Chapter 8

Pat picked up her phone on the second ring. Ray was calling to confirm her invitation for him to visit at her cottage this coming weekend. Pat gave him her address since he said he could program it into his GPS. Detailed instructions on how to get to the cottage weren't needed.

Ray asked, "What do I need to bring?"

"All you need is just a change of clothes and whatever else you think you need for staying overnight."

"What time should I get there?"

"That's up to you. I am going up Friday night so I will be there."

"What do you usually do when you are there?"

"Well, a lot depends on the weather. Normally I like to go fishing in the early morning. After lunch it depends on the weather again and who is up there with me. I may go golfing, maybe water skiing, maybe just watching television or doing something with the cottage. If the neighbors have something going on, I may go there. Like I say it depends on a number of things."

Ray thought about fishing. The last time he had fished was when as a high school graduation gift Ray's father took him up to Great Bear Lake in Northern Canada. It was a great fishing trip catching and releasing 25 pound Lake Trout. From Great Bear Lake, they took a one day fly-in trip up to the Tree River and fished for Arctic Char. Both his father and Ray each caught and released a 24 pound Artic Char. They were proud of themselves as the world record for Arctic Char at the time was 29 pounds which was caught at this same Tree River. A great fishing trip, thought Ray.

There was some hesitation on Ray's part but he said, "Tell you what. It has been a long time since I have been fishing. Last time was right after high school. If you don't mind having company how about I go fishing with you? What time should I be there?

"Well, I do like to go out at first light and that's around six o'clock. We could always go a little later."

"No, no, don't change your time. I can leave here early and be up there at that time. I do like being on the lake at sunrise. When I was younger I was always fishing at first light, so that's not a problem."

"I am happy to have the company. No need for you to bring any fishing rods as I have more than enough equipment. Fishing as been good so far this year and I hope it continues."

Ray told her he would be leaving at four o'clock so he should be getting to her cottage around six. Pat told him she would be waiting for him and she would be ready to go.

It was just starting to get light as Ray was turning on to the driveway of Pat's cottage. The GPS was a wonderful invention. Even the voice in the unit was soft and feminine. When you didn't go the way the voice told you to go, you weren't disturbed when you heard the voice say, "Recalculating." You heard that same statement many times.

Ray exited his car and looked at Pat's cottage. Pat's definition of cottage and Ray's definition differed substantially. Cottage, hell thought Ray, this was at least a three thousand square foot home and more if it had a walk-out basement, which it probably did. The cottage appeared to be built into the side of a hill that tapered down to the lake. There was no question in Ray's mind that Pat was doing well as an investor.

Walking around the side of the house, Ray saw Pat down on the boat dock and she gave him a wave and started walking toward Ray. This high powered respected business economist wasn't dressed to go on television to be interviewed. Pat was wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses that where high on her forehead, a man's long sleeve blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans that had seen better days and gym shoes. In a different All-American girl sort of way, she looked sexy.

Pat shook Ray's hand. "Have any problems in finding the place?"

"No. The GPS worked well. It's a nice toy to have."

Pat nodded her head in agreement. She noticed that Ray was wearing light colored docker slacks. Pat said, "You clothes are nice but if we start catching fish they are going to get dirty real fast. I have some men's coveralls that I would suggest you put on to keep your clothes clean."

Wearing his new outfit, Ray walked down with Pat to the boat dock. He had observed that there where two boats, one on each side of the dock and each boat had their own canopy covered boat lift. One of the boats was in the water and it looked ready to go. Pat explained it was a seventeen foot bass boat with a one hundred and fifty horsepower Mercury outboard on the back end pushing it. There was an electric trolling motor on the front mounted, but that motor wasn't in the water.

While there were two pedestal seats, Pat suggested that Ray sit next to her as they first needed to make a run to the bait store that was on the lake to purchase some minnows for bait. Ray helped untie the lines holding the boat to the dock and then sat next to Pat. Ray's thought was that Pat looked like a fisherwoman but a plus was her perfume which Ray caught the scent of. Backing away from the dock, Pat had the boat turn 180 degrees, then put the gear in forward and pushed the throttle control forward.

Ray was glad Pat had insisted he put on a life vest when the boat was moving. While the ride to the bait store was short, the boat speedometer said they were going 40 miles per hour. Sitting that low to the water gave the sensation that they were traveling at twice the speed. Pat's boat had all the bells and whistles. Electronic fish finder, GPS and marine radio were some of the prominent ones. Gauges for engine rpm, fuel level, speedometer, high speed depth finder, water temperature and others gauges were mounted in easy view of Pat's sight.

