ARROW - 175. Chapter 175

Saturday morning there was a lot of excitement, Colin was taking the boys fishing. Rods were brought up from the basement and it was obvious we would be short. A stop at the store on the way to the boat would take care of that. A phone call to Tommy had the boys at the Home ready. I drove the girls and Angela over to the Home, picked up the bus and the boys who were going fishing. I noticed two boys didn’t have fishing rods.

“You don’t want to go fishing?” I thought all of the boys had rods. Colin had taken these boys fishing before. To my knowledge the Home hadn’t received any new boys.

“We don’t have any rods.”

“Go and get on the bus. Before you get off the bus, you’ll have rods.”

I wondered how they never had gone fishing. There was only one person who should know the answer, Tommy.

Before I could follow up with Tommy, the boys were ready to go.

I drove the bus home, picked up my boys and Geno with the village boys. The bus was full there were boys sharing seats. I drove slower than normal so no one would get hurt.

Stopping at the store where I had bought rods before. Walking into the store, the owner had a big smile on his face. I had the boys who didn’t have rods to get off the bus, I asked Geno to take the bus to the boat, we would walk.

Visualize this, I was leading boys, with new rods, down the dock to a waiting boat. The Italian boys started to sing in Italian. I asked one of the older boys why they were singing.

“We want the mermaids to know we are coming.”

I laughed and when I told the boys from the Home they laughed and wanted to learn the song. Now we had Italian lessons as the boys from the Home learned the song.

I was enjoying this walk and when we saw the boat the boys stepped it up. I saw Colin standing on the deck laughing. Soon he was joined by the Captain and first mate. The big guy was Geno and he was laughing and trying to sing as well. An impossible task.

Boarding the boat, the boys were quiet. The Captain welcomed them aboard, Colin showed them to their seats. Buckled in, the Captain blew the whistle and the boat moved out into the ocean heading north.

I sat in one of the lounges and relaxed. I soon had company as Geno occupied the lounge next to me.

“Look at the boys, they are really enjoying this.”

“I think we need to expedite their Italian lessons. Their Grandmier has been effective in teaching them French. Maybe you should teach them Italian.”

“Not me, Angela”

“You have several weeks before returning home, ask Angela. My boys can help.”

He looked at me, I knew he was thinking I had a trick up my sleeve. I did, if Angela agreed to teach, she would get hm to help.

The Captain blew the whistle, we had arrived at our fishing spot. Now, who would catch the first fish.

Fate likes to play with us. The smallest boy from the Home caught the first fish. Colin had a hard time helping him and when we saw the fish, it was the biggest cod I had ever seen from these waters.

“Captain, are these the same waters we have fished in before. That is the largest fish we have ever caught.”

“No, one of the other captains told me if we went a little further north and east we would be surprised. So that is what I did today.”

“We never had caught a fish that big before.”

“Look, I’ll bet that is another.”

I watched Colin help another boy with another big fish. I wonder how big the lobsters and shrimp would be, and I was going to find out. I baited a trap, dropped it over and waited. Geno wanted to know what I was doing, so I told him pointing to another empty trap.

After two hours on the boat, the first mate handed out a carton of juice to the boys. That led to a bathroom break. Being boys, they decided to add more water to the ocean.

We took a lunch break, then back to fishing. We fished until the Captain said if we wanted to get back before it was dark, we should leave now. “We’ll go back slow and they can fish almost all the way.”

I don’t think they even realized we were moving. When the Captain said slowly he really meant slowly. At the halfway mark I pulled my traps, I had lobster. Geno saw that and pulled his traps, he had lobster and shrimp. I gave the Captain his choice of seafood. He took a few shrimp from Geno’s trap and the lobster from mine. He also took a cod from the containers holding the caught fish.

Arriving at our dock, the boys who had fished with us before helped getting the boat ready for docking. Colin had a group of potential sailors. One thing I noticed, all of the boys had a smile on their face as the thanked Colin for the trip. I’m not sure but when Colin told them we would do this again, their smiles got bigger.

The containers containing the fish and a small amount of shrimp were placed in the storage area under the bus, the boys with their rods got on the bus. Our destination, the club first, ice cream next and then the Home.

We dropped off the containers that contained the shrimp at the club, we hadn’t caught enough for the Home.

Driving to the Home, I had to stop at one more place, the Ice Cream parlor. This also gave the boys a bathroom break.

Everyone had an ice cream cone, the boys had one scoop, Geno and Colin had two scoops. I knew the next time we stopped several of the boys would get two scoops as well.

Arriving at the Home, most of the boys had finished their ice cream. In fact, I think David was eating the waffle cone where the melted ice cream had softened the cone.

The bigger boys helped Colin and Geno carry the containers of fish to the kitchen. The cooks looked into the containers and I heard, “Baked fish for dinner tonight.”

When the boys heard that, the smiles grew and I’d guess within 30 minutes there was a line of nonfishing children lined up to see the fish. The cooks smiled as they unloaded the containers, ensuring the children saw the fish. One little girl cried, when I asked her why, she said the little fishes lost their daddy. I looked at Tommy. He picked up the girl and whispered something to her. She stopped crying and buried her head into his shoulder as he carried her away. Now I felt bad. I didn’t realize a child would make a connection like she did with a fish. I wondered what the cooks would do. Would they cook something else for her or disguise the fish so she wouldn’t know what it was?

Dinner was a lively affair. The boys claimed the fish they ate was the one they caught. We caught too many large fish to all be cooked at one time. I knew several were cleaned and filleted for the freezer.

The head cook brought a plate and set it before me. There wasn’t any fish, or so I thought. I had potato-crusted nuggets. When I put one in my mouth I realized the center was fish, coated with mashed potato and deep-fried. Looking at the other plates they contained baked fish. I was confused until Tommy brought the little girl who was upset because we took a father fish from his family.

“Here Dad, your dinner companion for the evening.” Tommy sat the child on my lap.

I hadn’t noticed before but she had the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen. When she looked at me, and smiled, I had to kiss her on the forehead. I looked at Colin, he was laughing and pointed to the girl standing next to me.

Now I had to kiss all of the girls on their foreheads. The boys who were in line, had no kisses for them. I looked at Colin, he was laughing so hard he almost fell off his chair. I gave each boy a one-arm hug to my unoccupied chest. While snugging to me, I kissed their head, and that worked.

That evening, I was silently crying. I had tears in my eyes when GG came. “GG, I don’t know if I can continue this. Tonight, when they came for a hug, I almost lost it. I’m on a bridge, I can’t go forward or return. I need help.”

My sleep that night was very disturbing. I dreamt that I had moved to New York where my paintings were being showcased at reputable art dealers. Colin and I had separated, he stayed at our place along with the boys. GG wasn’t in my dreams or giving me guidance anymore. Newspaper articles about the Home and the children leaving for the street. Tommy was sick, Pepe returned to Italy, the doctor and nurse left, Ivan stopped providing food to the Home, and the cooks didn’t care about the food. The environment of the old orphanage returned. The Home was allowed to deteriorate.

I woke up screaming ’NO’.

Colin grabbed me in a hug. “It was only a bad dream. You are okay.”

GG had done her job of giving me a glimpse of the future. Looking into his eyes, I told Colin about my dream, he was crying as I spoke. His arms tightened around me and slowly I calmed down. I realized that whatever the future held, there were two truths, my love for Colin will never change and my devotion to the Home will never change. With those thoughts, I fell back into a deep, peaceful sleep.