Troubled Sea

Two

When we got to the fishing grounds early the next morning, the weather had gotten worse than the forecast, with winds near forty knots and seventeen foot seas. I was working on chopping up some herring for bait, putting it into bags to be used in the pots to attract the crab. I almost lost my footing several times because of how the waves affected the boat. When Johnathan announced that we were almost to our chosen area to fish, I grabbed a bait bag and hung it in the pot that was ready on the launcher. When it was time to launch the pot into the sea, I grabbed one of the buoys, and once the pot went over the side of the boat, I threw it as hard as I could. It landed on the surface to mark where the pot was so we could haul it later. By the time the first string had been set, I was exhausted, but I pushed myself to keep working, since we still had one more string to set. I didn't want to fall behind the guys, so I ignored the protests of my joints and muscles and continued working.

Once both strings had been set, I felt the repercussions of pushing myself so hard begin to set in. "You okay, Trace?" Grant asked me. "I think I pulled a muscle or two," I groaned. "That's part of the job. After a while, you just sort of get used to it," Freddy said, "you did a great job out there, though. I didn't expect you to work so hard this early in the season." "Look at who I grew up with. I think my dad's work ethic rubbed off on me," I said, and the guys laughed. "How is Sig, by the way?" Grant asked, and I remembered that he had told me that he worked on the Northwestern for a year before moving to the Time Bandit. "Hasn't really changed much since you last saw him," I said. "Great," he said simply, but didn't elaborate. The boat hit a large wave, sending me tumbling into Grant and both of us onto the floor. "That was a big wave," he said, and I noticed that he wasn't meeting my eyes, instead looking at my chest. "My eyes are up here, dumbass," I said, and he quickly looked up. "That's better," I said. "Can you get off me so I can get up?" He asked in frustration. "With pleasure," I replied with a smirk, leaping back to my feet and sitting down beside Freddy. I laughed when Grant managed to get to his feet, only to get knocked back to the floor when the boat encountered another wave.

When it came time to haul our first string, I watched Eddie Uwekoolani throw the hook to retrieve the first pot, taking mental notes on how he did it. I waited with bated breath to see what was in the first pot, and as it came over the rail, there was a small cheer from the crew, as there were some crab in the pot. As soon as it hit the launcher, Freddy and I opened the door and began sorting the crab, finding them to be large males, so we put them in the storage tank, counting each one as we went. "Twenty-four. Two four," I said, putting up my fingers to indicate the number to Johnathan in the wheelhouse. The number of crab in the pots stayed within the range of twenty to thirty crab per pot, and we were almost to the end of the string when disaster struck.

While I was sorting crab, Johnathan came on the microphone to alert us to a large incoming wave, and I grabbed the edge of the sorting table with all of my strength. As the wave hit, the pot came loose from the dogs on the launcher, and I had to dive out of the way to avoid getting crushed by the pot. I wound up sliding across the deck feet first, hitting the bulkhead at the bow of the boat, and it didn't take long for Freddy to help me up and ask me if I was okay. "Yeah, I'm fine. That was a little scary, though," I admitted, and we got to work moving the pot out of the way, then we continued working as though nothing had happened.

After we had set all of our pots parallel to ones set by my dad on the Northwestern, I decided to make dinner for the guys. When they came into the galley, I already had everything ready and on the table for them. "Damn, Trace. You made all this by yourself?" Eddie asked. "Yeah. I needed something to do besides sit on my bunk," I said. "Well, you're a great cook, I'll say that," Johnathan said. "Thank you. I never really considered myself a good cook, honestly," I said with a smile. "You're definitely a lot better than Andy was. It seemed like every time he cooked for us, it would end up being burnt," Grant commented. "Yeah. He never really took the time to learn how to cook," Johnathan said with a laugh.

A few days later, we were in Saint Paul Harbor for our first offload of the season, and docked right in front of us just so happened to be the Northwestern. When we were done offloading, we had some free time, so I decided to visit Dad and Mandy. "Hey. Want some help?" I asked Mandy, who had her back to me. When she heard my voice, she jumped and spun around, quickly giving me a hug. "It's so good to see you!" She said. "It's good to see you too, sis," I said. "How was your first trip?" She asked. "It was pretty good. Guess who I ran into," I said. "Who?" She asked. "Remember Grant Evans?" I asked. "Yeah! He's on the Time Bandit now?" She asked. "Yeah, he is. Imagine my surprise when I saw him," I said. "I can imagine that," Mandy replied. "He's grown up since I last saw him," I said. "Aww, does someone have a crush?" She asked me with a mischievous smile. "Shut up, Mandy," I said as I felt my cheeks heat up. "You've never been very good at keeping secrets from me," she said, tapping my nose with her finger, and I couldn't disagree with her because she was right. "Don't even think about telling Grant," I said firmly. "Jeez, I never planned to do anything of the sort," she said as I climbed down into the crab tank to help offload.

"You just got done helping offload on the Time Bandit, and now you're helping us offload? Do you ever get tired?" Mandy asked. "Yeah, it just takes me longer now that I've gotten used to working anywhere from twenty-four to thirty-six hours at a time," I said. "Wow. You must drink a lot of coffee," she said. "Nope. I never really needed much sleep to feel energized," I said. "That's true. Honestly, it's more like you just take a cat nap for a few hours each night, and you somehow have more energy than I do, and I get nine hours of sleep most nights," she said. "I'm a mystery in some ways," I said. "Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. Well, it was nice to catch up with you. See you soon!" She said. "Yeah, see you soon, Mandy!" I said as I went back to the Time Bandit.

I looked at the sea as we went back to the fishing grounds, admiring how calm it was at the moment. When it wanted to, the Bering Sea could be very beautiful. I noticed something that definitely wasn't there before, and I realized that there was a killer whale swimming next to the boat. Freddy saw it too, and before any of us could say anything, he jumped into the water with it. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a life ring, tied a rope to it, and tossed it out to Freddy so he could grab it. With a bit of difficulty, I was able to get him back to the boat once he grabbed the life ring. "Freddy, what the fuck were you thinking?! You could've been killed!" I said. "I thought of that when I hit the water. I'm sorry I made you guys worry about me," he said. "It's fine. Just don't do it again," I said. We returned to the crab grounds to haul a string that we'd set on the way to St. Paul, and Johnathan was hoping that we could retrieve our string before a cyclone from the west hit the grounds. The seas were already churning from the leading edge of the storm, and it would only get worse before it got better. As the first pot came over the rail, I stood by the sorting table, ready to start sorting the crab in the pot. When we could see what was in the pot, we let out a groan, as it turned out blank, meaning that there were no crab in it. After several pots came up blank, Johnathan alerted us to a large wave off the port side. I tried to grab the sorting table, but just as I was about to put my hand on it, the wave hit. I was swept off my feet by the force of the wave, and then I saw the boat from the wrong angle, so I instinctively took a deep breath as I fell into the Bering Sea.

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The next chapter is probably going to be told from both Grant's perspective and Trace's perspective. Until next time!