The Homecoming of Keith Boyd
Chapter 17: The Catfish Shack

Copyright© 2017 by MysteryWriter

Keith Boyd-
Fred Boyd his brother.
Alice Boyd his sister in law.
Nephew John 15
Niece Gabby 13
Jo Anne Wall old girl friend
Windy Wall her ex husband.
Lewis and Ellie Keith’s in laws.
Sarah Marsh retro hippie
General Briggs rd
Doris owner of the consignment shop.
Jo Anne Joyner Wall : Keith’s first girlfriend. Three girls 16 13 10

oldest daughter ginger
Mr Jessup buyer of Keith’s scooter.
Rebecca Avondale deacon and keith’s client.
Marsha stylist to Rebecca
Gulfcrest hotel/casino
Elanor, Mark and Simon family being stalked
Sylvia Amos sheriff’s detective.
Willow goth chick. Computer nerd
Abdi arab family victim of arson.
Ginger Moss Willow’s mother
Mr Serpico client in motel.
Liam Amos hunter.
Jasper Amos Liam’s son
Jerry Geyser first separated man to stay in cabin/tent.
Lou Anne Mason justice dept
Jill one of the federal cops.
Ashley Marcy’s friend.
Nurse Jane at hospital in grenada
Rodney Markham and Marcus Wilbert Deacon’s attackers
Sylvia Simmons (Marcy’s client) aka sonya
Mark Wilson sheriffs detective.
Lisa Preston mother of delinquent cook
Mike preston catfisherman and cook
Agent Rogers Doj


One week later I still didn’t have a date of arrival for the DOJ ‘guests’. I had agreed on a two hundred dollar a day rental price for the trailer worth fifty bucks a night. It was a good mark up for any possible repairs. God knows with Hondo gone, I had nothing to lose. Well I could lose the other, leg I suppose. It should worry me, but it didn’t.

During that week things didn’t stop happening. For one think Mike Preston came to see me. The kid was tall and skinny, but so skinny that he looked like a vampire.

“Mr. Boyle, Mrs. Boyle told my mom that you were looking for a partner in a catfish stand?” He made it a question.

It was cool, so seeing him in a long sleeve shirt wasn’t unusual, but I still demanded to see his arms. I asked because I had no desire to go into business with a stone junkie. The track marks were very old looking.

“So do I piss in a cup?” he asked.

“Not this time, but I warn you this is a probation test. One slip up and you are off the team.

I will give you a share of the profits, if you share with me your expertise.” I explained. “This is your chance to own something, if you decide later to move on, I promise you I will give you a glowing reference. You do have to stay a decent amount of time for it to mean anything.”

I went on from there to give him the same speech I gave Melody. He seemed more receptive to the idea of entering into all phases of the work. On his day off from the fast food restaurant, where he flipped burgers all day, he took the extra Kayak to the boat landing in the back of his dad’s pickup truck.

Together we ran the limb hook line. He was right there grabbing the catfish without gloves, something I would never do. When we got back to Circus Tent, he jumped right in cutting fillets. Having grown up on the river, he needed to make only minor adjustments to his technique.

We reset the hooks three times that evening and over night. Even in the cold he complained no more than I did. Over that night we put sixty fillets into the freezer. It was a great night. Not worth freezing may ass off, but still it was a very good night.

When my slightly dumber than an I phone rang two days later, I was running the line around 9AM. I only had two catfish in the dragnet behind the kayak. I did have a third Cat pulling a limb hook a few feet away. I answered the phone before I went for the cat.

“What’s up,” I asked the unknown caller.

“This is agent Rogers,” he said. “When are you coming back.”

“Not for a couple of hours. What do you need?” I asked.

“A key to the front gate and one to the trailer,” he replied.

“First of all, you wait five minutes will I get a visual on you. After that you go around the gate and walk to the mail box on the trailer. There are two keys in the box. One for the gate and one for the trailer. If you don’t let me see your ID, I will call 911 and blow your plans,” I said. “So are you clear?”

“Got it,” he said.

I switched to the CCTV camera on my website. The picture of the plain gray sedan sitting in front of my gate was the image I saw.

A man was standing beside the car holding up his wallet. Of course I couldn’t read it, but I took a chance that it was a real badge.

I returned to my limb hooks. It took me two more hours to finish the line of limb hooks, then load the Kayak onto the trailer and pull it home.

The gate was weighted and reinforced somewhat so that it closed automatically using a cable and pulley system. I expected that I would need to use my key to open it. I was surprised that the agents hadn’t used the industrial grade pad lock to re-secure it. I would need to explain to them that it was the first line of defense.

I pulled into Circus Tent to begin working on the catfish. I hated to dig a hole so I froze the heads to use for bait. I finish the filleting around 2PM. Around that same time the DOJ agent returned. I walked to the trailer to have my talk about the gate.

“I did lock that gate when I came in, but I left again. I guess I forgot to re-lock it. Since I don’t have the potential target yet, I guess I didn’t see a need to do that,” he said.

“Well it might keep anyone from lying in wait for you, when you do bring you client back.” I explained.

“Okay noted, but in the future don’t tell me my job,” he said.

“Okay, you better know something right now. It’s my place and my rules. If you can’t live with that, call Lou Anne Morris and tell her I threw your ass out,” I said it walking away.

It was after dinner when I saw the light show in my campground. First there were headlights from two cars at the gate, then there was the lights pulling into the campground, and the pole light which came on automatically. It was triggered by the motion sensor. There was also the five second beeping of my almost smart cell phone.

I rotated the camera by the drive to look into the campground. I saw three people move to check the trailer and each of the cabins. Only when they were sure that every thing was secure did they allow the man to exit the SUV. He moved directly to the travel trailer.

