By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
The boat was docked at a pier down from Mr. Tai’s warehouse. They were adding a radio and tracking device. Charlie wasn’t sure, but he was thinking Mr. Tai didn’t trust his new partners, or maybe he didn’t trust anybody.
In fact, the law required the tracking device on all boats sailing in Costa Rican waters. But Charlie was right about Mr. Tai, he didn’t trust anybody.
Edgar ordered food and cases of bottled water for the trip. He and Rufino also changed the oil and did other things on the boat, while Charlie went in search of some “go” cameras. Edgar said they would be shipping out the next morning at dawn, so Charlie needed to get everything set up that night. He found a shop off the main drag that had what he was looking for. The brand was Go-Flow, and three cameras fit in the palm of his hand.
Charlie went back to the hotel and called Eric, who came out of the back and smiled at him. “Hello Charlie, what’s up?”
“I need to check out; we’ll be leaving before dawn tomorrow so tonight will be it for a while.”
“Sure thing.” Eric typed in the charge for one more night and hit print.
As Charlie paid him, something about the way Eric was looking at him led him to ask, “You have something on your mind, Eric?”
“Charlie, I like you. But you are running with some bad people. Your friends, Edgar and Rufino, they have a reputation here in Puntarenas of not being trustworthy. And, now you’re working for Mr. Tai. I would prefer for you to stay someplace else upon your return. Feel free to come by for a beer and a chat, but trouble follows your friends, and I just don’t want any part of it. I hope there are no hard feelings.”
Charlie put his hand out and said, “No hard feelings at all.” They shook hands and as he turned to leave, Charlie shouted over his shoulder, “I’ll be back for that beer.”
Back in his room, he got undressed and jumped into the shower. It would no doubt be the last fresh water he would be bathing in for some time. When he asked Edgar how long they would be out to sea, he was told, “I don’t know. It will depend on how the fishing goes. If it’s good, we could be back in port within a week, or if it’s bad, maybe in a month.”
Charlie put his head under the warm water and shivered at the thought of being on that boat with Edgar and Rufino for a month.
After the shower, he was putting on clean shorts and a T-shirt when a knock came at his door. It was Rufino. “We’re going to the café, gringo.” And with that, he turned and walked away.
Although Rufino didn’t say it, Charlie knew he was expected to join them. He put on his sandals and locked the door. He entered the lobby but saw no one. They had gone on without him. He shook his head and thought, This is going be a fun trip.
Charlie saw them at one of the outside tables. “What the hell, you couldn’t wait?”
Edgar set his beer down and smiled for the first time since Charlie had met them. “We knew you wouldn’t get lost.”
Charlie waved at the bartender to bring him a beer. “Well, what is so important?”
Rufino spoke up, “We decided to hire a deckhand. His pay will be coming out of your share. You’re not worth a damn right now and it will take you at least two weeks before you can carry your weight. On a fishing boat, you have to earn your money and it will take you a while to get the hang of finning. The knives are razor sharp – one miss and you can lose a hand or a finger. Until you can do the job, we’ll need someone to carry that load for you.”
“I can understand hiring somebody,” Charlie said, “and I don’t care that it’s coming out of my share, but why don’t you teach me to drive the boat. I’m not so sure I can cut up a live shark anyway.”
Edgar picked up his beer. “Driving the boat is the job of the captain, which happens to be me.”
Rufino wasn’t finished. “Listen, all this bullshit about live sharks; we long-line fish, which means we run out a long fishing line with bait, we let it sit overnight, and pull it in the next day. By the time we pull the line in, there are only a few fish, including sharks, that are still alive.”
Charlie said, “I was only repeating what I had read about finning. Like you said, I have a lot to learn.” Charlie paused for a moment, then added, “By the way, I’d like to go take a look at the boat if that is okay with you two. All I’ve seen is the outside.”
Edgar took a key off a ring of keys and slid it across the table. “Here. Make sure you lock it up before you leave.”
Charlie drank his beer and stood to leave. “I think I’ll take my backpack and leave it there. You think it will be safe?”
Rufino laughed. “We have Mr. Tai’s flag – no one will mess with our boat.”
“Good, then I’ll see you in the morning.”
With his backpack, Charlie caught a cab to the pier. He didn’t know what he had expected on the inside, but the outside looked like crap. The boat was maybe 40 feet long, with the steering and cabin in front, leaving a short bow area. The working space was the flat area behind the steering, with a roof of corrugated panels. Just behind the captian’s chair was a drum with thousands of feet of fishing line rolled around it. The rear deck railing had an opening where the line was laid out and brought back in, the gap in the rear was about four or five feet wide. On each side of the deck were covered tanks to store fish or, in their case, shark fins.
Charlie hurriedly looked for places to plant the Go-Flow cameras. It didn’t take him long. Toward the front of the boat, a couple of boards held the cover over the work area. Between them was a perfect fit for one of the cameras. He peeled the paper off the back of the camera to expose a sticky pad, slid the camera between the two boards, and aimed the lens through the crack. It would give him an overhead shot of the entire back of the boat.
Along the sides, running the length of the flat work area, the boards that made up the side wells had holes that on a normal fishing boat would be used to tie down the fishing gear. But on a finning boat, there was no fishing gear. The holes pointed out over the deck, and the cameras he placed inside a couple of them would record anything that came aboard.
With that out of the way, Charlie went up to the wheelhouse and looked out over the bow. He had to admit there wasn’t much to the boat.
He unlocked the door going below and found the light switch. At the foot of the stairs, there was a cooking stove, with a sink to its left and a table on its right. Behind the table was the toilet. It was very small and something he didn’t want to think about needing.
A very narrow hall ran from the foot of the stairs toward the front of the boat, with doors along the wall. He checked each of them and found closets holding wet-weather gear and lifejackets. That was good to know.
In the very front of the boat were the sleeping quarters. There were four bunks, two on top of the other two. There were rails on the side of each bunk to keep you from falling out. The beds were better than nothing but not by much. He put his backpack on a top bunk, knowing Rufino and Edgar would demand the lower bunks – it wasn’t a fight worth having.
Charlie locked up the boat and walked back toward the bar. A nice breeze was coming off the Gulf, and as he turned the corner and walked the few feet to the bar he was taken aback by how empty the streets were. Puntarenas was like a small town in the country that rolled up the sidewalks at sunset.
He took a table close to the outside. He wanted to watch the waves coming ashore. The waiter brought him a beer and he took out his cell phone and found Margot’s number in his contacts.
“This is Charlie.”
Margot’s voice sounded like heaven to him. “I know who it is, Charlie. You are the only one who has this number.”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t be sorry. How are you doing?”
“I guess you know we have the boat. I just came from checking it out and placing cameras on board. We go out with the tide early in the morning.”
“No, Charlie, I meant how are you doing?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes I believe I know what I’m doing, and at other times I realize how stupid this whole thing is.”
“Charlie, it isn’t stupid, what you are doing, it is very brave.”
“Margot, I don’t want to die protecting something that would eat me if I fell overboard. To me, that sounds stupid.”
“Charlie, if you’re not committed to this, you need to quit right now. It is not going to get any easier.”
He took a drink of beer, exhaled, and said, “I’m okay, Margot. I just needed a shoulder to cry on. It has been very lonely.”
“Call me when you get back and I’ll make up for your loneliness.”
“I’ll take you up on that. It’ll give me something to dream about on the boat. Goodnight, Margot, see you on my return.”
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
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