Adam Blake - 86. Chapter 86

When morning came, I rattled pans at the bottom of the stairs.

“Get up boys, we need to run this morning.”

The boys came down, sleepy, half-dressed. “Ok, I’ll let you off easy, but we are running tomorrow. If you want to go back to bed for a few more hours, go ahead." Four sleepy kids head upstairs, one came back to pull me to bed. I took him, sat him on my lap, he cuddled, and went to sleep. Even I drifted off a little. I got a kiss, which woke me. There was my love.

She sat down beside me, "How many?"

I sat up, "4."

She got up and started to cook breakfast. I could smell the coffee but I wasn’t going to move with this precious child on my lap. I guess the aroma of food must have drifted upstairs, the boys came down in their pajama bottoms. They all sat on the sofa, next to me and made Gerry share my lap.

“How did you boys sleep?”

Anthony looked at me, “Why did you wake us?”

“I was going to make you run with me, but one look at your sad faces I decided not to do it. But tomorrow morning we’ll run. Today we’ll fish for our dinner.”

“Who is that?”

“She’s the maid.” That got me a wet dishcloth in the face. They all laughed.

“Seriously, who is she.”

“That’s my girlfriend, Dr. Marie, she runs the medical clinic in town.”

“She’s very good-looking.”

“Evan, are you trying to hit on my girlfriend.”

Marie walked over, “He is kind of cute,” she kissed him on the cheek, his face turned red. “Breakfast is ready.”

The boys went and wished their hands, sat at the table, and waited. Marie looked at me, I nodded toward a chair. She put all of the food, in the center of the table. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheese, turkey bacon, and plenty of toast from homemade bread. A large jar of strawberry jam and peanut butter. A large glass of orange juice and my coffee.

I watched as the boys passed the plate to Marie and then to me. I passed the plate to Evan who was seated next to me, “Take as much as you want, same rules apply." T

he plates went between the boys until the eggs and bacon were finished. The toast with jam and peanut butter topped off their breakfast. Marie looked at me as the boys cleared off the table, everything was set on the side of the sink. “Do you need help with the dishes?” "No”

I gave her a kiss, Evan lined up behind me for a kiss as well. I knew he meant Marie, I turned and kissed him on the cheek. The other boys laughed, Marie then gave him a long kiss on the other cheek.

“Ok, boys let’s fish.” I took them to the compost pile with a large can, I showed them how to dig for the worms, soon they were right there, doing it. Marie came out and took a few pictures. I headed to the garage, got their rods and nets. Walking to the boat, “Now, this is called a bobbin, we’ll place in on your line, when a fish nibbles, the bobbin will jiggle a little, you wait, when the bobbing goes below the water, pull up fast and hard on your line. If one gets away, don’t worry there are more. ”

I sat the boys on each side, I was in the back, I powered the boat to the middle of the lake. I baited each boy’s hook and told them to drop the line in front of where they sat. Now fishing takes patience, “You have to be patient.”

We sat there for another half hour when I noticed Anthony’s line jiggling, He looked at me before he turned his head back the bobbin disappeared he pulled that one up so fast there was no way that fish was going to swim away. As he reeled in the fish, I got the net ready. When I saw the fish, it was big, I quickly netted it and held it up. George was on his porch watching, he clapped. I baited Anthony’s hook and it dropped over the side again. I was wondering what I would do if two boys caught a fish at the same time, and then it happened. I grabbed one net, Evan grabbed the other net and as his fish came to the surface, he netted it himself. He was proud but Anthony’s fish was still larger. Now that the fish were biting, it became fun. I didn’t need to help with the netting, the boys did their own. I leaned over and whispered in Gerry’s ear, “Having fun,” he smiled.

“I think we have enough fish for dinner and supper.” The boys looked at me, as if to say, do we really have to stop.

Getting back onshore, “You know what is next right? We have to clean them.”

I got five knives, I gave one to each boy, “Ok, watch what I do and follow me.” I explained each step, soon all five of us were cleaning fish. The boys watched the crabs coming to eat the parts we didn’t want, we had to take pictures. I put all of the fish in a washing tub, added cold water and some herbs. Marie took the kids to town for ice cream and to get copies of the photos. George finally arrived, we chatted about nothing earth-shattering.

“George, did Marie mentioned to you about increasing the beds in the rooms.”

“Yes, but she didn’t say when you wanted them.” This was George, he procrastinated to the nth degree.

“Well, after this weekend everything worked out so I was thinking of putting that off for a while.” I knew if I wanted to put bunk beds in the bedrooms, I would have to take the initiative.

Marie came back, we were sitting on the porch, “Evan, there’s plenty of orange juice, if you're thirsty.” He came out with 4 glasses and filled them for the boys.

“It’s very quiet here.”

“Yes, I like it because I don’t have the pressure from the school. Remember everyone needs a quiet place to escape, a place to relax and to think. Decisions made under pressure and not having enough time to think them through, usually are bad decisions.”

“Marie, isn’t there something you want to tell me?”

“Oh yes, dinner is ready.”

“Wash up boys. George, you want a beer, I think my dad has some here?”

Marie looked at me, she held up a finger, I gave him one, “That’s the last, I’ll ask Dad to restock.”

Dinner was great, Marie had frozen what wasn’t cooked. “Madam, you’re a very good chef.” I stood and kissed her, I looked behind me and the boys were lined up. Marie kissed their cheeks, they smile