Reel Problem

Hey friends, another tale from my library. Should have been sooner, but been busy with boat stuff now that spring is around the corner. Hope to have Another Chapter in the water in about 6 weeks! No sex to speak of here, and the BTB folks will puke, too bad I write for me not you. The story is about decisions and consequences. It is one sided, maybe I'll write her side some time... Let me know how you see it if the effort is worth it to you.

*

We had an eleven o'clock tee time so I kissed Sarah, goodbye on my way through the kitchen, reminding her that the steaks were marinating in the fridge. I'd be back by five to get the grill ready and Tony and Jill would be over by six for dinner. She just smiled and nodded, looking a bit distracted.

I was half way to the golf course when my phone rang. My display showed it was the marina. What did they want on a Saturday morning? I hoped someone hadn't hit a boat, because they were well aware that I didn't work weekends. Punching up my speaker phone I answered the call in spite of my reservations.

"Carl here. What can I do for you?"

"Carl, its Jason. Say, I've got a situation here. Need a quick and easy salvage done this afternoon. I know you hate weekend calls, but it's a cash deal, $1500 for two hours work, no paperwork."

"Jason, I am on my way to an eleven o'clock tee time!"

"Bernie Carson's son Phillip took the old man's boat out with a girl, trying to be a player, I think. In the midst of some disagreement which I will spare you, the girl got pissed and threw a rod and reel overboard to prove a point."

"And?"

"And the rod just happens to be Bernie's brand new split cane rod and Black Zebra reel. The set is worth over $5,000 and junior is crapping his drawers. It isn't just the money, Bernie is fanatical about his fly fishing and young Philip took the boat without permission. Need to get the rig back this afternoon and therefore a quick cash deal for you!"

Ah, tempted to tell Jason to leave me alone, but $1,500 cash to give up a game of golf which I sucked at? Well, my buddies would be fine without me. "Ok, does the idiot know where they lost the damn thing?"

"Yes, they are still anchored over it. Just off Maryanne Island in about thirty feet of water."

"Ok, I can be at the dock in twenty minutes. Tell the kid to sit tight. He better have the cash."

"Carl, I'll pay you myself. The girl is my niece! I don't need Bernie down my ass. Just get the dang rod back!"

A quick call to Tony to explain why I was standing him up and I turned the SUV around and headed for my boat. Why did Jason call me? No, I am not his best friend, I am the only commercial diver resident on this stretch of the river. Mostly I do underwater welding, pipe fitting, or laying cable, but I also do salvage work, and occasionally some search and rescue for the state police. It's not a job that will make me rich, but, it pays pretty well and I make a good living, especially on salvage when it comes up. My work boat is a steel hulled forty footer with a big 800 HP single Diesel engine, a full compressor system complete with nitrox, ten dive tanks, a davit for my RIB, and a fifteen ton winch. Last spring I hauled up a pair of almost brand new 250 HP outboards off a boat some idiot flipped. The insurance company wrote me a cheque for $25,000. Took me a whole afternoon to find the boat, then about two hours to get the engines off and winched to the surface. I'd take a job like that every day, but they don't happen often.

I was on 'Recovery' and out of the harbour in half an hour. It was only about fifteen minutes to where I saw Bernie's Ranger sitting at anchor in a shallow bay just where Jason said it would be. Young Phillip looked mighty pleased to see me as I coasted up and tossed him a line. The good thing was there was little current in the bay, so the boat shouldn't have swung much in the last hour.

"Hi, Phil. We got a problem, huh?" I knew Phil from around the harbour. He wasn't a bad kid, but his father was one ornery SOB at times. I wouldn't want to be in the kid's shoes if he had to tell his old man that his favourite toy was at the bottom of the river!

"Mr. Sommers, am I glad to see you! Do you think you can find it down there?"

It was about then that I saw the young lady sitting morosely on the bow of the glittery Ranger bass boat.

"Well, we sure will try, young man! Give me ten minutes to get suited up and my tank on and then we should know pretty quick. The good news is this little bay you are in has a hard bottom and the visibility is much better than in the open channel. I think we've got a pretty good chance."

The Vis at the bottom was nearly fifteen feet and it only took about twenty minutes to find Papa Carson's pride and joy. When I came up with it in hand there was visible relief on two young faces.

