Chapter 4

Thursday, September 24th

The next day at lunch Maja came and sat with me at the beginning of lunch rather than the end.

"Hi, Maja."

"Hi." Long thoughtful pause. "You kissed my mom, huh?"

"Gentlemen do not kiss and tell," I said, protecting her honor, almost certain Maja knew full well that I had kissed her mom.

"So you did."

"That's not what I said. I said a gentleman doesn't tell."

"But if you hadn't you wouldn't need to say that. You'd just say 'no'". She had me.

"You think you're pretty clever, don't you?"

"I knew it." And she was gone. I watched as she and Maria talked and ate their lunch. They played on the swings a while and then sat some more. At the end of lunch she returned and sat next to me again. Twice in one day.

"It's OK." She said.

"What is?"

"It's OK if you kiss my mom," and she was gone again.

If that wasn't the seal of approval, I don't know what was. I walked the kids in and went to my classroom. I had the next 45 minutes free for planning. It was 12:30. I didn't know what kind of hours they kept at Goldwater, Price but I called Elsa. She picked up on the second ring. I related the conversation I'd had with Maja. She laughed and I laughed. It was pretty funny.

"I'd like to again, if I could," I told her.

"Like to what? I missed something."

"I'd like to kiss you again. Now that Maja says it's OK."

"Silly. I guess you can, if Maja says Ok. I have a client in 10 and I'm not ready. Gotta go."

"Ok, but I don't want to disappoint Maja."

"You'd better be more concerned about me," and she hung up.

That evening I had papers spread out over my dining room table. I was grading their first major paper of the year and the range was phenomenal. My favorite was about Adolph Hitler who was born, contrary to popular belief, in Australia. While the English teacher graded the same papers on grammar and composition, I graded them on content. She could grade this kid's paper but what was I supposed to do with an Australian Hitler? I was about half way through when I came to that one. There would definitely be some remedial training needed on that one.

I decided that I would need a serious stretch, perhaps a quick bike ride before the sun went down or something to wake me up before I would tackle the last half. I re-stacked their papers, putting those I had already graded into piles according to grade. Two complete failures but mostly acceptable. I thumbed through the remaining papers to see who I had left and noticed Maja's in the middle. Maybe I should have them use numbers instead of names so I couldn't play favorites. Nope. I knew her style already. It would be pointless. I heard a gentle knock on my front door. I froze and listened. Not expecting anyone and figured I must have heard wrong. Again, and just a bit louder. I pushed back to get the door and just as I did so Bonkers took a mighty leap and landed in the middle of my papers, scattering them everywhere.

I was looking over my shoulder, assessing the damage as I opened the door. When I turned back it was Elsa.

"Hey". I dragged it out – very southern. If you do it right you can get four syllables out of the South's most expressive word.

"Hey." Entire conversations can be conducted by using this one word if you know how to adjust your inflection.

"Come in."

"Actually, I just stopped to see if I could borrow a flashlight."

"I have several and of course you can. What's the occasion?"

"I went for a walk and realized it will be dark before I get back to the house. So I thought you might loan me a flashlight."

"I can do that. You walked here? From your house? That's about three miles."

"I'm coming back from Breach. A little further.

"That's about five miles altogether. That's a good walk. Just out for exercise? Do you want to come in?"

"Thinking, mostly." Short sentences but she was here at my house. I was getting a good dose of mixed signals.

"Let me get a flashlight and I'll walk with you." A man can never have too many knives or too many flashlights. My dad always said, "A man is only as good as the knife he carried." I had added flashlights to that equation. I grabbed my little Surefire and headed for the door to go with her.

"Thank you," she said and reached for the light. She was going to walk back by herself, except that she wasn't.

"I'll walk with you."

"It's ok, really." I eased past her out the door and locked it while she was trying to figure out what to do.

"I need a break from grading papers anyway. This is good. Besides, I'm not going to let you walk home alone in the dark, even with a flashlight."

"It's a nice walk and the moon will be up soon. I'm fine, really."

