Thanks for the reviews. I am writing this chapter right before I go out to dinner with a friend. Hope you enjoy.
Beate woke up extremely happy about what happened the night before. She may have actually found a boyfriend that will treat her right. That thought then made her frown. 'If I want to be with him, I have to tell him who, and what, I really am,' that thought always made her cringe. Whenever she told her ex's they always creeped out thinking that she was insane. In which case she had to wipe their memory and break up with them. She sighed and got out of bed.
After working for several hours, being taught by Tony to work in the kitchen, she went back up to her room to wash up after the juice and guts of food and vegetables that were prepared. Venison is good, just butchering it is on the unpleasant side. And being covered in onion juice isnt the best smell in the world. A hot shower and dressing in jeans and a tee shirt then decided to call her mom and tell her all that has happened in the past few days. She was happy but cautioned with Josh. They talked about weather and work before disconnecting.
On the Bering Sea, with the Cornelia Marie
The first place where Phil wanted to drop pots was reached and the crew of the Cornelia Marie set out a string of 25 pots. They tooka 2 hour steam to the next prospect ground. It continued on like this for the weatehred men on the blue and yellow vessel for 43 straight hours. When the last of the prospect pots were dropped the intercom came on. "Alright boys. 6 hour break. Eat and sleep."
The crew hurried in to the warmth and dryness of the house of the boat. Jake went to the kitchen and started dinner. "IT'LL BE BURGERS AND POTATOES TONIGHT!" He yelled to everyone. As he got out a hunk of hamburger that easily weighed 5 pounds. As he put that in hot water to quickly thaw he started washing potatoes then peeled them, as most of the crew didn't like skin on the potatoes. As he finished he put them in boiling water and turned to the now semi-thawed pack of hamburger. He made 10 patties and put them on the grill pan adding seasoning and getting out buns, cheese and condiments. He cut the cheese and got everything assembled for last minute preparations. He then took the potatoes out of the water and put them in the hot oil and flipped the burgers. 10 minutes later he called out loudly, "FOOOOOOOD!" and there was a mad dash to the kitchen.
Everyone slid into their respective spots in the booth and Jake served the food. Everyone grabbed a burger and fries and loaded them before getting more food. Josh finished first and took a plate up to Phil. "Hey buddy, how's it going?"
"It's good. What's that?"
"Jake's burger and fries."
"Good food. Tell Murray to come up after he gets 3 hours of sleep."
"Sure Pops. You take care of yourself."
"Don't worry, I will. Now go get some sleep Josh."
So Josh descended to the bowels of the ship and relayed the message to Murray before getting into new and for the time being, clean, sweats before going to bed.
The next day the crew all filed out on deck excited to see what their first string would bring. Freddie threw the hook and the tension was thick on deck. When the pot cleared the rail, there was no crab. Just a few small cod fish. The rest of the string went that way. And in the 6 strings they set the previous day, they only had 500 pounds of crab. While was so stressed out he was lighting new cigarettes before the previous one was gone. The crew was in a sour mood, so much so that Jake and Josh didn't even fight.
Dinner was subdued that evening, even when having Freddie's questionable cooking. The deckhands went to bed while their trusted Captain was going over maps. It was then that Phil had a strong gut feeling, he took out a map that was easily 15 years old, ad looked at it. He couldn't explain it but it was as if he was being drawn to a certain area, only 200 miles out from the coast. He checked the surveys, and nothing indicated crab in that area, but Phil didn't earn his name at an early age by listening to others, so he turned the boat to the shore and gunned the engines. They would be there in about 10 hours, he wanted bait done so he would wake the crew in 6. It was one of the longest breaks that was even given during the season, but he had a feeling they would need it.
*Beep* Sounded over the Cornelia Marie. *Beep* *Beep* then a voice called out over the loud hailer, "EVERYONE UP AND OUT! GET THE BAIT READY WE ARE GOING TO SET ALL OR NOTHING IN LESS THAN 4 HOURS!" The crew groaned but all got up, Murray went to relieve the tired Captain Phil for 3 hours and the others did another assembly line of bait. When they started seeing the large mountains they were confused.
"Murray! What going on?" Freddie yelled up.
"Phil said go to the coast." Was all that the loud hailer responded. So they were debating amongst themselves why. They had plenty of cod, and didn't need more. When Murray got Phil he said to get the pots ready, first string would be in a few miles. The crew complied and set off a pot over 300 miles from the rest of the fleet. When all but 50 pots were in the water Phil said over the intercom,
"Boys, this is what made me famous, doing what no one else was doing. I had a gut feeling that this was the spot, and last time I had one of those we ended our season in a record time."
Cheers erupted from the crowd as they went in and put in the movie Jurassic Park to watch while dinner was being cooked. Murray and Jake each made separate dishes so when a pot of stew with bread and a half ham and noodles were put on the table, everyone got their fill, even Phil came down to eat.
Phil took a deep breath before speaking, "Boys, I don't know how this will turn out." HE knocked on wood. "But if it isn't good then we will have to go to an old ground and turn and burn like no other to get our quota in time."
"Don't worry Pops, you always get us the crab in the end."
"Yeah man, no worries."
The grizzled captain chuckled and responded, "Thanks boys. Now go out there and get ready."
So the currently well rested crew went out to the ready room and went out. Freddie on the rail once again. He threw the hook and it sailed out past the buoy. The crew barely dared to breath as the line went through the block. Before the pot broke the surface, there was white water. When it breached, the pot was half way full and had riders. Josh leaned over the rail and pulled off the three good sized riders and helped put the pot on the block. The crabs were measured and put in the tanks.
Jake held up the count. 6-3 sixty-three.
The next few pots just kept increasing. 72, 87, 90, 103.
"BOYS SET EM BACK!" Cheers. They have never been on crab fishing this good. There seemed to be extraordinary forces at work.
In the wheelhouse, Phil was happy and made sure to mark this place on his maps. As he looked back on deck he noticed his eldest son was happy with a crooked smile on his face. Phil knew that look, Josh was thinking about a girl, and Phil would bet a few hundred dollars that it was the new waitress at the Elbow Room. Phil smiled then got to thinking about that waitress. He heard of the new movie coming out, about gods having kids with mortals. What if that woman was such a child. She was strongly Norse, her accent and mannerisms showed it. As quickly as the thought came up he dismissed it. The Gods never existed, not truly. Then he looked out to the port side, it seemed as a face, a man's face, was smiling at him. Phil dismissed the thought as not enough sleep.
"Todd, this season is going to be one for the books."