"Phillip,"" I said as I handed it over, "there you go. Now I suggest you take that back to the dock, give it a good and thorough cleaning, and put your dad's boat back where it belongs!" He was all too happy to agree.

I had waved goodbye to the pair of relieved kids and was just starting back out of the bay when the big Malibu VTX raced past down the centre channel. I knew that boat all too well. It belonged to Reece Potter, a local car salesman. How does a car salesman afford an $110,000 toy? Simple, his daddy owns the local GM dealership, Potter Chevrolet, that's how, and Reece, an only child, gets whatever he wants. That was no issue to me, except he'd always wanted Sarah and I got her. At least I thought I had, until I saw her sitting up on the front of that damn Malibu in a little red bikini I'd never seen before. What was my wife of two years doing with her old boyfriend? I didn't think I wanted to know, but I needed to.

I put 'Recovery' in neutral. And just sat for a minute, watching the Malibu grow smaller as they headed downstream. Not too many places they could be going in that direction, and my guess was somewhere around Lake Catch-Em-All, a big horseshoe shaped bay with little inlets all around it, about eight miles down the river. The little inlets there were where folks often liked to go for some secluded loving. With my heart in my chest, feeling like I'd just dropped fifty pounds of river weights on it, I turned downstream and opened the throttle. It would take me half an hour to get where they could go in ten minutes, but it didn't really matter.

The time it took me to make the run downriver gave me time to think about what I'd do when I got there. Anger, disbelief, heartache, and then back to anger. They all raced through my head and heart. When I got close I anchored the big diesel and dropped my eighteen foot ridged inflatable into the water. It would be much more maneuverable and quieter. It took another ten minutes of glassing through my binoculars after I got close to the Islands before I spotted Reece's boat in a little narrow inlet off SS Bayou. They were at anchor and I could see the two of them lying on the front platform locked together. I always kept a camera on the work boat locked in a shelf under my chart table. I needed it to record job situations, but my main purpose was because I loved photographing wildlife and there were endless opportunities along the rivers and connecting lakes I worked in. My telephoto lens made sure the images I saw on Reece's boat were saved for posterity. I got a clear picture of Sarah's face, her naked torso and the name on the back of Reece's boat, "Wave Lover". My stomach was turning and I threw up over the side of the boat.

I pulled back just around the bend and returned to where the work boat was anchored. It would be a longish swim, maybe a quarter mile, and I'd have to do the first part on the surface, or I might run out of air on the way back. I got my gear on, including my work belt with all my stainless steel tools, grabbed a buoyancy compensator and my tank and regulator and went over the side.

I went underwater about a hundred yards off their boat, but I probably could have swum right up alongside of them. They were too busy to notice me. Sarah was no longer wearing the little red bikini but I guess she didn't need it sitting straddling Reece as his hands caressed her breasts.

My first order of business was to get under the boat and carefully and quietly remove the prop off the drive shaft. It sank to the bottom, just a glittering bronze disk disappearing into the gloom. I hung in the water debating if I should take a wrench and pull the drain plug. The bilge pump would keep them afloat for a while, but I didn't want to be arrested for sinking the bastard's boat. It was damn tempting and it took me a while to make up my mind. Finally I figured who cares, I'd just take the plug with me and drop it in the river on my way back to my boat. Besides, who were they going to hire to look for evidence? The commercial diving fraternity was pretty tight, and if the suspicion was cast on me I couldn't see any of my fellow divers looking too closely for matching tool marks on the shaft nut or the plug.

The plug came out easily enough and I was on my way back to my boat long before the two lovers noticed anything amiss. Contrary to popular belief it takes quite a while to fill a boat. If the asshole could have gotten underway and run the boat at any high speed it wouldn't fill at all. Of course he wasn't going to be able to do that without a prop. Even if he had a spare prop, which I certainly would, he'd be unlikely to have a spare shaft nut and washer, and his were at the bottom of the river.

I was tying up back at the dock when Jason walked up to give me a hand. He had an uncomfortable look on his face

"Did you happen to see Reece's boat out on the river?"

I stared back at him and lied through my teeth. "No, is he out with that fancy Malibu of his?"

