Chapter 14

The next morning, I was up early; the seagulls really didn’t want me to stay in bed.

I did my warm-ups and went for a run. I ran into Looe, around town, and back via the coastal path. I was pouring with sweat by the time I got back to the caravan. I did some warm-downs before heading inside.

It was a great morning; the sun was high in the sky, and there was hardly any breeze to talk about. I had a shave and a long shower before making coffee and making some toast.

Louise and I had agreed to meet in the coffee shop by the RNLI boathouse at twelve noon. I put a new film in my camera and headed out. I was going to walk into the town. I could have driven, but it seemed a shame to waste the good weather.

As I left the caravan, I saw a British racing green mini-Cooper pull up at the caravan next to me. It was stunning, and so were the two girls who got out of it. Both were blonde with cracking figures. They were both wearing cut off jeans and T-shirts.

“Nice car, ladies!” I said as I walked past them.

“Thanks,” one of the girls replied. Her accent told me she was from down south, a Londoner.

They must have checked in that morning, as the caravans on either side of me had been empty since I had arrived. They didn’t stop to chat; they were busy moving stuff into the caravan.

I walked into town and was amazed to see Lousie sitting outside the café. I checked my watch; she was early, wonders will never cease.

She stood up, and we kissed.

“How are you?” she asked as she waved at the waitress

“All good, thanks, and you?” I said as I sat down, shoving my backpack under the table.

“Yes, I am loving this weather!” she smiled. She had quite a good tan.

The waitress took my order, I had a coffee, and Lousie had a pot of tea.

We sat, talked, and watched the world go by for two hours or thereabouts. Then we went for a walk. It was nice to just wander around the town.

As we walked out of one of the gift shops, another lady came running over the road. She looked like Lousie, and I took a flyer at it being her sister,

There was a look of panic on her face.

“Louise, I am so glad I found you; we need to talk!” she said, smiling at me.

“Sorry, you must be Zak?” She said, “Nice to meet you!”

She and Louise stepped to one side, and I walked a few steps down the road. I gazed into a shop window. I didn’t want to appear rude.

They talked for less than ten minutes, and then Louise came down the road to where I was standing. The look on her face told me that something was not right!

“I am so sorry, but there has been an issue with my sister’s business, and we have to get home as soon as possible, “she told me with a sad smile.

“Hey, these things happen, “I said, trying not to sound disappointed. I had been looking forward to another steamy session with Louise.

“Can we meet up when you get back home?” she asked, biting her lip.

“Yes ... I would like that,” I told her. I meant it; she was a real looker and a great bird in the sack.

“Can I please get your phone number?” she asked, reaching into her handbag and pulling out a pen. She wrote my number on the back of a fuel receipt, and we kissed and hugged before she followed her sister up the road.

I waited five minutes, and she turned and waved. I did not have any plans; I just fancied a pint.

I went around to my new favourite pub, the Fisherman’s Arms.

The same barman was serving, and after three pints while sitting at the bar, I found out he was called Jethro. He lived in Looe and was an avid fisherman. He had his own boat and went out most mornings. He was a nice guy, chatty.

An hour later, he knocked off, and we sat and had a few beers together; I left the pub that evening feeling a little bit pissed and with an invitation to go fishing the following morning. He told me to meet him outside the pub at six o’clock.

On my way home, I stopped for fish and chips to soak up some of the booze. I set my alarm for five and had a pint of water before I went to bed.

The gulls woke me before the alarm, and as soon as I was awake, I knew I needed a piss.

My head was throbbing. I made two mugs of coffee and had a shower. After the shower, I dried off and dressed. I put some gear in my backpack and set off at a brisk pace.

It was a beautiful morning. The sky was cloudless, and there was just a gentle breeze. What happened to days like that?

I got to the pub with ten minutes to spare. Jethro was there, and we shook hands and exchanged hellos.

“Right, mate, let’s go and catch a few!” Jethro said.

He led me around the harbour and onto his boat. It was much bigger than I thought it would be; it was around thirty feet long. It had a small cabin at the front end, or the bow, as I knew sailors called it.

Jethro started the engine and then the pumps.

“These old tubs leak all the time, so we will just pump out the bilge. “He told me.

I knew nothing about boats, so I was under his control, so to speak. He showed me around the boat. He even had a little kettle to make a brew, which he jokingly told me was my job.

We saw other boats heading out. Most were pleasure boats or charter boats.

