Tuesday, July 10, 2007
(grr. This is what happened when I threw the muse M&M's and told her I wanted Bomber lucid. It's not working...)

Katrina looked over the man lying on the floor of her father's tugboat. They woke up one morning and there he was. Her father, Klaus, had a good sense of people, took one look at him and his gun and pronounced him "harmless". Katrina thought her father lost his mind.

They fed him. Like a stray cat, he stayed. He would disappear around dusk and reappear by sunrise curled up in the nets again. He didn't say much - Klaus's English left much to be desired, so it was a pretty quiet boat.

Katrina's husband had died in a storm a few years back. Her father was a crusty sort, and the two of them always got along. He had been almost crushed when she married, and was thrilled when she came back to the boat. She didn't mind.

They decided to keep him because he seemed to know where the fish ran. They went out one day, and then he told them in a panicked voice to stop. When they did, he grabbed the nets and threw them over the side.

Klaus demanded "Vhat you do! Ve arr too close to ze dock!"

He put a finger to his helmet - "Shhh. I feel the sea monster." He tip-toed around the boat, motioning for them to sit down. They did, and he tip-toed back and forth. Katrina said to her father in Polish, "When we get back, Papa, we need to tell him to go."

Then he stopped, cocked his head. He suddenly bent to the nets. "Quickly! Haul them up!"

All three pulled, and Katrina could tell by the pulling that there was something heavy in the net. When the edge of the net crested over the starboard rails, fish spilled out. Not just any fish. Pounds and pounds of cod - fish in high demand in this part of town. Fish that could be sold quickly and easily. They could take a couple of days off.

After selling the catch, Klaus was going to hand him a third, but he refused it. "I got money stashed. You need it to repair the crack over near the bow."

"Vhat crack?"

He dove over the side, looking up expectantly at Klaus. Klaus waved his hand, saying, "Vhere?"

He jumped out of the water and tagged an area. "It's not in the water, it's above the waterline, but the crack might be heading south, if you know what I mean."

Klaus nodded, they took a few days off, moored the boat and did some repairs that he hadn't found. They stayed in the apartment - he slept out on the balcony because he said he wanted to. Then this morning...

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