"Just got a mayday message from him. Seems he's down in a little inlet on Lake Catch-Em-all, taking on water and may have lost his prop."

"That's too bad. Hope he'll come out of it ok," I said quietly. I was guessing he could see by the look on my face I wasn't too sincere.

Jason reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Here's your $1,500."

"Look, Jason, it was no big deal, I found it in a few minutes. Give me half and I'm fine."

"Nope, Phillip and Angie are going to be pumping gas for the rest of the summer to pay me back. The money's yours. That was the deal. Maybe you should save it for a lawyer, Carl. Sorry, I saw them leave. I'm guessing they went right past you."

"First time?" I asked.

"Far as I know, Carl. Don't suppose it makes much difference."

"Not really. Thanks Jason."

"Hey, you know if someone asks, I never saw you here today. And as far as I know, your boat never moved." Jason walked off, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Maybe he was a friend after all.

It was a somber ride back to the house. I figured that unless someone was close to Reece's boat, and big enough to tow him, I should have plenty of time to figure out what to do next. First thing was to call Jill and cancel dinner. I didn't want to bother Tony on the golf course. I might just catch him in the middle of a backswing, and I'd never hear the end of that.

Jill asked me if someone was sick, and if she should come over to lend a hand. Good friend, Jill was. I told her Sarah was seemingly stuck out on the river with Reece Potter and might not make it back in time for dinner, and that I was being called out of town on an emergency dive job that could keep me tied up for several weeks. I don't believe she found my story entirely credible. Well, you gotta go with what the Good Lord gives you for ammo. I didn't have a deep arsenal to load from just at the moment. I was just pretty much shooting from the hip.

I had most of my clothes in the SUV and was just starting on my tools when this ugly deep purple coloured Mustang convertible cranked onto my yard. The driver's door slammed, and although the engine was shut off, the noise continued to erupt. It was Tony and he was in high dudgeon! "Carl, what the hell's goin' on here? Seems we got us a crises! Jill called me off the damn twelfth hole."

"Tony, now you are here, give me a hand loading a few tools, then, we got time, I give you my undivided attention."

"Son, you better do just that. Thinking you want to have me as your council in a domestic matter! Listen one time, my dear friend, let's not do anything rash. But tell me what the hell's going on?"

"Told you about that rush retrieval job this afternoon? Well, seems there were two. Reece Potter was out on the river doing a retrieval as well. He was retrieving his old girlfriend, Sarah Howell, my supposed wife, and staking his claim to her on the front of his Malibu. Somehow, seems to me, it wouldn't be much fun doing that steak dinner tonight. So, you want to give me a hand councillor, or you want to give me advice?"

"Well shit! Oh boy, sorry Carl. What are you planning?"

"Not planning, just getting out of the house for a few days so I can calm down. I don't need an assault charge, and that could happen today. Taking some of my stuff along. Just my tools and clothes, that's all. Figure I'll run up to visit Gerry for a few days. I do have a project to start next week, out in the gulf. About ten to twelve days of saturation work on a rig. That should give Sarah time to decide what the hell she wants."

Tony just put his hands up, shrugged, and got to work helping me load the SUV and my little utility trailer. We had everything I needed loaded up in about ten more minutes. At the last minute I went back into the house and grabbed my shotgun and ammo out of the gun safe, along with the folded Crown Royal bag hidden behind the box of shotgun shells. It held my stash of thirty-two Krugerrands. It was my under the table money from the cash jobs I had done over the past few years. In total they were worth about $40,000 and I wasn't about to leave that behind. Sarah didn't even know about them. They were supposed to be a down payment on a house, a surprise for our third anniversary. Well, looked like that wasn't going to be happening!

Tony followed me over to Fat Albert's Place, a local bar on the edge of the city, where we sat back, took a deep breath, and inhaled a cold beer while my lawyer tried to get me down off the ceiling. Yeah, my best friend, who talks like a red neck, and mostly acts like one outside of his office, was probably one of the smartest lawyers in a hundred miles. Go figure!

"You just walk out like this it is not in your favour legally. She can claim you abandoned the house. Sit tight for a minute, we got a bit more work to do." Tony got up and went over to the bar, returning with a pad of paper and a pen in hand. "Ok, so now you tell Sarah that you will be gone for about two weeks on a project. You will tell her that the rent is paid up, and she can sit tight, but that you expect an explanation for her behaviour, and that you have engaged me as your legal counsel. That way whatever I know is covered by client privilege and she can't ask me to represent her, nor can the Potter bunch!"

