[This picture was from the fishing trip in 2008. Jeez, Nathan looks like he was 15 then; oh, yeah he was. He was too busy to go with me this year; I bet he wouldn’t be too busy to go deep-sea fishing with Matt, Matt, Matt!]
He said…
“You run three miles every day, can bike fast and for long distances, but you’re having a hard time reeling your damn line up?!”
I said, “Look, if I were reeling up a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes (ooo, la, la!), a pink laptop (well, not just any pink laptop!), or a bottle of Hermes’ Caleche I might reel a little faster, but this is just a fish!”
Hmmm, don’t tell the cats I said that. Okay, he didn’t say that, and I didn’t say that. It was just a “this could have happened” scenario, because what was really said was quite boring.
He said, “You got a nice one.” I saw the cod fish dangling from my line, and the lines of several others, because me and my fellow anglers were all intertwined. Then I thought, someday, it would be nice to hear that in context of me and not a fish!”
Before I could reel my line all the way up, he got a gaff, and pulled my fish up with it. While my fish flailed, he untangled all the lines, and I asked, “Did I really catch it?” He sorted out the last line, and then he said, “Yep. It’s yours.”
Watching the fish struggle, I began to feel very guilty. I quickly asked, “Can I throw it back?” He looked at me like I was Elle Woods (pre-law school transformation), sighed, and said, “No.”
He threw the fish on the deck. It flopped around like [cringe] a fish out of water. He yelled for a fish bag, and he walked off probably hoping never to see Elle Woods again on this fishing trip.
I looked down at the fish. I looked up at Jasjit, and he now was looking down at my poor fish as it flailed around on the deck. I said, “The last time I did this, I didn’t feel this way. I don’t think I like this anymore.”
He said, “I felt similarly when I had to decide whether or not I was going to come on the trip.” I said, “This sounds really weird, but I keep thinking of my cats. I feel as if I just pulled Liam out of the sea, and now he’s lying there dying.” Like I said, I know that’s weird, and, yes, there was still no alcohol involved in those thoughts.
He said that Amrit had talked him out of those feelings. She said quite matter of fact that there was really no difference between buying fish at the supermarket or fishing for it yourself. I thought about that, and she was right, though there might be more vegetarians in the world if we all had to hunt for ourselves.
I knew I wasn’t willing to become a vegetarian yet. I did love fish. Though, I knew I was going to have “cat fishing” nightmares from now on.
The ship hand finally came by, scooped up my fish, and stuffed him in a burlap bag; I was relieved that he was now out of sight yet not out of mind and in the bag. I think Jasjit was, too; I didn’t really know Jasjit well, but I think a friendship was formed over a cod in a burlap bag.
It was 10am, and I had caught a fish, so technically, I was done; well, I felt done with the whole fishing chapter of my life. I went inside to go to the bathroom, and I staggered back and forth to get there. Just then, I thought “How ironic is it that I look like I’m drunk yet I haven’t had a drink yet?”
After I left the bathroom, my tummy grumbled; I was hungry and thirsty. I reasoned that since I got up at 3:30am, and it was now 10am that in “normal non-fisherwoman time” it was really lunch time, and a cocktail was totally acceptable along with a hot dog and chips at lunch. And so it was.
I sat down on the bench on the deck, ate my lunch, and drank my Heineken. My fish was in the burlap bag below me. I forgot to mention that I had already promised my fish to my “boss,” who didn’t catch any fish on the last fishing trip and subsequently didn’t end up catching any fish on this trip either.
I was done fishing with any enthusiasm. I furiously reeled in my line up a few times, thinking (no, really pretending) I might have a fish. It wasn't because I was excited; it was because I needed to forget I had a fish in my burlap bag.
Amrit told me that later that Jasjit lauded my reeling over the family dinner table. My upper arms had never been my strength; the Schulz legs always had been. Little did they know that my reeling didn't involve skill; it only involved my heart.
I told Amrit and Jasjit that it was now up to them to get another fish. Within ten minutes, Amrit was reeling in her line. And…
I do so love this blog tease, I mean, cliffhanger thing.
Tune in tomorrow for...
The Goddess of All Things Icky. ♥
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