The Peter Charles - 37. Chapter 37

Charles was with Nicky on the bridge, I felt good today. Charles surprised me although I shouldn’t have been surprised, he’s a take charge type of guy. He handles the stern nets without Glen or I being present. The boys like him, so that says a lot. I watched as we left the fueling station, the boys were chatting away. Frankie was having a good time.

Nicky blew the horn when we arrived at the site. The boys knew what to do, Charles had Johnny lower the anchor, I had a feeling that was going to be Johnny’s job from now on. The bow nets were dropped, now it was Johnathan and Joseph’s turn to drop the stern nets. Peter came for the crab shells for the stern nets. Glen and I just watched.

“Kev, are we needed any more?”

“They are good. I said this before and I’ll say it again, I’ll stack them up against a crew of men anytime.” Scott and Steve, started dinner. Travis sat at the table with us.

“Trav, did your mom say anything about school this fall?”

“No, I haven’t asked her. Scott feels I should stay and go to school here. He said their art department is tops. If I’m allowed to go to school here, can I still stay with both of you?”

“What do you think Glen, I don’t want the job of cleaning out that room. It’s full of those messy paintings.” Glen started to laugh.

“We wouldn’t want you to stay anywhere else.” Glen and I got a hug for that, he was off to tell Scott. Now, he had to call his mother.

As it turned out, she had called him on Monday. She was flying out, she booked the gallery for them for the coming week-end. She was going to help them pick out paintings for the gallery.

Dinner was interesting, a few of the boys knew some words in Italian, grazie, they would say as the food was past to them. Soon all of the boys were saying it. I smiled I guess from now on that’s what they’ll say when they want to say thank you. I wonder if any of the boys knew another language. I knew Spanish was taught in their school, I wasn’t sure about other languages.

I told the younger boys to go to their cabins and the older boys would pull the nets before going to bed. Glen decided that we could pull the nets with the help of Jamie and Nicky. Charles decided that Jonathan and Joseph could handle the stern nets. The rest of the boys were told to get to sleep, they were assigned to the morning crew.

“Dad, Nicky let me steer the boat.”

“Good, did he tell you how to plot our course.”

“Yes, but I need to do it a few times.”

“You know what else you need to do?”

“What?”

“You need to train your replacement on the stern. You can’t steer the boat and haul in nets.” I gave him a hug, “Best you get to sleep. I’ll handle the stern nets with the boys.”

That night laying in bed, “The rocking of the boat gives me an idea.” I knew what his idea was and I was all for it. Sated, we fell into a deep sleep. The four am alarm woke us, I was startled for a few minutes, I was really in a deep sleep.

I blessed the ocean, Glen came, smiling. He blessed the ocean. We pulled the nets, not a problem on this boat. Bow nets back in the water, we went and pulled the stern nets. “Glen, we need some bait.” Glen and I cleaned about eight fish, which gave us enough for the two nets. The nets baited, we lowered them. Then I went and made coffee.

We were sitting drinking coffee when Charles came running up the stairs. I grabbed him as he ran past me. “Whoa, slow down or you’ll get hurt.”

“Dad, I’m sorry but the stern nets need to be pulled.”

“They have been pulled and dropped back. Pop and I did it. Sit, I’ll fix you a coffee, you’re acting like a man and so you can have a coffee.” I made sure his coffee was heavy on the milk and a little sugar.

He sat between Glen and I. Every once in a while Glen and I would scrunch together pining Charles between us. I need to talk to Glen, somehow we or at least I, need to spend time with our boys. Maybe a special day or lunch or just sitting together and making sure they have our attention. It’s so easy to get caught up in what’s happening that you forget that they need attention and confirmation of your love for them.

It was nine when the boys started to show up. Charles was on his second cup of coffee colored milk, when Scott put on the pot for hot chocolate. Steve and Travis came to start breakfast. They conferred and decided on fried eggs, sausages and toast. Glen and I sat back with our coffee.

As the boys came up, Glen and I grabbed them and gave them a hug, even Rusty got his hug. Nicky had Frankie, on his back. Sitting around the table, Travis started to serve them hot chocolate. As the eggs were done, the plates were brought to the table. Grace was said when the first plate was placed on the table. It didn’t take Steve long to have everyone served.

“Dad, what are we going to do after breakfast?”

“Clean fish” That is exactly what we did. We split up in teams, those who have never cleaned fish, where assigned to Glen and I, the other boys were divided between Nicky, Jamie and Sammy. It wasn’t how many we cleaned, it was how clean the fish were when they’re done. It really didn’t make a hoots or holler how many they cleaned, we’d clean until the chests were full. I watched Rusty, Jamie was teaching him. I thought that someday Jamie will make a good father, he’s shown patience with Rusty and laughed with him when he made a wrong cut and the fishes head was severed in half. Charles now had enough bait to last the total time we were fishing.

The boys washed their hands, and then it was a mixture of crafts, cards and reading. A few that were reading went back to their cabin to read, Glen and I chatted to Nicky and Jamie about college.

