Blue on Blue

Chapter Six

Charlie yanks the ripcord. The motor sputters and coughs before it roars to life. Seawater bursts and bubbles around the rear of the boat. He wraps his hands around the steering wheel and pushes a lever, easing the boat away from the dock. 

Maggie tightens the straps on her life vest and holds on for dear life. The top end of the boat tips up, sending the back end plunging into the waves. Seawater spats at Maggie's face as the boat cuts through the white caps.

"I'd take an MBTA city bus any day over a speed boat!" she yells over the roar of the engine.

Charlie glances at her and laughs, releasing a set of dimples on each of his cheeks. "You're green!" 

She squeezes her eyes shut. 

"We're almost there," he says. "Hang on!"

She white knuckles a railing. With any luck, she won't hurl over the side of the boat. 

The boat cuts through the waves and toward the shoreline on the other side of the cove. An outline of two figures, huddling at the end of a dock appears. The boy waves his arms over his head. The girl is dangling her feet in the water. Charlie steers the boat alongside the dock.

"Dude!" the boy says, grabbing his fishing rod. "The fish are biting off-shore in the rips." Charlie loops a rope around a metal cleat nailed to the dock. "And I got the bait that's gonna catch 'em." He holds up a Chinese food take-out box. Worms covered in dirt and seaweed squirm over the sides.

The girl scrunches her nose and squeals. "Keep those nasty things away from me," she says, slipping past him. Her long platinum ponytail bounces up and down. "I'm Cay. You must be Maggie." She thumbs at the boy. "Don't mind Drew. He hasn't caught a fish all summer and he's bent on catching one today."

Drew lifts a tackle box and jumps into the boat, landing directly in front of Maggie. His complexion is ruddy, like someone slapped him across his face. Tufts of blond hair curl out from underneath his Red Sox cap. "You must be City Girl." He presses his fists against his hips, in a Superman pose. "You can call me Brody because I'm gunna hunt and catch the livin' daylights out of those fish!" 

Maggie's eyes light with recognition. "Brody, the 'You're gunna need a bigger boat' Brody?"

Drew nods. "That's him. Spoiler Alert! In the end, he catches and kills the Great White."

Cay raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "You're more like Captain Ahab from Moby Dick, Drew."

"Call me Ishmael," Charlie says, which makes everyone laugh, including Maggie. 

"You'll see," Drew tells them as he unties the rope from the dock. "You won't be laughing when I'm grilling big blues and stripers for suppa tonight."

Charlie and Drew yell back and forth at each other as they troll the rips for fishing. Once they settle on a suitable rip, Drew argues that steering the boat parallel to the rip is best, but Charlie wants to steer the boat nose first toward the rip and let the current pull the boat across it. When Drew's way doesn't work, they try Charlie's. And when Charlie's way doesn't work, they try Cay's which is to cut the engine, lower the anchor, and let the boat rise and fall on the waves.

Cay leans back into the white vinyl and lifts her chin toward the sun. "That's better, boys. Fish like the quiet. And so do I." 

No matter how many fish they do or don't catch, Maggie likes Cay's way the most.

After a quick lesson from Charlie on how to spool and line a reel, Maggie casts her plastic bobber out to sea and watches it plop in between Charlie's and Drew's.