Homer was dreaming, it was a troubling dream, the kind of dream where many will wake up and feel very miserable for the first few hours. They wonder why such sadness can exist and if any hope can come about their lives at all. Dreams that felt so real, that when you woke up, tears would be falling you're your face without even meaning to. Dreams like that are never fun, and Homer was experiencing this first hand.

He dreamt of being alone on the pier that was right in front of Moe's Bar, watching the waves splash up beside him while a storm brewed beyond the horizon. Moments later he was distracted by two figures walking toward him and for a long time he could not figure out who they were. Once they reached the pier though, Homer recognized them immediately and his heart beat with great excitement. It was Jenna and Marge. He could not believe that both were standing there before him as if they were ready to embrace him.

Of course Homer could not wait for them to come up to him a moment longer and ran toward them as fast as he could and tell them how beautiful they were, especially Marge. The girls waited for him to move forward and as soon as he was inches from them ready to hug them tightly, Jenna held out her hands and pushed him back. Homer backed up a bit, almost losing is balance and falling onto the splintered pier but was able to stay straight and stare at both the girls wondering why Jenna had just done what she did.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" Homer asked.

"Of course not, why would we be," Jenna said angrily.

"Because I think you're both amazing," Homer admitted as he stared at Marge who was only watching back with sad eyes. Was she here because Artie had left her? Was she finally rid of him? But why was she sad? She should be happy now that she was here to be with him and not that self centered idiot. Homer ran toward her hoping that maybe she would accept him, instead the outcome was the same.

"We are not here for what you think Homer," Marge said.

"Then why are you here?" asked Homer as he stood there staring back at them wondering what to do now. Tears were starting to form in his eyes as he was now realizing that neither of them were showing any love to him.

"We want you to leave us alone!" Jenna screamed.

"You don't deserve anyone!" Marge cried back.

"Go away!" Jenna yelled again.

Homer now had tears forming in his eyes, how could anyone be so cruel and say something so vicious to him. This couldn't be happening he had to figure out what to do and make things right again. He was about to run from them when Marge grabbed him and stared him in the face. Homer stared back wondering what she was about to tell him, Homer braced himself at what he was about to hear. Marge opened her mouth, but her voice did not come out, instead it was the sound of an air horn bringing him back to the present.

Homer jumped up in surprise as the second blast from the air horn sounded. He sat there in the bed breathing heavily and trying to calm down from the dream before turning to the front door of his, Roger, and Barney's room. There stood Mick laughing like a drunken sailor and about to press it again even though all three were up. Barney quickly jumped up and put a stop to it.

"Don't tell me this will happen every morning," groaned Roger.

"No of course not, I'll be leaving in a week. Besides I just wanted to annoy you on your first morning," Mick grinned.

"Well I have been thoroughly annoyed, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep," Roger said as he rolled over and coved himself in blankets.

Mick only grinned before making his way to Roger's bed where he uncovered him and blew the air horn inches from his head. Roger let out a cry of pain before jumping up out of the bed wearing only underpants.

"Sorry guys but its seven AM, that means breakfast is ready and we'll be leaving to go fishing in thirty minutes. But since I had trouble waking you, it's now twenty-six minutes," Mick said before he walked out of the room.

For a moment, all three sat in silence, a bit confused at what had just gone on until Roger finally decided to put on his pants and grab some breakfast. Barney followed suit and Homer was right behind still questioning his dream and what was possibly for breakfast.

The boys each set a place for themselves on Moe's old dining room table as Mick whipped up some scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. A hearty meal that he loved to have just before going out on the boat to fish. Moe was going to see them off but wasn't going with him; he had worked until eleven last night and needed his rest before opening again in the afternoon. It was evident that the place was always busy with something going on and someone doing something, a kind of life that was good and enjoyable enough where work was more pleasant that annoying.

Mick of course seemed to enjoy it as we whistled while scrambling the eggs and made sure the bacon was nice and brown. The boys only watched, still a bit sleepy from waking up so suddenly and really not quite ready to strike up a conversation. Of course Mick had other ideas and was soon chatting away with Barney who told him how he had met Moe years earlier after Homer had gone to summer camp and returned with a new friend. Homer and Roger only listened on, Roger close enough to falling asleep right on the table while Homer tried to shake off his dream. It was slowly falling out of his memory and was starting to feel a bit more relaxed now. They were only dreams and nothing more.

