ARROW - 194. Chapter 194

Arnaud heard about a painter in Poland. I could never understand these painters that followed the style of Picasso.

“Do the doctors know what is wrong with Arnaud?”

“From what Jean said he is just worn out. I didn’t realize the responsibility he has. He is the titular head of his family and from what I gather, he has a few loonies in the bunch. One cousin goes around dressed as a king in the 14th century.”

“Christian will have his hands full.” We hadn’t seen Roger for several weeks. “When you go fishing on Saturday, see if you can catch a lot of lobster and shrimp. I’d like to invite a few quests for paella.”

“When I go fishing? When we go fishing.” We laughed.

Life is funny. When you start thinking and talking about someone they seem to know and show up. Saturday morning at breakfast, the door opened, and in walked Roger with a big smile on his face.

“To what do we owe this pleasure? Sit down and have breakfast with us.” Marie saw him come in and by the time he sat down a cup of coffee was before him. “When did you get back from Europe?”

“A few days ago.”

“And how are Arnaud and Jean?”

“They are doing okay when I left. Arnaud isn’t well, so be prepared for a last-minute trip. The trip to Poland was too much for him. He did meet the young artist and bought a painting for his collection. Jean told him he may borrow it for the museum. I think he said that for Arnaud’s benefit. I honestly didn’t see anything exciting. You, and now Carl, are spoiling me.” We laughed I knew what he m

“Jean said Arnold has been busy divorcing the family. His will gives each member of his family a stipend that they can take or invest. He has brought Christian up to date so he will be fully informed on how to handle certain members of the family.”

I knew that Arnaud’s family was involved with the royal family prior to the revolution .“I wish the best for Christian.”

“He will have his hands full but he’s a smart young man and Arnaud will make sure he has all the information he needs to handle the family.”

Marie set a plate in front of Roger, “No more talking, eat before it gets cold.”

“Yes, mother.” I laughed as Marie hit his head with her hand.

The news about Arnaud bothered me. I liked him, he was a collector of art so we had a lot in common. I didn’t have many close friends outside of the artists I knew, from school and those I met through Arnaud and Jean.

“Roger, if you haven’t anything planned for the weekend, come fishing with us. We fish on Saturday, have a fish dinner at the Home and Sunday we have paella at the club. What do you think?”

“Do I have to fish?”

“No, you can sit with me. We have a few lounge chairs, I generally bait the traps. You can help with that. You’ll enjoy it.”

“Okay, what time do I need to be here?”

“We have breakfast at 6:30, so be here and have breakfast with us.”

I told Colin about Roger coming fishing with us on Saturday.

“I think I’ll ask Charles. I’ll bet his boys would like to come along as well.”

Our fishing group was growing. I wonder how many rods I’ll need to buy.

That evening I told the boys fishing was on for Saturday. I also told them we will have guests so they may have to share their chairs.

After tucking them in, “Want to bet after our Italian friends leave, they will be asking if they could invite their school friends.”

I laughed, “This morning they asked if they could invite a friend. I told them after our Italian friends went home we would discuss it.”

“You know they won’t forget.”

“I don’t have a problem with it if you don’t”

“What did Roger have to say?”

“Arnaud isn’t doing well. He said we should keep a suitcase packed.”

“I thought he perked up after you painted that Angel for him.”

“He did but evidently the trip to Poland was too much for him.”

“You are going to miss him.”

“And you aren’t?”

“Even though he is more your friend than mine, I will miss him.”

That evening after Colin fell asleep I thought about Grandmere. She must be close to Arnaud’s age. The only family death we have had was John. Thinking about my mom and dad and Mary, Colin’s mother, in the next 10 to 15 years we may see more deaths. I need to paint them as they are today.

Our fishing trip on Saturday was something else. Charles came with his boys and their friends. Roger kept me company sitting on a chase lounges at the bow of the boat. “We fish north of the dock. I would guess we would be close to Maine.”

“It looks like we are pulling away from the shore.”