I could imagine the scene inside the trailer as he complained about the lack of a five star hotel. If they gave in to his complaint, they would be leaving and I would be just as happy. If on the other hand he was interested in staying alive, he might well choose to stay put. Either way there was nothing for him to do at Plantation Gate house but relax. He could read, he could watch satellite TV, or listen to the radio.

What I hoped he couldn’t do was use his cell phone, or his computer. He needed to be a ghost. Putting him up here was meant to keep him alive. I hoped they hadn’t promised him a luxurious experience since he wasn’t likely to have one.

On the morning of day two, even without Hondo’s company I layered up my body covering, then I sat on my front deck to watch the sun rise higher in the sky. It was still hanging on the horizon when I started, but it made it higher before I finished the thermos filled with coffee.

It was noon when I went to run my limb hook line. Of the twenty some odd hooks, I fish on only three of them. Overnight hadn’t been a great time for me, even if I lost one or two because of the delay, it was better than freezing my balls off.

I returned my kayak and trailer to the Circus Tent around three. I had baited the hooks for the long night ahead. I spent the night doing research for a new stronger push motor for a bike, trike, or scooter. Much to my surprise a scooter order or two trickled in now and then.

It was the morning of day three when I got my first good look at the focus of the agents attention. The looked to be about fifteen, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t a boy criminal genus. Most likely some number nerd with a computer, I thought. I saw him in the yard of the travel trailer as one of the agents drove one of the SUVs to the gate. He didn’t look happy when he had to move the SUV out of the way then return to lock the self closing gate.

He gave me a dirty look, It helped me start my day on a positive note to know a fed was pissed at me. It was like getting an award of merit for just being on a winning team. Sure I sat on the bench, but I still managed to piss off the coach.

The kid walked across the road to speak to me. “Hi there,”He said. “I was wondering if I could borrow your phone. I have a really important call I need to make and my battery is dead.”

“Sorry to hear that. Why don’t your ask one of your babysitters for his phone?” I asked respectfully.

“You fucking asshole,” he said.

“To bad your mom didn’t teach you any manners,” I said as he stormed off. I made it a point to stay away from the campground and the temporary residents. It wasn’t hard, I had things to do, and they saw themselves as to high up on the pecking order to bother with me. That suited me just fine, I might add.

Thankfully after four days they were gone. I made my decision once again, no more cops of any kind. I was tired of their attitude. I understood that you had to feel that you were the baddest man in valley of death to do what they did. I probably wouldn’t mind, if I didn’t know for a fact that they weren’t. It didn’t matter a bit how bad you were, a teenager firing an AK from a hundred meters could put your ass into the ground.

I put them out of my mind and concentrated on the catfish stand. I had an idea in the middle of the night about a week after the DOJ pricks were gone. What if really needed was a trailer. Mike Preston could pull it with his dad’d pickup truck. If not him, then I could hire John to carry it around.

Mike and I needed to get it built and outfitted immediately so that we could start working the holiday crowds. Mike and I talked it over and decided to work the sporting events at the county stadium as well as anything else he came up with.

I made the call and discussed it with the head of the county commissioner who dealt with the stadium. I wasn’t ready to go, but I asked if he would be agreeable. The proposal was for me to do it for the spring stadium events. He said we needed to talk once I had the catfish stand ready.

Mike and I had a meeting. I explained to him that I would not ask him for any money until the business could repay the loan and still give him a living wage. But that I expected him to help me with the construction of the stand. I would pay him a minimum wage but nothing more.

He agreed, so I put Fred and Alice on the lookout for a trailer. I explained that if the price were right I was open to most any trailer. What they came up with on my third field trip to see a trailer was a large four foot by eight foot landscaper’s wire mesh decked trailer. It was only three years old.

“The trailer should outlast the business by ten years,” the owner said. “I paid a grand for it. I can show you the receipt. I know you can find one for six hundred brand new this time of the year, so I’ll take five hundred cash.”

“Have you always kept it stored inside?” I asked.

“Except when we took it out to use,” he said.

“Let my partner pick it up and use your tag to deliver it to my place. I don’t drive so I need to call him, if we are a go,” I suggested.

“Let me follow him and bring the tag back and you got a deal,” the old man said.

I removed five one hundred dollar bills from my wallet. “Let’s go do the tittle transfer now,” I said.

Mike delivered it at 5PM. I opened the gate for him to pull the trailer through. The old man I bought it from was there to claim his tag. When he left Mike backed the trailer to a spot beside the Circus Tent shop. A cold late fall wind blew through. It was pretty miserable, so I decided not to start building our shack on the trailer that night. Mike and I went to the Gatehouse to discuss the shack.

“I think we should build two sides like the Circus tent,” Mike said. “One side with a window than folds out to make a counter top. We can pass food through it. Save our money for equipment and supplies,” he suggested.

“I like the way you think kid,” I said. “As you can see we already have a deep fryer in the corner over there. If we used it the inside walls will need to be noncombustible.” I said.

“Yeah but they also have to be light weight,” he said. “How about aluminum foil only really thick.”

“Since you and I will be the only ones inside, we can cut a few corners, I suppose. Just so we don’t put anyone else in danger. The damn thing is going to have to be completely self contained,” I said.

“Battery lights with solar battery charger,” I agreed.

“I can tell you what I need to cook the food. You just make this place work for me,” Mike said. “We might not get rich but damn it we will be free.”

“Mike if you get into a jam, bring it to me. I am going to keep you going in the right directions, if it kills me,” I said.

“It might,” he agreed with a laugh. “So come with me and we can get the appliances we need now. When you build you can build them in, so we don’t have them crashing all over hell when we move it.”

 
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