Once breakfast was over, Homer's dreams were now nothing but a fuzzy memory and all three were now awake enough to begin the day ready to head out on the boat and see what kind of fishing they could do out there on the water. Moe had finally woken up and was now bringing them out to his little dock to meet his pride and joy.

"So have you boys ever driven a boat before?" Moe asked as he led the way to his boat on the dock.

"Of course Moe, you remember that time we stole my dad's and took a joyride in Lake Springfield back in '67," Barney replied.

"Oh man I got so sea sick after eating all those pickles…or was it lake sick," Homer replied.

"Oh yeah, how long did your dad ground you for Barney?" Moe asked.

"Couple weeks or so, probably the most boring weeks of my life," Barney said.

"Yeah my dad gave me the spanking of my life, my butt was red for a week after that," Homer said.

"That was one crazy summer, but how about you Rogah, do any sailin' in your time?" asked Moe.

"No, I've ridden in them so I guess this will be my first time driving it," Roger said.

"Ah, well just watch the guys do it, it's not too hard," Moe said as he lead toward his pride and joy.

The boat was rocking back and forth with the waves as they made their way forward to see what they were using to go fishing. It was an old fishing boat, built in the early fifties, but still very sturdy and reliable and that's what Moe liked about it. His uncle had kept it in prime condition so it almost looked that it had been built ten years ago, rather than twenty years ago. The boys stared at it, marveling at how nice it was and surprised that Moe would actually trust them using his boat in the middle of the ocean.

"The Surly Mermaid huh?" Roger said as he looked at the back and noticed the boat had a name.

"Yeah my uncle named it that; I've been thinking about changing it to The Syzlah, what do you think?" Moe asked.

Homer made a disgusted face while Roger tried his hardest not to laugh at such a funny sounding name for a boat. Barney just stared at Moe wondering if his old friend had gone bananas for being out in the sun so long.

"Don't worry boys, I told him no and that his uncle would probably roll in his grave if he did change it," Mick said as he started loosening the ropes that were tied from the dock to the boat.

"Hey it sounds cool to me, I bet the ladies would love it," Moe said.

"Jenna didn't," Mick said.

Moe only shrugged as he climbed onto the boat with Mick to help start up the engine. Moe was apparently the only one allowed to turn it on, and he woke up every morning to help Mick do that before going back to bed for another hour or two. It was just protocol to him; he wanted to make sure his old uncles boat ran smoothly. Mick would probably tell him otherwise but he didn't want to risk it. It had only needed to be serviced once and that was a year ago where it stayed in the repair shop for a week. Moe could not make any fish that week and had to settle for crabs given to him by his rival Patrick Callaway, another big bar owner who often made more money than Moe during the summer season. Usually by only one thousand dollars, but enough for Moe to want to keep going with the rivalry. This summer was no exception but now that he had three extra helpers, next year, during America's bicentennial, things would be different.

While Moe was warming up the boat, Homer thought about the shrug Moe gave when Mick mentioned Jenna, did that mean they were together? But Moe also said he was trying to attract the ladies, he was going to have to watch those two carefully and find out. Hopefully he would get lucky and that Jenna would accept him, not like in his dream that morning.

But Homer's thoughts of love were quickly changed to thoughts of the wonderful sea breeze whipping his hair about, and the salty sea air spraying in his face. He sat in the front of the bow of the boat, while Mick gave Barney and Roger a lesson on how to drive. Homer would learn when they drove back since there was not much room near the steering area. But Homer was glad he did not have to learn right away, just letting the ocean breeze melt all his thoughts away as Mick brought them to the usual fishing spot many miles offshore.

They seemed to reach the spot in no time at all, Homer wanted to enjoy the ride some more, but that would have to wait until after fishing was done. For now he had to find his own pole and start fishing for the dinner menu at Moe's Bar. Mick helped set up the hooks for them and showed the boys how to use the right bait for the right fish, especially how to get the biggest one. Roger of course was the most willing to cast out first and before long he was on the bow of the boat humming to himself as he waited for a fish to come along. Pretty soon Barney had his line and was sitting across from Homer as both of them cast out at the same time and waited for a fish to come by.

For a little while they all sat in silence, listening to the waves lap up against the boat, the seagulls call out overhead, and some boats drive by. Not many boats seemed to come by this area, it was really secluded and quiet, the perfect place to fish.

"So Mick, I hope you don't mind asking but is your sister available?" Roger suddenly asked without missing a beat.

It seemed to take a moment for Mick to register that Roger had suddenly asked that question and another moment to think about how to respond. Of course it was a normal question for him, but one that had not been asked in quite a while.