“The bigger boats, the trawlers, will have been fishing since four!” Jethro told me as he jumped up onto the harbour wall.

“So, do we have bait?” I asked looking around the boat as Jethro untied the boat and jumped on board.

He stepped into the cabin, and I followed him in. he pushed a lever, and the engines roared. He steered us out of the harbour.

“No, mate, we will be feathering; it’s the best way to fish for mackerel,” Jethro replied.

“So, I have never done this before, so tell me all about it!” I said.

“How about you put the kettle on then, Zak, and I will give you the ins and outs” He smiled.

So, I poured water from a huge bottle into the kettle, spooned coffee into some mugs, and splashed milk into the mugs from a bottle.

As we drank our brews, he explained that he had rods set up with feathers, which he told me he made using the silver paper used to wrap KitKat chocolate bars. The fish were attracted by the flash of the silver; they looked like the smaller fish that the bigger fish ate.

Once we were in the open water, he set a course, locked off the wheel, and showed me the kit.

I was given a rod with a rig on it. It had six hooks at six-inch gaps topped with silver tubes. At the bottom, it had a big lead weight.

He also gave me a belt with a little cup on it. The idea was to put the butt of the rod in the cup and let the weight take the rod to the sea bed. Then, you lifted and dropped the rod tip. The fish was attracted by the flashes of the silver foil or so Jethro promised me.

To be fair, I had my doubts, but Jethro seemed to know his stuff.

We put the kit down, and I made another brew. Jethro pulled out a tin box with chocolate bars, mainly Kit Kats, funnily enough, and we munched on them as we sailed out to the bay Jethro knew from experience was full of fish.

He asked me about my life I, and I told him about the army and how I worked in the porn industry. He was not shocked. He asked me the same questions I would have asked. Do I have to shag munters, do the birds have real orgasms, does it pay well, that sort of stuff.

Then I asked him about his life; he shocked me by telling me he was gay. He had been in the Royal Navy, but when they found out he was gay, they had gotten rid of him. He now co-owned the fisherman’s arms with his aunt. His other half was called Danny, and he was the singer I had seen the other day.

He told me most folks in Looe were cool about him and his way of life. I got the feeling he was looking to see how I felt about it. I had no issue with gay lads. I worked with Carl, and he was fine; I had known one or two lads in the army who were gay but kept it a secret.

We pulled into the bay, and Jethro cut the engines. We both donned our belts, and Jethro showed me how to use the rod.

After ten minutes, I had not caught anything. Then, as I lifted the rod, I felt a tug on the line. I reeled it in as Jethro had told me, and there was my first fish.

A shiny mackerel, about a foot long, I managed to get the hook out of its mouth, and Jethro showed me how to dispatch it using a short piece of wood he called a priest.

I was very excited, so I dropped the weight to the sea bed and let it settle before lifting and dropping again. Jethro gave me advice, and he obviously knew his stuff, as ten minutes later, I felt another tug, and I reeled in.

I had three fish. One was about six inches long, and Jethro told me to chuck it back into the sea. The other two were just over a foot long. I dispatched them and put them in a bucket of water.

Once I was in a rhythm, Jethro set up his own rod and started to fish; his bucket filled up much faster than mine.

We chatted as we fished. He was a nice guy and well-travelled. He told me about some places he had visited when he was in the Navy. After three hours, my arms were burning, and I decided I had had enough. I had filled three buckets, and Jethro had doubled that.

I made a brew, and we sat and chatted for half an hour, soaking up the summer sun; I got my camera out of my backpack and took a few pics. I even managed to use the timer function to get one of me and Jethro sitting together sipping coffee.

We watched two much bigger fishing boats sail past us; they knew Jethro, and there was some banter shouted back and forth.

“I guess it’s time we headed back. I have to work in the pub tonight!” he told me.

We packed away the fishing gear, and Jethro fired up the engine. We had drifted a little bit, the pumps kicked in, and water was ejected out of the bilges.

“SO, Zak, do you fancy a drive?” Jethro asked and stepped away from the wheel.

I had never driven a boat; I stepped up, pushed the accelerator, and gently turned the wheel so we were heading back toward Looe.

We chatted as I steered us back toward the harbour. Once we got near the pier, I handed the controls over to Jethro. There were so many commercial and pleasure boats around and holidaymakers swimming that it worried me.

He docked the boat, and we tied her up, Jethro checking my knots at my request. We carried the buckets of mackerel to the fish market, and then Jethro and I shook hands. I promised to see him in the pub later.