Chapter 117

Tuesday morning bright and early, I immediately dressed for my morning run. I had room in the fleece pants for only the box opener for self protection. I probably should have carried the stun gun as well, but it was bulky. It Was also uncomfortable, as it bumped against me in the loose jogging suit.

The hour passed slowly because my hand hurt. I had taken my pills first thing and they should have kicked in, but my hand still hurt. Probably the running raised the pressure of the blood throbbing through it. Regardless I was thrilled when the run was finished and I could return to the motel. I took a shower with the bandage off. I was glad to find the swelling appeared to be going down, but I wished I hadn't been so stupid. I should have just let them go and gotten a description of the robber's car.

I might give it more thought next time. Then again maybe not, I hadn't thought at all the last time. I tended to just acted without thought. And that hadn't worked out to well, it had gotten me shot twice and last time it set back my healing On the plus side it also got me some great sex. Too much thought could be a downer, I decided. Not enough thought could get also get me killed, I conceded. There had to be a compromise somewhere. Maybe next time I would find it.

I went to the cafe by the river for breakfast. It was good but not nearly as good as the breakfast restaurant out on the highway. So I supposed I would be driving to the highway service road the next couple of days. At least for breakfast.

There was also a nice steakhouse in the parking lot of the Embassy. After my last experience with steak, I decided to pass on the steak. The mother of the college boy hadn't come to work. It was obvious she worked the lunch and dinner shifts.

After breakfast I drove the block to the docks and found a fisherman who hadn't left. The men were storing ice in the hold of a tug boat looking craft. The ice from a covered pick up truck with an air conditioner compressor on top. "You the captain?" I asked the man who was supervising the ice loading.

"Over there," he point to a stooped man checking the lines holding the vessel to the dock.

"Captain, I would love to be a part of your crew today. I work for free, but I only have one good hand at the moment. I won't be much help with the nets, but I promise I will stay out of the way."

"You might be of some help, and if it's free, I will take it. Tell you what you heat the coffee and make sandwiches with what we have on board, and we will call it even for your fishing boat experience. Sometimes we don't get time to eat." he explained.

"I can do that and keep the coffee going as well," I said.

"Fair enough, there is a life preserver on a hook in the wall of the wheel house use it," he demanded.

"Aye aye Captain," I said stepping on to the boat and entering the wheel house. I pulled the oily, old preserver on over my light weight parka.

We sailed out and I spent the first hour puking over the side. Then I got all the food out of my stomach and drank some coffee. I even managed to carry the captain a cup. The two deck hands as well. I watched as they put out the net and trolled for an hour then pulled it in. There were a lot of fish that were thrown in the hold, nothing went back into the ocean. I had no idea why but it didn't matter. I began to enjoy the experience. It was noon when I went back to the galley. I made and heated some cold cut sandwiches in the oven. I intentionally did not make one for me.

I walked to the wheel house. "Captain how do you want me to serve the sandwiches I made?"

"The crew will come to the galley, one at a time to eat. You can bring mine up here." So thats what I did. It was after two when I got things cleaned up. It would have gone faster, if I could have used two hands. For the rest of the after noon I watched the crew pull in the net. They didn't have much time to talk. While the boat trolled there were a few minutes when they rester.

"So why the hell are you here," one of the older men asked.

"I just wanted to see what it was really like on a fishing boat." I replied.

"So what you think," he asked.

"It smells worse than I thought. Actually I never even considered that," I said.

"After a while you don't even notice the smell. It's like, do you notice how you smell when you are ripe?" the younger one asked.

"I always notice, and no I'm not turned on now," I said with a laugh. "Just so you know."

"Well you are a damn good sport. You want to go for a drink when we dock," the young one asked.

"No thanks, I'm going for a hot shower and a good dinner seated at a table that doesn't go up and down." I replied.

"Well, we had a good day," the captain said a couple of hours later. "The hold is full, so we are going on in." It was only about 4PM.

"So how late would you stay out, if you didn't have the hold full?" I asked.

"We go in by six, if we don't, the ice in the hold melts. We have a small pump to pump the hold dry but the fish spoil soon after it is all gone. Today we are lucky but we will still have to pump out the hold once we unload the fish." The Captain explained.