ARROW - 211. Chapter 211

Saturday morning there was a lot of excitement. Pepe brought the boys from the Home. He had two empty seats, and a few of the boys got out for a pit stop. Now I’ll have to explain that bit to Pierre. Thinking about Pierre, where was he? I checked the bedrooms, the first floor when I heard "Dad". Going back outside, the boys he met at the Home had him on Pepe’s bus. I waved goodbye as Pepe drove off. He had no sooner left when Donnie arrived with the other bus. Now our gang started to board his bus. I saw John whisper something to Ronnie. I was wondering why the a delay when the first car arrived. Five boys got out with their permission slips. They got on the bus and the noise level increased. I thought we could leave, but nope didn’t happen. Two cars arrived, boys out, permission slips collected, and they were on the bus. The last car had one boy. I recognized him, he was the son of the father who made the statement about Colin and me. I was surprised to see him, he handed me his permission slip and it was signed by his mother. Before she left I heard her tell him to catch a big fish.

I told Ronnie to leave. I’ll bring my van with the coolers. Ronnie left I brought my van to the front and started to load the coolers. I hadn’t noticed a car had arrived then I heard, “I told you they would be gone.”

Looking up there was a young boy and he was crying. “I’m sorry for being late. We had a flat tire on the way here. If you can give me directions I can take him to the boat.”

“Do you have his permission slip?” He handed it to me. I whisper to the boy to get in my van.

Dad got a smile and hug. I heard, “Get a big fish,”

Van loaded we headed for the boat. On the way we chatted, he was the youngest child he had an older brother and sister. “My brother laughed at me when I said I was going to catch a big fish.”

“I guarantee you will catch a big fish, maybe two.”

Arriving at the dock, I stopped at the store where I bought the fishing rods. The owner is always glad to see me. I bought twelve rods.

Arriving at the boat, Colin sent the boys to bring the coolers on board. I think every time we go fishing he has two or three more coolers, Ronnie and Charley helped the boys with the coolers.

I told Ronnie to send Chef Boy and Pierre to help me.

“Dad, Ronnie said you wanted to see us.”

“I bought you your fishing rods. Take this marker and write your name on the handle.”

Boys on the boat, coolers on the boat, we were ready to go.

Ronnie, Charley, Charles, and Colin fasten the boys in their seats. The captain blew the whistle and we were off.

I began to prepare my traps, “Colin, how many extra traps did you buy?”

“Three, two lobster and one shrimp.”

“These are all lobster traps.”

The difference in the traps was the entrance, lobster traps have a slightly larger entrance.

I lined up my traps and until the first fish was caught, the traps would be on the boat.

Pierre baited his line with peanut shells. “Pierre, you still eating peanuts.” He smiled and held up a small plastic bag with peanuts. I smiled back thinking no fish would want to eat a peanut shell.

He must have felt something on his line. Just as the boat was leaving the dock, he started to reel in his line. There was a small crab on it but as soon as it broke the water surface it let go and fell back into the water. Carl was smiling, he got a picture.

Carl never fished, he would be on the boat taking photos. I was puzzled about that until a rocking chair told me to let it go.

We were 45 minutes out when I recognized we weren’t following the coast. If my guess was right, our circle would start in the extreme eastern part. We would circle toward the land. Just the opposite of our normal circle.

Colin went to check the map, and the captain said something, causing Colin to laugh. I heard him tell Charles, Charley, and Ron to get ready.

When the captain confirmed our position he blew the ship’s horn. The men started to bait the lines. Now the boys were fishing.

The first fish caught was by one of the boy's friends. It was a big fish, I looked at Ronnie and Charlie, they were working hard to land that fish. Carl had his camera ready and I had my first bait for my traps.

It seems after the first fish is caught, everyone starts to catch fish.

I was laughing at the boys who were with us for the first time, When they caught a fish it was like a miracle for them. I guess if you have never gone fishing, and this is your first time, it would be exciting, I watched Pierre, I think for the first time he was acting his age, Every time he caught a fish, he would look at me and smile.

I knew it was close to lunchtime as I was getting hungry. I looked at Colin and rubbed my stomach, He nodded and headed down to the captain’s quarters. I was surprised when Charley, Ronnie, and the first mate went down with him.

I watched as they brought up a hot dog cart. Then I laughed. He put on an apron and chef’s hat. Ronnie and Charley lined the kids up, and fishing stopped for lunch. I waited my turn, and I got a plain hotdog. I told him I wanted sauerkraut, he said next time.

When all of the kids had eaten their fill and were back to fishing, “What do you think?”

“Where did you get the cart?”

“Do you remember the hotdog cart outside of the courthouse?”

“Don’t tell me you bought his cart.”

“No, but he had his original cart. I asked him if he wanted to sell it. I told him about the boys and going fishing. He sold me the cart, and showed me how it works. I took it to Charles and he modified it so I could use it on the boat.”

“You’re amazing. Wait till our Italians get here. You will have to stock more hot dogs.”

“I’m going to buy those foot-long hot dogs for them. How’s the traps?”

I pulled up a trap, it was a shrimp trap. “Not very full.”

Then I opened the cooler where I had shrimp, it was full. I emptied the trap in the second cooler. Now he wanted to check the lobster cooler, While he looked, I baited the shrimp trap and sent it back down. Pulling up the lobster traps, one had one lobster the other trap had 3 lobsters. I baited those traps and sent them back down. He helped place rubber bands on the lobster’s claws.

After everyone had eaten, the guys took the cart back down to the captain’s quarters.

We fished until 4:30 and then headed to port.

I took the captain’s cooler and with the boy’s guests, we sorted the fish they caught into two of our coolers. I made sure each boy had two fish. The shrimp and lobster coolers were loaded in my van. I did take one large fish for James. Charles and Charlie took three of their boys catch. The rest would go to the Home. I spoke to Charles about redesigning the seating in the dining room at the Home. He said he would take a look at it today when he was there for dinner.

The buses left, Pepe’s bus was full, and emptied seats were filled with my boys. The rest of the boys filled Ronnie’s bus and if there were any left over they rode with Colin or me.

I made one stop at the club giving the fish to James. I reminded him that next week on Monday we will have paella at the Home.

Now I headed to the Home.

Arriving, I was met by Pepe. “You just getting here now?”

“Yes, I stopped at home and let the boy's friends off. I waited until their parents came and picked them up and then drove to here.”

Pepe and Ronnie helped to carry the coolers with shrimp and lobster to the kitchen. The cooks wanted the shrimp, I told them only three each and why. They didn’t know what Paella was but I knew next week they would know and if they helped James and the club chefs they would not only know they would be able to make it themselves.

With the help of the boys, the coolers were taken downstairs to the freezers, Pierre was concerned I would hurt the shrimp and lobster by putting them in the freezer. I told him they would go to sleep and not feel any pain.

The fish, the cooks took over.

Walking into the game room, fish stories were being told. Several of the boys were too young to go fishing, or so they thought. Strapped in as they would be, it would be perfectly safe. Next week-end all of the boys from the Home will be going fishing.

I noticed Pierre was fitting in very well with the older boys. Every once in a while I would hear an English word, he was learning.

Dinner was baked fish and I’m not sure how the cooks prepared it, but it was delicious and my dining partners agreed.

All of our children were there. Ivan brought sacks of peanuts, and Richie and Ronnie were very protective of Anne Marie and Julia. The ladies sat at the head table waited upon by two caring dads.