"Elsa, if I don't walk you home I will have to turn my man-card in tomorrow. They will test me to see if I have any testosterone at all and will probably be kicked out of the club." She was on the edge of laughing but not quite there. "If I don't walk you home, I'll probably have to get my hair permed and a manicure too." And that was enough.

"You are a goof. Alright, let's go. But that's not why I stopped here, just so you know."

"No. Of course not. It was just for the flashlight." The way I said it made it sound incredibly lame, which of course, it was. We walked down 25th toward the beach. We passed Franco's house and I pointed out the boat we would take on Saturday. She had nothing to compare it to and was noncommittal. We continued on to the packed, wet sand and turned north.

Neither of us spoke for far too long. The only time I like silence is when I'm sleeping. She seemed fine with it though. She was walking, we were walking, with a purpose and she looked like she was deep in thought. I didn't want to interrupt her but, well, I wanted to interrupt her. I challenged myself for as long as I could and made it another 10 minutes. I was proud of that. I was just about to say something when she solved my problem and spoke first.

"What does a normal romance look like?"

"I'm not sure there is normal any more. On-line dating, speed dating. I think once you graduate from college you're not allowed to have a normal romance. Have one in school or get creative." I'd actually had parents who met on line and managed to make it work, surprisingly enough.

"If we were still in college, then, what would we be doing?"

"Ah. I see." That's the sound of me getting the picture. "I would have asked you to dinner and a movie, maybe dancing. A lot of ladies like a man that can dance. This time of year I might have invited you to a football game. Homecoming."

"Alright. And what would be the goal of all that."

"When I was in college?"

"Well, if it was when I was in high school, the goal would have been to get into your pants." She laughed for the first time.

"Besides that."

"We'd be figuring each other out. So I'd be putting on a front to impress you but not show you the real me and you'd be doing the same. We'd both be impressed with whom the other had convinced us we were and then we'd get comfortable with each other. Then, as time went by and we became more and more confident, we'd start showing each other our true selves to see if the attraction was still there."

"That's about what I'd figured." We walked in silence some more. The sun was gone and a full moon was rising in front of us, over the water. The reflection of the moon on a glassy sea was pretty spectacular.

"So, when you're dating in a standard romance, when do you switch from dating?"

"I'm not sure how that works. I've never been there before, remember?"

She looked at me as we walked. "I'm not sure I should have been there before." Second guessing herself again. If there's anything about Elsa I didn't like it was her second guessing herself.

I stopped that as best I could. "If you hadn't married James Fulton you wouldn't have Maja. A month ago I could have imagined a world without her. Now, I can't. Thanks in part, to James Fulton. If you hadn't married Alex Djouski you wouldn't have had to flee to Isle of Palms. And if you hadn't done that, I would still be grading papers instead of walking with you on this beach, watching the moonrise. James Fulton and Alex Djouski might have been the two worst things to ever happen to you but without them you wouldn't have Maja and we wouldn't be here together."

"So I should be thankful? There had to be another way."

"Do you know why I became a teacher? A junior high teacher?"

"Tell me."

"I was in junior high when my mom died. My dad had been a cop and my mom did most of the child raising. When she died it all fell on my dad. He retired early and took a job as a security guard because he had better control of his hours. I didn't know that until later. He decided to not only take over for mom but to start being a dad the way you're supposed to do it. He coached little league and was an assistant coach when football season came around. The dad that I didn't know as a dad until my mom died showed up when I was going into 7th grade. It was huge. Without my mom dying my dad wouldn't have had to be as important in my life. And without that I would never have realized how many kids need that. Kids like Maja. I decided to make a difference that way. I wish my mom were still here, my dad too. But none of that would have happened if she hadn't. I'd probably have been a cop like my dad."

"How long did it take you to get your arms around that?"

"I still haven't. I mean, I know it's true and part of me appreciates the results but still. You know what I really wish? I wish my mom could have seen what her husband became because she never saw it."

"This is not easy stuff." We walked a mile or more without another word and this time I was good with the silence. I'd said my piece and she heard it. I wanted her to move forward but she was wrestling with her past so much. We got to the walkway near the Wild Dunes Pavilion, our exit from the beach and slowed. Neither of us was done being on the beach. We turned toward the moon and I put my arm around her shoulder. It's the first time we'd touched that evening.