“I haven’t heard anything from the realtor about a building you both could use as a dorm. How do you feel about a dorm for the first year, that will give me time to find a place?" I could be more picky and not feel I must take the first thing that looks reasonable. If I find the right place, I could put a hold on it for Scott and Travis if he stays.

“We could stay in the dorm for one year. It might be advantageous, we would meet other people and get a better feel of the campus.”

“If you do that, then that will give me time to find something. But don’t give up on finding something close to the University. Your studies are more important than being a party animal.”

“Let’s pull the nets and have lunch.” Glen and I started, but we didn’t finish, the boys helped including Rusty, he was really getting in to it. Jamie was teaching him, Glen and I were watching with smiles.

Scott and Travis, took over lunch, Steve was going to handle dinner with David. I thought that would be interested to watch. “You know we have the possibility of all of our boys turning out to be good cooks, if not chefs. That roast beef we had for Nicky’s birthday was delicious.”

“That’s okay with me, the less cooking I have to do. I noticed we need to be sure to work out. My pants have been a little tight lately.”

“Is that because we are getting good food, I thought the cleaners were shrinking them.”

I started to laugh, “Glen, I don’t think the cleaners has started to shrink them. We need to step up the work outs.”

Lunch was provided by Stella except for the soup that Scott made. I’m not sure what kind it was, there seem to be a little of everything in it. “Scott, is this refrigerator soup?” He laughed and now I knew, it was refrigerator soup. It was good, the boys had two bowls and when I went back for more, there wasn’t any. Sandwiches and chips were the finishing touch to lunch.

I went and checked the holds, “I don’t think we’ll be going in early tomorrow. The hold is only half full.”

“Remember the chests are full, so everything in the nets will be added to the holds.”

“Let’s check the stern holds.” The shrimp hold look normal for Saturday, the lobster hold was okay. “These holds are okay, we just need enough for the Wharf and our customers.”

I went to the bridge, Charles was studying the charts. “These are the currents that are predictable, how often are these charts up dated?”

“Before we go out, we get the weather report. We then up date the chart with that info. Did you notice the extra blank charts in the drawer under the table. Each time we need to do a major up date on the weather, we use a new chart. Now major changes in the weather generally follow the seasons unless there is a major weather upset.”

“Like a storm or strong winds, hurricane for example.”

“Yes, earth quakes will also affect the charts, high tides for example.”

“There’s a lot to understand besides how to turn the wheel.”

“Yes, and I’ll bet by next summer when we start fishing again, you’ll be a master at it. I have old charts at home, you can study them, they are all marked up.” I gave him a hug as he went back at looking at the charts. Yes, he’s the future Nicky.

I called Don to find out about Shawn. He was doing okay and they set a discharge date of this coming Wednesday. I’m going to have to move Tommy to the annex so I can use his room for Shawn. As soon as Frankie is ready, I’ll move him to the annex as well. Over a cup of coffee, “I talked to Don, he thinks Shawn can be released this Wednesday.”

“Where are going to put him, the annex is too far in case of a problem?”

“I was thinking of moving Tommy there and using his room for Shawn.”

“That’ll work”

We pulled the nets at five, before dinner. The holds were looking okay but I knew we would need at least three more pulls. “Glen, we need to pull at ten tonight as well as four and twelve tomorrow. We may need to do a pull at four before going home.”

“Maybe it’s time to take a look at the charts, I’m sure Nicky is following the curve.”

“Yes, you might be right. I’ll review the charts between pulls tonight.”

Dinner was something else. I wonder where the crabs had gone, dinner answered that question. Steve took the crab legs and made a rich broth from them, then he thicken it and used it as a gravy for his crab cakes. With a fresh salad, the crab cakes were great. The boys loved it, Glen smiled when he took the first bite, they were very good.

“Steve, you’ll have to make this for Mary. It’s delicious.”

The boys read and chatted for a while. Scott and Travis went to sketch the sundown, Nicky and Charles were looking at the charts. That left Glen and I sitting there drinking coffee. I looked at the boys sitting around the table, although not all of them were our sons, we treated them as if they were and they respected us as their dads.

“Rusty, what do you think abut fishing.”

“This is fun, and we don’t have to sit and wait for a fish bite.”

“Well, maybe we’ ll include you on all of our fishing trips, even though you like to cut the head of the fish in half.”

He laughed, “I did that but Jamie helped me to do it right.”

“Yes, Jamie is a nice guy. You’re lucky to have him as a friend.”

The boys started to head to bed about eight, Glen and I watched as they gave us a hug except Adam, he had to have a kiss and then Peter. Then the boys lined up behind them and with a smile, they wanted a kiss as well.

“Kev, are you and Glen going to pull the nets at ten?”

“Yes”

“Jamie and I will stay and help you.”

“Okay, I’ll make more coffee.” The four of us sat around the table and played war with the boy’s cards.

At ten, Nicky and Jamie took the bow nets, Glen and I took the stern nets. The shrimp hold was filling pretty well. The lobster hold had enough for Mary and the next loads would be for our clients. Nets baited and back in the water, “These holds are looking okay. Let’s check the bow holds.” The bow holds were looking a lot better. The four am pull will fill the galley hold and the next two pulls will fill the bow hold. We’ll go back at two tomorrow.