Pat purchased four dozen large shiner minnows. She pushed a few buttons on the GPS for a fishing spot she had marked, and off she went. Arriving at the fishing spot, Pat gave Ray a spinning rod that was already rigged and told him to hook a minnow through just below its dorsal fin and cast it out. Pat would do the same and then they would move to the pedestal seats. She would take the front seat so she could work the foot control for the electric trolling motor.

Fishing was good. They stayed at this spot for an hour and caught three large mouth bass each. The size of the fish were about three pounds but Pat had one bass that had to go over five pounds. Pat pulled the electric motor out of the water, pressed some buttons on the GPS and they were off to another spot, this time in search of northern pike.

Here they used the same technique and hooked into fish. They caught seven northern pike between them. The largest one was a northern that Ray caught that weighed 12 pounds. All the fish were released. They ran out of minnows so they resorted to casting spoons and did okay on the spoons. Time had flown by. There was some hot coffee in a thermos and soda on ice in a cooler. Between catching fish they refreshed themselves.

Boat traffic was starting to pick up on the lake. Pat noticed this, looked at her watch and said, "After we finish our drinks we should go back in and have something to eat. It can be either a late breakfast or an early lunch. What would you like to do this afternoon?"

Ray stretched and said, "Well, you said that you either golf or water ski in the afternoon. Although I am sure it would be delightful experiences having a beautiful woman such as you whip my ass on the golf course, I don't know if my ego could take it. Now, watching that same beautiful lady wearing what I assume would be a small two piece bathing suit water skiing is something that all red blooded American males live for. Does that tell you what my preference is?"

Pat giggled and maybe blushed a little, then said, "Okay with me, but you may be disappointed."

Back at the dock, they were storing the equipment and putting the boat back in the boat lift. Ray noticed that a female next door neighbor of Pat's was on her boat dock. Pat and the neighbor waved to each other. Ray looked once at the neighbor and then looked again. Ray said to Pat, "Is that who I think it is?"

Pat laughed said, 'Yes, it is. She likes to get away from being on television as often as she can. You know her husband is the lead news broadcaster on the late night news. Surprising he's not out here with her working on his tan."

Ray took his travel bag from his car while Pat said she would fix lunch. Ray took the opportunity to change into his tan Bermuda shorts and a white linen shirt.

Having time, Ray decided to tour Pat's cottage. The size of the cottage as Pat referred to it was about the size Ray initially thought it was. It was sitting on close to an acre and a half and there was about 150 feet of frontage on the lake. The view out the large front window was scenic. The furnishings were in good taste. The basement was large and a walk out but it was unfinished. Ray thought that Pat had made a great investment when she purchased this cottage. He wouldn't ask what she paid for it but in ten years the price had to have tripled at least, maybe more.

Ray offered to make Pat a drink but she said, "Just a diet soda will be fine. It's a little early to have an adult beverage. I'll wait till later in the evening."

"I think I'll have a diet soda as well." He sat down at the breakfast bar to devour the large corn beef sandwich Pat placed in front of him.

Pat sat along side Ray and they talked about fishing, the lake and the cottage. Ray had noted it before but no matter what the subject was Pat could carry on an intelligent conversation.

Having relaxed for a while, Pat asked Ray, "Are you ready to go to go skiing? The rules of the lake require that there be two persons in the boat, one driving the boat and one watching the skier. Since there were only two of us, I am going to go next door to see if any of the neighbors want to come with us and be a spotter. I'll tell them we will take the boat over to the marina to gas up. Then I can give you a little guided tour of the lake and we will pick up the spotter at their dock at three o'clock.

Pat went next door and was back in five minutes. She said that the neighbor's daughter and her girl friend would be the spotters.

Into her bedroom Pat went to change into her bathing suit. She came out in a black with white edging two piece bathing suit. To Ray she had a figure that was athletic and could be compared to the ladies that are seen on television playing beach volleyball. Pat was tall and lanky and her breasts were just right for her body, probably a 33C.

Ray stood and said, "Wow. Tell mother to sell the farm; her boy is going to the city to study economics."

Pat blushed and laughed at Ray's remark, and she finally said, "Down, boy."

They walked to the boat dock and Ray commented about Pat's attractiveness. He wondered out loud what would happen to the television ratings on the business channels if Pat did the interviews in a bathing suit. He said, "If you did interviews in this outfit, I would think shares of Catalina swim suits or Coppertone lotion should be good buys."

Pat didn't respond and just shook her head. Deep inside her, she acknowledged it was nice to hear Ray's compliments about her. She thought she wasn't that good looking, but if Ray thought she was, who was she to argue? Pat was aware of her five foot ten inch height and this had caused problems in growing up since she was usually taller than the boys and, later men she knew. She was very conscious of her height with the shoes she wore. With Ray, Pat could wear shoes with four inch heels and still be almost an inch shorter. That would be a nice to be able to do that. Ray seemed to admire her height. That was also something she liked.