"Maybe that's it", I said.

"What is?"

"Maybe the point of dating is to see if the person you're with is someone you want to go through the hard stuff with."

She took my hand in hers and we headed away from the beach and toward her house. We had to wind through the streets to get there, past the racquet club and onto Palmetto Drive. I walked her to her front door; she turned and gave me a simple goodnight kiss.

"Thank you for letting me borrow your flashlight," she said as she smiled and went in. We had never turned it on.

On the way back I wondered what normal dating looked like. I also wondered if what I said to Elsa was true, whether it was to allay her fears or whether I was full of crap. I thought about normal dating some more. If we had gone to dinner and the movies, a concert, the theater, a football game and all that; if we'd dated for months would we know half of what we already knew about each other. I decided not. I tried to figure out what other kinds of things I would know about Elsa if we had been dating for six months. Patterns, I thought. I would have a better understanding of her patterns. So far, she was still a bit unpredictable. Her actions and reactions in different settings. How she dealt with other adults. I'd never seen her in a party atmosphere or with other parents.

Of all the things I could think of that I didn't know about Elsa, the one that troubled me most is how she might change once the divorce was final. How would being free of Alex change her or would it? The rest of it? I didn't care.

Friday, September 25th

Friday went by quickly. I had progress reports to get ready and it wasn't my turn for lunch so I stayed in and worked on them. I half expected Maja to knock on my door but she didn't and in class she was as quiet as always. I wondered if that would change when her braces came off. Probably not. She wasn't holding back. She was just quiet.

That afternoon I worked the car line. Basically, you make sure the kids get in the right cars and no one gets hit. There's a strict teacher rule about talking to parents in the car line. Greetings are fine but extended conversations hold everyone up. Maja usually got picked up with Maria but today it was Elsa. About eight cars back she saw me and motioned and I walked Maja to her car.

"Tomorrow. Could Maja go with us? She really wants to go. Never been fishing before." And Maja smiled. Somehow I thought Maja was more interested in being our chaperone than fishing but I agreed. Alone time would have been good, but now I was dangerous so I guess it was Ok. And besides, we'd had a lot of alone time the night before.

As I walked back to my post it dawned on me for the first time that if I wanted to pursue Elsa I had to recognize Maja's role in a new way. And mine. I could be auditioning for the role of Maja's dad as well as Elsa's sweetheart. I love kids and had no problem with that. But I just hadn't seen it that way before. I decided to embrace the role. Maja was one of the biggest reasons for my romantic involvement with her mom. It would probably be important to keep it that way.

They inched forward in the line until they finally came even with me. The top was down and I leaned close so as not to announce to the entire school. I smiled at Maja and asked, "You ready to catch a big one tomorrow?" She showed me all of her braces in a big smile and they were gone.

After school I went to the market and picked up sandwich makings, snacks, Gatorade, water and some ice. It was early and Marco wouldn't have been home yet so I prepped everything for the following day and then pondered what the thoughtful dad would bring if he were taking his daughter on a fishing trip. I packed a few extra towels and a big jug of water so the ladies could wash their hands if they wanted to. That's all I could think of.

It was only 4:30 and I was ready for the weekend with time to kill. Ten minutes later I was on the water paddling north. I was halfway up the island before it dawned on me what I was doing. I wasn't paddle boarding anymore. I was working on my upper body. The dangerous man stays in shape. The surface was pretty flat and I made good time up and around Deewees Island. Obviously motivated. I put in my best time ever and did my shoulders ever burn by the time I finished. I manage the roughly 10 mile route from 25th around Deewees and back in two hours and ten minutes, a new personal best. She better notice how much more buff I would be tomorrow than Wednesday. Ha.

