I heard, “Dad, where are you?” Then I heard, “I’ll bet he is hiding on the fourth floor.”

I heard two sets of steps running up the steps. When they arrived, “You shouldn’t run up the steps. If the children try it they may get hurt.”

“Never mind that what did you promise them? They are in the back room of the game room tearing boxes off the shelves looking for clothes to be painted in.”

“They are looking for their Halloween customs. You know Halloween is right around the corner.”

“No, they said you were going to paint them in a custom and told them to find their custom from last year.”

I could only smile. “You will straighten up the mess in the game room closet or no dinner.”

That did it, I couldn’t help to start laughing and soon they were laughing as well. I just grabbed them both in a hug and kissed them on their cheek. How I loved them.

I had about an hour before dinner, so I went to the game room and it was a mess, customs all over the floor. I started to pick them up and fold them. Soon there were a few more hands it was Peter, Andy, Bob, and Jerry.

“Dad, are we going out Halloween in our customs?”

“This year we will go to Ritchies and Ronnie's houses and then to Grandmother and Grandmas and Granddad's house, Then we will come here for a Halloween party.”

“Dad, we need customs.” I smiled.

“This week after school we will go and buy customs. You need to think about who you want to be, a pirate, sea captain, clown, an old man, or some kind of animal like a rabbit. When we go to the store that sells customs there will be a lot to pick from. The smiles were there. I heard one of them say he was going to be a ghost. Talking about Halloween while cleaning up the mess the girls seemed to make time fly. As I put the last custom back on the shelf, I heard Tommy, “You need to get cleaned up for dinner,.”

My boys didn’t have rooms here, “Andy, round up your brothers and bring them to the laundry room to wash for dinner.”

“Dad, what is the difference between dinner and supper?”

“Dinner we eat at 6 o’clock in the evening and supper we eat at 7 o’clock in the evening.”

They began to laugh. “When we get home and are sitting in the roof garden, I’ll explain the difference. But right now, let’s wash our hands for dinner,. I went and got a face cloth, wiped each boy’s face making silly comments, I got your nose., here let me put it back on,. I knew one of them was a joker, “Dad, you put my nose upside down.”

That started all of the boys to laugh, actually more like a giggle. Walking into the kitchen, “I want you six to sit facing me. I’ll sit in the last row facing the wall.”

Actually, we were early, I was about to go and get Tommy when he walked in. “Did you clean up the room?” “Yes. Father,” Good you may sit,, the rest will be here soon..” As he said that the room started to fill up. I hurried to my seat so that the boys know where to sit. When I looked around Ritchie, Anne Marie was sitting at the end of my table. The space between them and where I sat was filled with the remaining children. If you were at the head table, standing and looking to your left, you would see most of my family. Colin was holding his usual group of boys, talking about going golf tomorrow. Facing him were the Italian boys. My two girls were at my table, facing me along with the six boys, Filling in the space between me and the head table were the girls and two of the very young boys. One shared my chair while two girls sat on each leg. With their arm around my neck, they fed me, the boy sitting between my legs on my chair, and the one standing by me as well served themselves. My six facing me were laughing.

I don’t know how the cooks prepared the fish, but it was as good as I have ever eaten. I thought they would give James a run for his money.

I had no room for dessert, the girls thought otherwise. I was glad it was jello with pieces of fruit in it.

Riding back home, besides our boys, Pat was with us. Looking at her, she was smiling. “I’ll give you a dime for what you are thinking.”

“I had a good time tonight and I love Aunt Pat. We have created a family there.”

I just smiled. Remembering the old place, and the problems she had, not enough money, not enough room, and no one to help. I think the kids have it right, the Angel’s home.