"She has been for about, oh four months now, says she taking a break for a bit too so it might be hard to convince her otherwise," Mick said.

"Rough relationship?" Roger asked.

"Not really, it was actually a really good one, until the bastard just up and says he has no interest in her any more. Two days after they split up, she runs into him hanging around with some floozy. Poor girl came to me crying her heart out, it was so upsetting that I ended up writing a song about it, I should play it for you guys later," Mick said.

"But do you think she would be interested in any of us?" Homer asked.

"Perhaps, but you got to win her over in such a way that makes her want to be with you. Break her heart and I will tear you to shreds," Mick said while he was busy unraveling his hook that had just got caught in some rocks.

Homer looked over at Roger nervously wondering if it really was a good idea to try and hook up with this girl. Roger though only smiled as if he knew he would be the perfect match, apparently seeing more pretty girls would not lead him into temptation. Homer knew he had to be careful with that too, but as long as the relationship was happy, he did not see a problem.

But thoughts about girls quickly changed moments later as everyone jumped up to the loud sound of another fishing boat heading their way. Mick dropped what he was doing and jumped up to see who was out there making all that noise, shortly after the music of Dobie Gray quickly engulfed the silence around them.

"Who are those people?" Roger asked in an annoyed voice.

"Patrick Callaway and his two sidekicks Greg and Ian," Mick grumbled angrily.

"Are they trouble?" Homer asked.

"Only in business, you see Moe has a rivalry between them. Patrick owns the Callaway Cay Bar just up the coast from us. He usually makes a bit more money than us and we've been trying to beat him for years. He likes to interrupt my fishing once a week, I guess now is a good of a time as any since he needs to know that Moe has three new extra hands," Mick grumbled as he watched Patrick bring his boat toward them.

For a moment, Homer thought Patrick would ram his boat up against Moe's and quickly jumped up to stay out of the way if needed be. But Patrick seemed to know what he was doing, it wasn't long before he slowed down right in front of The Surly Mermaid and threw a line at Mick who quickly grabbed it and tied it to the boat.

"Well well, I see we have some new faces here," Patrick said as he came forward with Bruce and Ian.

"They're my replacement for when I leave for my music career," Mick said in a rather unfriendly tone.

"Ah of course, the music career that you think will land you big, and you leave Moe with these three, hmmm this could get interesting," Patrick said as he made his way onto the boat and stared at Homer, Barney and Roger.

He was a tough looking fisherman, strong and tall with broad shoulders and a military type haircut. He wore some bulky sunglasses and had a long scar on his cheek that went all the way to his ear. Homer began to wonder if this was from a fight he had with other fisherman or just that he only had one to look tough. His partner Bruce was an interesting character; he almost had a build like Barney only a bit fatter and dumber looking. He stayed on the boat, squinting his eyes as if he was trying to size up the competition before hacking out a piece of tobacco into the water and then walking to the back of the boat. Apparently they were no concern to him and he had better things to do. Ian was much shorter than both of them and knowing how short people were, he had a sort of little dog complex where he acted bigger than he really was, he puffed up his chest and smiled menacingly as if he was up to something.

"I bet they will do twice the amount of work Bruce and Ian do," Mick said while he still tried to undo his tangled line.

"Perhaps, as long as they learn about how to fish right and stay out of our territory," Patrick said with a grin.

"I see you still haven't learned to stay out of mine," Mick said.

"Heh, no not yet, besides it's good to have a second person come on board and find out if you told them all the rules yet," Patrick said.

"Well I was going to tell them your territory was further out southeast, what size fish we needed and how to avoid tourists" Mick said.

"Oh those are all easy things, what about the things only us natives know, like the easiest way to get to the Dry Tortugas, where they sell the best bait, how to avoid a relationship with a an old Spanish man and what about Barracuda?" Patrick asked.

"You mean those really angry fish who try to take a bite out of you the first chance they get?" Roger asked while he reeled something in, Barney of course was watching but Homer only stared back at Patrick wondering what he was talking about.

"What's your name kid?" Patrick asked.

"Roger S-S-S" Roger began as Patrick came forward making him feel a bit uncomfortable. "…sir?" Patrick grabbed the fishing pole out of his hands and took over the reeling business.

"Well Roger it sounds like you know your fish, but Barracuda is not a barracuda, in fact I am a little surprised that Moe did not tell you about him, seeing as how Barracuda is the one who brought him down here. Because Barracuda is a Marlin."