I look up at him angrily, about to explode.

"Hold on, don't get ahead of yourself. I have done legal work for Reece's old man and the dealership in the past, so this just clarifies things for all and sundry. Of course I'd represent you anyway, but now if asked, I have taken you on as a client and there is no grey area. You are buying the beer as my retainer," he added with a smirk. "Now tell me what happened."

I related the whole tale of woe, how I'd been out on the river, seen Reece and Sarah go by and what I'd done afterward.

"Anyone other than Jason see you come back?""

"Don't think so, the marina was pretty quiet anyway and I park the work boat way out at the south end of the marina. I am well away from the pleasure boats and jet skis, tucked in among the commercial shrimp fishing fleet, and they were all laid up for the weekend."

"OK, how much you trust Jason?"

"He's good. Besides, the dive I did today was a favour to him. Got his niece out of a bind."

"You said you got pictures. Where are they?"

"Camera's on the boat. In the wheel house. Under the chart table."

"Ok, we go to get that before you leave town, or you give me a key to the boat and I get it for you, but I want those pictures before they disappear. On second thought, I think it's better if I just go get them. I don't have to say where they came from, only that we were given them. Oh, and I would advise you to move your boat out of the marina. You don't want it impounded in a law suit. Next, you want me to file against Reece?"

"For what?"

"Well dumb ass, we do live in Moss Point, which is in the great state of Mississippi, which is one of a handful of states that still allow suits for Alienation of Affection. In plain language you can go after the son of a bitch for willfully causing irreparable damage to your marriage and great emotional stress to yourself."

"Ok, does that actually work?" I asked sceptically.

"Oh, you bet it works," Tony's smile reminded me of a gator about to strike. "We live in one of the most conservative states in the Union. A man's marriages still considered damn near like property in this state, and Reece is going to find out how painful messing that up can get."

"Do it then, and have Sarah served too."

"You sure? You might want to think about it, maybe you can patch this up. More people have than you. Might want to give that some time."

"Just because I have her served it doesn't mean we have to go through with anything, does it?"

"No. But it is a formal document that gets registered with the court. But, on the other hand, yes, you can withdraw it later if you can resolve things satisfactorily."

"Just do it. All of it. Include copies of the pictures! Reece screwed my wife, she screwed me over, so now I get to screw them both back. There is a key for the cabin of the work boat in the tool chest on the starboard side. It has a yellow fob on it. I think it's time I get out of Dodge, Tony. Thanks for everything. Say hi to Jill. I will contact you in a couple of days. Oh, and maybe get the card out of the camera today. I'm gonna get Gerry to help me move the boat out of the marina first thing tomorrow morning."

I made it half way to Gerry and Dianne's place before I had to pull off the road. I was shaking too hard to drive safely. I just sat for a while looking blindly out the windshield wondering how the love of my life could fuck me over like that. The sorrow was much worse than the anger had been a few hours earlier. My chest was tight and aching and for a few minutes I wondered if I was having a heart attack, but I got out of the SUV and walked around for a few minutes and it slowly got better.

I arrived at Gerry and Dianne's in Ocean Springs just before dinner time. Gerry was glad to see me until he saw my face up close, then things got real quiet for a bit. He gave Dianne a quick jerk of his head and their two kids were ushered into the back yard awful fast. The three of us sat in the living room with a cold beer as I explained my situation. Gerry got progressively quieter as Dianne got madder.

When I was done with my recitation of the day's events Gerry asked where I wanted the boat moved to. He said he had a friend with an empty slip in Pascagoula and excused himself to make a quick call. Dianne went and got us each another beer, came back and sat down beside me, giving me a huge hug. I'd known Dianne since I was in about fifth grade and her and Gerry started dating. They were five years older than me but had always both gone out of their way to do stuff with me. They had stayed together all through college and were both school teachers. She was as close to a sister as I'd ever had.

"I guess I better call mom and dad and let them know before Sarah calls them looking for me." I wasn't looking forward to that call. Mom would find some way to blame this on me. It was just how she was.