The Fisherman's Tale (On Hiatus)

Chapter 1: The Drunken Bet

Again, please bear in mind that this is for NaNoWriMo, so it's going to be mostly blab and unedited stuff. Please bear that in mind when you read this and please leave a comment of what to edit in or out of it for when I do editing stuff in December :)

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Chapter 1:

Chuck sat alone in the cold, dark bar. Every so now and often he would ask for yet another beer, but aside from that he kept to himself, silent, and drowning in his thoughts.

He thought of how everything had turned upside down within such a short time space, how much his son and daughter and grown up, and that if he didn't sort things out now, then it was likely that he'd never see them marry or have their children. He wanted to be the kind of grandfather to their children that Polly's parents hadn't been to them.

He had been powerless as everything went by as a blur, Polly snapping at him, him being pushed out onto the street and the door slammed in his face.

Chuck had been little more than idle for the past year, as the fish had gone, vanished. No one knew for sure how though, it could have been disease, that they had simply just left the area and found another place that was better or they had gone extinct.

Polly had just walked through the door after a long days work, sighing from exhaustion and slumping onto the chair in front of the fire. Chuck had offered to make her a beverage or a meal, and she had just snapped. She argued that 'he was only offering to do it because then he'd actually have something to do', that 'he was far too lazy to get a job of his own' and that 'at this rate she wouldn't be able to go on like this within a short while'.

He hadn't known that a 'short while' would turn out to be a week.

Polly had just snapped that day. He didn't think that she'd had a very good day anyway, but this one in particular had just set her off, like a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor. That reaction, as well, turned out to be explosive. She was screaming at him, trying to hold in her tears. They had very little income, and could barely scrape by. Polly had spent her spare time tutoring her children, and the lack of rest was taking its toll on her. It was, though, thanks to her that their children now had an edge over many people, and would therefore be able to get a secure job, as well as one that paid well. Chuck always wanted more for his children. Unfortunately though, he couldn't give anymore than he had. Polly had always worked, always taught; she was multi-talented. On the other hand, Chuck was only talented at fishing, and once that trade had diminished, he had nothing to do. Thanks to Polly's tutoring, Brett had managed to obtain an apprenticeship as an accountant, and that brought in a small amount of income. 

It was Brett who had tried to hold Polly back as Chuck tried to reason with her as Robyn sat like a scared mouse in the corner of the room. She hated disputes like this, but would never get involved in them; she knew what her mother was like nowadays.

Chuck stared at his empty beer glass, tilting it from side to side, watching the remaining froth slide along the bottom of the glass.

He had now lost his family as well as his career. There was nothing left for him now. He thought back to how his uncle would take him out on his boat, and how Chuck had been practically useless in the beginning. His uncle was a kind man, and treated Chuck as his own. Chuck was the closest he had to a son as he was childless. His uncle, Johnathon, or Johnny as he was more commonly known, was the best in his trade. He knew the exact place that was best for fishing sustainably, which type of net to use and how much fish was a good amount to catch, as well as the prices that could be fetched for different breeds and types of fish, and also how to tell how good a condition the fish were in. Johnny taught Chuck that modesty is key in the industry - to never let anyone know of your knowledge and to keep it exclusively to you. It may seem greedy, but in a world where the catchphrase 'Every man for himself' heavily applies, this edge could be the difference between having a roof over your head and being out on the streets 'freezing your ass off', as Johnny would commonly say.