Patrick now had his hand on a snapper that Roger had just caught, a small one and not very big. Carefully he unhooked it and then gave it to Roger to hold. Roger tried to hold it and see the creature up close. But it quickly started to wiggle and squirm causing Roger to lose his grip sending the fish back into the water.

"Is it a big Marlin?" Barney asked.

"I was going to tell them when they were ready Patrick, it's a good second night story, I was going to tell them through the ballad I wrote," Mick said

"Oh they don't want to hear you're singing, I know I don't. And what's your name?" Patrick asked Barney. Mick was staring back at Patrick so angrily that it looked like he could bore a hole into the guy.

"Barney," Barney replied.

"Well Barney, he is not the biggest, probably not the smartest either, but he is certainly one of the meanest out there," Patrick said.

"How mean? And I'm Homer in case you're wondering," Homer said.

"Well Homer, did Moe tell you his uncle lost his life to a marlin a little over four years ago?" asked Patrick.

"Yeah he told us what happened and how he had inherited his home and land, just not the name of the fish or anything," Homer said.

"Well Barracuda is that Marlin, and why is he called Barracuda you may ask? Because he is just as mean and twice as ugly," Patrick began. "No one knows how old he is, some thinks he may only be a couple decades since most of the incidents have happened in a span of ten years, but that could just mean he moved from one place to another. He is not hard to miss if you ever catch him, for a while the only recognizable way was from his dorsal fin which is missing part of the crest. But now, there is a new way to tell who he is, you know that one right Mick?"

"Of course, only half a bill after that fateful fishing day with Moe's uncle Leo," Mick said.

"How did that happen?" asked Roger.

"No one knows for sure, Leo was a solitary figure, always fishing by himself and never saying much," Patrick continued. "Old Jerry Kellen found him out here while fishing in the evening. What we all think happened was this. He caught Barracuda, a great struggle indeed, probably fought for hours. Leo was able to reel him all the way in but Barracuda wasn't finished with him, in a fit of rage, that angry fish attacked and gored Leo right in the chest. Leo must have tried to fight him off, because he was able to snap Barracuda's sword in half before Barracuda jumped back in and left Leo standing there, a fish sword sticking out. But before he passed on, he pulled it out, he probably should not have done that though, he could have lived if he left it in there, but he was probably in so much shock that he wasn't thinking properly. Everyone hoped it was a quick death, poor Old Jerry was so shocked afterward, but I wouldn't blame him."

"So has he been seen since?" Barney asked.

"Oh yes, many times, he often drags men out of the boats, sometimes he just rams the boat before the fisherman have to let him go. I fought him two years ago, that's how I got this scar," Patrick said as he pointed to the large scar on his cheek. "Nearly beheaded me with that sword of his, and even though he only has half of it, it's still as sharp as ever."

"How did he get away when you tried to catch him?" asked Homer.

"The line snapped after he breached and nearly got me, I was okay with that, I knew I was losing it was better for me to just let him go. There's always another chance," Patrick said.

"Well at least you're humble about some things," Roger said.

Patrick stared back at Roger in an almost intimidating manner. Apparently Patrick liked to intimidate the first time he met some new people out on the boat. They were just the usual greenhorns, yet these ones were part of a competition so he wanted to make sure that they knew of him and his rivalry with Moe.

"Well now that I've given them a bit of history I say its time I headed further southeast to get my catch in. I'll be watching you boys and I hope we will meet again," Patrick said before he made his way back on his own boat. Mick helped him unknot the rope and threw it back to him before Patrick drove off with his two sidekicks, and before long disappeared beyond the horizon.

For many minutes, there was silence between the four men, no one was sure what to say or what to think of the new stranger they met, they had no idea if he really was a threat or not. He seemed to be just a rival, one where they had to prove that they could do well for Moe and his business. It now seemed like this new adventure was going to get interesting. While they stood watching, Homer felt a tug in his line and started reeling it in.

"Well guys you just met the competition, what do you want to do now?" asked Mick.

"Well for one thing I would like to bring this fish in," Homer replied as he hung on to his line.

Well that was a start at least.

A/N: Yeah this was a subpar chapter I know, I just wanted to get this one done and introduce characters and stuff. So I hope Patrick seemed like an interesting competition to you guys. You'll see him some more later. The next chapter should be fun for me though, things are gonna get interesting with Jenna. Hopefully it comes out the way I want it.

Any way please review when you all can, hopefully I will update again soon.