“Last week we actually went north-east. I think that is where we will go today”

Then we heard I got a fish. It was one of the boys from the Home. “We will use that fish to bait the traps. Notice how small it is and being caught next to the dock it isn’t good to eat.”

Roger watched me as I used the fish to bait one of the traps.

“Does the captain and first mate live on the boat?”

I realized this is the first time Roger has seen the boat. “Come with me and I’ll give you the 50-cent tour.”

Returning to the deck, Colin said, “You have your work cut out. Check the cooler.”

I did and I offered to show Roger how to prepare the fish for the traps. There were a few larger fish than we usually catch near the dock and shore. Looking around I noticed that we were quite a way from the coast. Then it dawned on me. The last time we followed the coast and then went east. This time we headed directly for the area we fished last week. So we were getting in deeper water as we moved on a diagonal from the dock to where we fished last week.

I went and checked the map, “We will drop these traps in about fifteen minutes.”

It was a beautiful day on the sea. A cooling breeze, happy kids, and happy grownups as well.

Sitting there watching the boys when one yelled for help. “Watch he must have caught a big fish.” Colin and the first mate went to help him. Roger and I watched as they landed a large codfish. “That’s a cod fish. We will be getting larger fish now. “ I gutted the fish, I needed more bait for the traps,

Within 20 minutes, more or less, the boys were getting strikes and soon the second large cod was caught. The captain slowed the boat and the boys started to catch fish. We were filling one cooler fairly fast as we started to catch Atlantic salmon. He wanted one of the salmon for dinner, I told him to pick one out.

The boys were having fun. Charles’s boys had their own cooler and it was filling fast. Everyone was smiling.

I pulled the first trap, it literally was loaded with shrimp. I dumped the shrimp into one of the smaller coolers. Baited, and down it went again. I was hoping for lobster and I think the captain was as well.

I waited about an hour when I pulled the second trap. I had my lobsters. “How do you know what to bait those traps for shrimp and lobster?”

“When we vacationed in Barcelona we fished with an old man. We called him grandfather. The boys fished, and I handled the traps. He told me how to bait them for shrimp and lobster. The shrimp like the entrails, whereas the lobster like the fish.”

So I showed him as I baited the lobster trap. Then we tossed it over the side.

I waited about an hour and pulled the shrimp trap, Roger just looked. “This cooler is almost full.”

“If we pull more shrimp. Anything that doesn’t go into the shrimp cooler goes to the captain’s freezer."

I waited another 30 to 40 minutes and pulled the lobster trap. I caught Colin looking at me and I just smiled. Now Roger was helping me band the claws. I gave one to the captain and the first mate took it down to the kitchen. That would be their dinner tonight,

I checked the time and catching Colin’s eye, I rubbed my stomach. I was getting hungry. He laughed and headed to the kitchen. I knew it would be hotdogs. What I didn’t see, he took the shrimp cooler with him.

The boys continued to fish and now Roger was helping the boys. Carl was snapping photos and I was watching. I heard Colin, saying lunch is ready. We had hand wipes, I gave each boy a hand wipe instructing them to wipe their hands, and put the used wipes in the trash bin which I had shown them.

Colin came up with a tray of hot dogs followed by the First Mate with catsup and mustard. I looked at the hot dog, each one had a boiled shrimp attached.

The boys looked at the shrimp and laughed, but they ate them. Hot dogs being eaten, Colin returned with cans of soda for them.

Roger laughed, but he ate his hot dog with the shrimp. The captain brought a coffee pot up from the galley and paper cups.

As the boys finished their lunch, they went back to fishing. The captain was moving the boat in a wide circle. He told the boys he didn’t want to deplete all the fish in that one spot.

The older boys smiled but the younger boys from the Home believed him. They would look at me, I smiled and shook my head no. They smiled and went back to fishing.

We fished until 4 PM, then we headed back to port. We had enough fish, shrimp, and lobster for Sunday’s dinner at the club, and fish for dinner tonight at the Home.