Chapter 7

Saturday turned out to be a very interesting day for Ralph. It started with Ralph doing some early morning fishing. He was on the water on a very calm morning and had caught one trout that he was keeping for dinner. He would continue to fish till ten because that’s was when the water skiing would start and the waves created would chase him off the lake.

He noticed the tip on one of his fishing rods start to wiggle which indicated a fish was interested in the cheese-type bait that was on the hook. Taking the fishing rod out of the rod holder he reeled up a little slack and then he set the hook. Whatever was on the other end of his line didn’t move which had him think he was snagged on a rock. In deciding how to free himself he noticed that what he was snagged on now had started to move and it moved fast.

It had to be a fish that was hooked because it took about thirty yards of line off the reel in doing its first run. Ralph kept the pressure on this fish but the fish had a mind of his own and didn’t want to come to the surface. This fish continued to make some fairly long runs. The drag on the fishing line was set correctly and after the fish had stopped a run Ralph reeled in what line he could. He wasn’t sure how long this went on but it probably was fifteen to twenty minutes until Ralph could see the fish when it came to the surface.

Without a doubt, it was the largest Rainbow Trout he had ever seen. He would guess that its weight was at least ten pounds. How to land this fish or what to do with it were now the thoughts that were running through his mind. Lifting it into the boat was not an option since the fishing line was a six-pound test line and would probably break or the weight of the fish would pull the hook out. He had no landing net to bring the fish into the boat. But then he had the thought if he really did want to bring this fish into the boat. It had given him a thrill in the fight it gave him and maybe it would give someone else a thrill if he let this fish go to fight another day. With longnose pliers, he reached for the hook and gave it a jerk to pull it from the lip of the fish.

He felt good about himself that he did this in watching this beautiful fish slowly regain strength and swim away. He wished he had brought his phone which would have enabled him to take a photo of this fish but he did have a nice memory. That was enough fishing for the day and he head back in. He made a mental note to put a landing net in the boat and take his iPhone the next time he goes fishing.

After having breakfast along with seeing what the news was on the television, Ralph was thinking about what he needed to do today. Nancy said she was driving down to spend the weekend with her mother who was meeting with an attorney and helping her with some paperwork that needed to be completed. The required reading for the course he was taking was definitely on his to-do list. Before he started doing this reading, he needed to bring in the rest of his fishing gear from the boat and charge the battery which powered his fish finder. Making some sort of a shield for this fish finder to keep the glare of the sun off of it was a project that was on his to-do list.

He had brought his fishing gear in and was back at the boat preparing to lift out the battery when he heard, “Hey Mister!”

Looking up he saw a woman in a ski boat that was dead in the water who had called out to him waving an arm.

“Can you give us some help? The motor died and it won’t start!” she shouted out.

Ralph pushed his boat off the shore and motored out to this ski boat which had this woman and two teenage girls in it.

When he was close to this boat he asked, “What happened?”

“I don’t know, we were just skiing and the motor died. The gage says we have gas and the battery turns the motor over but it won’t start.”

“All I can do is to give you a tow back to your house if you will point it out to me.”

“That would be great. My husband can fix the problem when he comes home later from golf.”

Ralph tied a rope to the front of this boat and the back of his boat and did a slow tow to the house she pointed out that was across the lake. They were probably going two to three miles per hour in doing this slow tow. When they were close to the pier the two teenagers jumped into the shallow water and took over in pushing the boat to the pier.

The lady stepped onto the pier and thanked Ralph. This was the first time he could see her and he liked what he saw. She was probably in her early forties with a nice figure he could see because of the two-piece bathing suit she was wearing. It wasn’t a skimpy suit but it did show she had some nice-sized breasts and a small waist.

He gave a wave as he turned his boat and headed back to his home.

After having a sandwich at Charl’s and coming back from doing some food shopping he was doing the required reading when his phone indicated an incoming call.

The caller ID showed him who was calling and in answering it he heard, “Ralph, this is Paul Beckman.”

“Yes Paul, what can I do for you?”

“I would like to impose and ask you for a favor. I have a lady with me who has purchased a house similar in design to your house which is across the lake from you. She wants to do some remodeling to the house but isn’t sure what she wants to be done. I mentioned to her the taking out of that wall I did for you and she would like to see how that looks. Could I bring her over to your house in ten minutes or so and she can take a look?”

“Sure, no problem, but no comments on the housekeeping,” he said with a little laugh.

Ralph did do a quick look around his house and did some cleanup by washing and putting away some dishes and utensils. He also did some spraying using a can of air freshener.

The doorbell chimed and Ralph opened the door to let Paul and an attractive lady, he would estimate was a few years younger than him into the house.

This lady who was introduced as Monica Chambers shook Ralph’s hand. He could see she was looking at the inside of his house.

“I like what I see. Do you mind if I look around?”

“No, have at it,” and he went to take a seat. He could see that she looked into all the rooms and was making comments to Paul as they were walking around.

Having done her inspection, she took a seat on a chair opposite Ralph and said, “Paul tells me he removed the wall that was here but you did all of this inside work. Can you take me step-by-step telling me every little detail of what you did and Paul, I want you to take notes.”

Ralph thought he was given a nice compliment. He went over everything he did to the house. He even indicated what he still planned to do which pertained to the work in the two bathrooms.

After he had finished telling her what he did and would do, Monica turned to Paul and said, “That is what I want you to do to my house down to the last detail. I like the paint color he used but I would like the wood floors to be a shade lighter, like the table over there. Also, do what he says he plans on doing to the bathrooms.”

Monica was obvious a no-nonsense lady. That she could afford to do this without batting an eye or asking about the cost of doing this remodeling would indicate she had considerable wealth.

Paul thanked Ralph for letting them come over.

Ralph asked if he could offer anyone a drink as he was going to make himself a vodka tonic. Paul said he needed to be going but Monica said that would hit the spot. Since they had come here in two cars, Paul’s leaving presented no problems.

He made the two drinks which besides the ice cubes he also dropped into each of them an ice cube of frozen lime juice. Monica noticed that ice cube and after Ralph explained what it was she said she was going to start doing that as it was a nice idea.

Ralph considered Monica to be a good conversationalist probably because she was asking him to tell her about himself. He gave her the short version about his retiring with the office closing and moving to live here in a house that his parents owned. She also asked him about the lake and the town as to what she should know about living here.