Saturday, September 26th - Fishing

Saturday morning, I picked up Franco's boat, trailered behind his truck, and loaded the gear, food, drinks and tackle. I was carrying the ice chest out when Elsa and Maja pulled up. They parked in my drive and piled into the truck, anxious for a day of adventure. I drove down to the marina while Maja asked a million questions, for which I patiently provided a million answers. I put the boat in the water, drove it to the dock and tied up so I could park the truck. I gave Maja some money to pay for parking, parked the truck and met her coming out of the marina store.

Loaded up, I instructed my newest crew member how to cast off and Maja released us from our mooring and we set out. I took us from the marina back into the Intracoastal Waterway and headed south toward Charleston harbor. Private docks line the Intracoastal for quite a distance, some with boats tied up and many on elevated dry docks to protect them. None of the boats were much larger than ours. We could see the golf course on the left and town-homes they recognized but not their own. It was probably visible. We just couldn't get our bearings to see it. We passed under the connector and then came even with Sullivan's Island.

I planned to take us out to the southern jetty near Morris Island where large red drum had been hitting for the last two weeks. Sheepshead or halibut are better eating but first time fishermen like the fun of catching a 40" red drum more. That's what we would search out. We idled out past the no wake zone and I kicked it up a bit but not too fast.

They had both dressed in what looked like older tennis clothing which made sense. They had sweatshirts and visors. Maja had a GRITS sweatshirt on. GRITS; that's Girls Raised In The South. Elsa had on a fleece sweatshirt in a raspberry color and down at the bottom; L.L. Bean, surprise, surprise. These two probably played a lot of tennis and I got the idea that cooler weather didn't put an end to their season. I showed Elsa the rudiments of navigation; where we were on the GPS and how to steer her way back if I got eaten by sharks. I always show newbies the basics when we first go out. We all feel more comfortable that way.

As we idled out, Maja went as far forward as she dared, stretched her arms out and told everyone she was king of the world. I'm pretty sure that's from a movie but I can't remember what. Elsa stood next to me at the console, resting on my very buff shoulder and enjoying the ride out. When we made it to the harbor, Maja came back to the console and I pointed out all the landmarks they knew; Ft. Sumpter, Patriot's Point, the Ravenel, Drum Island. It all looks different from the water and they loved it. Container ships and sailboats, fishing boats like ours and tourist ferries all shared the harbor. I parked Maja on the seat in front of the console, we came to port and I pushed it up. The sea was smooth so I eased it up to 30kts. They enjoyed the scenery, the wind in their hair, the bounce as flew over very light chop.

By the time we were ready to drop anchor it was nearly 8. Perfect timing.

"Ready to catch some fish?" They were. I baited hooks with shrimp and showed them some more basics. Anything will eat shrimp and by putting their lines in near the rocks there would be a good chance of some early success. Once I had their lines in the water I pulled a mullet out of the live well and cast a bit further to stay out of their way, then repeated the process two more times. More lines in, better chance of catching fish.

Anchor out and lines in, Maja had a tight grip on her pole and was scanning the water for the fish she planned to catch. She asked the inevitable question, "What do we do now?"

"Now we wait. It's morning, the tide is rising and the fish are hungry. They'll bite. When they do, you'll see the tip of your pole bend and if the fish is big enough, you'll hear the line go out, and if you're real lucky you'll hear it go out fast. You set the hook and reel him in."

"What if it's a her?"

"Then you do it a little more gently."

"Really? Nuh huh. That's not right. How would you know?"

"I baited your hook with a special lady fish getting shrimp. No self-respecting man fish would dare eat it."

"You're messing with me now. I'm going to catch a big one and I don't care if it's a boy fish or a girl fish."

"There you go. Non-discrimination is always the best fishing policy."

"This is nice, Danny." Elsa was enjoying just being out with her daughter, with me. "It would be fun to catch fish but this is nice too." I showed her where she could park her pole to keep her hands free. She did and then unzipped her sweatshirt half way.

The temperature was in the mid-70s already but the breeze made it seem cooler. It was supposed to hit 85 later that afternoon. The boat rocked gently and all was right with the world. With Maja near the bow, Elsa joined me aft. With the tide coming in, the bow was nosed out toward the open ocean and we faced back toward Charleston Harbor. Elsa leaned her back into me and I wrapped my arms around her. She felt great.

From the front, "I don't mind if you kiss and stuff 'cause I'm busy fishing."

"Wow. This is your little girl. Our chaperone," I said, smiling.

"She just gave us permission to kiss and stuff and you're complaining?"

"I want to do some 'and stuff'" I offered.

"You made that quite clear several times."

My arms were wrapped around her and I started sliding them up her body and she quickly figured out that 'and stuff' meant I was going exploring. To my surprise, she let me. I slid my hands up and they crossed to cup her breasts, her left in my right hand and right in left. Beneath the sweatshirt, I caressed them, gently rubbing the undersides. They weren't big but they were firm and felt wonderful. It had been a while and I simply enjoyed two handfuls at once. I caressed them gently and she cooed and slid her head back, resting it against my cheek.

"Those bikini model people are crazy for not shooting you," I said.

"That's the right thing to say. This feels good but I don't want Maja to get any ideas so be careful. Does she still have her mind on fishing?"

"I'm being careful. I'm doing this now so you don't smell like fish if I did it later."

"Ah. Quite the gentleman. This feels very nice, by the way." I traced the undersides of her breasts and then circled up and around, the grand tour. Then I brought my hands back to their full cover position. I could feel her nipples getting hard and I gently squeezed them, tugged them and when I did Elsa sighed. Our gently bobbing boat animated our embrace and made it just that much nicer. "Kiss me and then go teach Maja some more about fishing."

"You trying to get rid of me?"

"I'm trying to stay sane."

"Fine," I said and I removed my hands from her breasts, turned her around and gave her a kiss. "There is more 'and stuff' that I want to do." I held her face in my hands and was about to kiss her again.

From the front of the boat, "I have a fish! My poles bending. I have a fish." And she did. Undoubtedly a lady fish. She had already set the hook. When a fish jerks, jerk back. It works. I showed her how to reel it in and she went to work. She got the hang of it quickly and I adjusted the drag so she wouldn't lose it.

"Just keep the line tight. You're doing good. You're tiring him out."

"He's tiring me out. This is hard." She kept working, determined to catch her first fish.

We probably wouldn't need it but I gave Elsa the net so she could be involved. She was so excited for Maja. Finally, he broke the surface about 20' out.

"I saw him," Maja squealed. She was more determined than ever.

"It looks like a sharpnose. They're fighters but you've got him."

"What's a sharpnose?" Maja asked nearly out of breath from the fight.

"You'll see up close and in person in another minute. Let's land this thing. Last effort, girl."

She pulled him to the boat and Elsa got down and scooped him up in the net. I took a couple of pictures with my cellphone. Then, they watched while I worked the hook out of his mouth.

"This big guy is an Atlantic Sharpnose Shark. He's about 20 inches long and probably weighs a good 10 pounds. That's a good first catch."

"That's a shark?"

"Does he look like a shark?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"That's because he's a shark."

"He's too little to be a shark."

"Sharks come in all sizes and this is pretty normal for this kind. Ok, unless we're going to keep him, cook him and eat him. We release him." He was still pretty active. I offered to let Maja hold him but she declined the offer of holding a shark. She touched him a couple of times and I tossed him back. Off to a good start. Before I could re-bait her line, Elsa got a hit.

For the next two hours it seemed like they had at least one fish on the line at all times. I was busy helping them, baiting hooks, taking fish off hooks, taking their pictures with their trophies. They caught red drum, bonnet head, black sea bass, sharpnose, and even a needlefish. Meanwhile, my lines lay idle. I'd checked several times and my mullet were happily swimming around looking for a larger fish to eat them. Nothing doing. I didn't mind. Not one bit.

I kept the ladies hydrated and kept ewey fish stuff off their hands with the extra towels and water I brought. I sliced frozen mullet for them to use and put new leaders on lines that had frayed. I did everything but catch fish. I had debated using smaller bait or even changing to shrimp but the stubborn side of me wouldn't do it. We had two flounder and a Sheepshead in the live well, certainly enough for dinner. The rest we threw back. If I was going to give Marco fish, it would be good enough for me to eat. It finally got quiet and I was about to offer sandwiches when I finally got a hit. My pole bent and the line went out fast, whizzing loudly. We'd heard or seen nothing like it all day. I knew by how fast the line went out that whatever it was, was pretty big. I had rigged medium action poles with 30 lb. test and steel leaders just for such an occasion.

I took the pole and braced, then set the hook. I held my pole high and the fish pulled against heavy drag. I eased the drag off and let him run but kept the line tight. Both ladies were fascinated with this. This was different. After letting him run a few minutes I started to work, reeling him in steadily. I worked for a solid ten minutes without stop. He wasn't giving me anything but a lot of the fight had gone out. He was probably 40 feet out when he dove. The water isn't deep but when a fish dives like that it's much easier for your line to get caught on rocks, fray and break. I wanted to reel this guy in.

He was under the boat now and I risked getting him tangled in the other lines. I asked the ladies to reel in their lines. He led me to the bow and then back again. So far I had kept him out of the anchor line and away from the motor. He pulled away again, working hard. I gave him another 50 feet and then began bringing him in again. I had an idea what was on the line but then he broke the surface and I was sure. Excitement reigned supreme. I told Elsa to get the bigger net and told her where it was. She got it but I doubted we'd use it. She was ready, just in case. I finally brought it alongside the boat and he was spent.

"I'm not going to bring him in the boat. He's too big for the net and I'd need to use the gaff. And since we're not going to eat him, I don't want to do that."

"What is that? He's ginormous". Maja's eyes were wide and Elsa was pretty impressed with his size too.

"Ladies, that is a bull shark. He's probably 5 ½, maybe 6' long. It's a good size fish for the jetty. One of the biggest I've caught."

"Little sharks are ok but this one could eat me." Maja was a bit worried.

"I'm not going to bring him in. Get a good look because I'm going to cut the line and he'll swim off."

"You can't get the hook out?" Elsa asked.

"Probably. But I like my hands too much to try. He won't mind. It will rust and fall out after a while. He's still too active and if I really wanted my hook back. Well. I'm not going to do that. He won't mind." They got their last look and I cut the line close to his mouth. It only took a second for him to realize he was free and he dove.

The lines were out of the water and I was wiped out. Elsa and Maja had caught close to 20 fish and had a great time but the bull shark was in a different category. I was ready for a break. I washed up and served sandwiches. We relaxed and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. I was congratulated on my catch and thanked for my help. After lunch, I changed up the rigs a bit and we cast near the rocks.

The fish gave us a break. After all the morning action we had, we were rewarded with an afternoon lull. We had been out for five hours and were thinking about heading back when Elsa got a strange hit. It hit hard and seemed to dive but then stopped. If a diver had captured her bait, dove to the bottom and tied it to a rock it would have been the same. She held her line taut for probably 10 minutes with nothing on the other end.

"Elsa, he dove and caught your line in the rocks. You've got the bottom."

"I think he's still on my line." Her arms strained with the effort.

"Ok, maybe he found a hole to swim into. We're going to reel in the other lines and I'll drive around your line. If it's stuck in or on a rock maybe a different angle will let you free it."

I didn't think she still had a fish on but she was determined. Maja helped me secure the boat and stow the anchor. I started the motor and eased my way around the fish, or hole, or diver, or whatever it was. Her line stayed taut. I took her pole for a minute so she could rest and while I had it, a fish tugged and then took line. She was right. There was a fish on but I had no idea what. Strange behavior. She wanted it and I gave her the pole back and she began to work it again. She strained and worked and made slow progress but she was making progress. I got the net. I thought maybe she had a ray or even a turtle. It was not like anything we'd caught that day. Ten minutes more and finally her fish gave up and she started reeling it in quickly. I got the net ready to land this monster.

"Last bit. He's near the top. Crank it." She did and her fish finally came free of the water and she lifted into the boat without the net.

"What is that? Yikes. That is one ugly fish." She had been struggling to catch the alien fish. I started laughing.