Chapter 8

MANGROVE DREAMING
By Kerrie Bygrave

Chapter 8:

He’s not coming, decided Caitlyn. It was five minutes past eight. She swore Thomas had said seven thirty. And she’d been ready to go since seven o’clock. At first she’d been excited, then as seven thirty approached, she felt the butterflies in her stomach kick in as she anticipated him arriving. She had kept peeping behind the blind in the front window to see if he’d arrived yet. But now she just felt annoyed, but strangely she was more annoyed at herself than Thomas. She figured that she shouldn’t have got excited about the fishing trip with Thomas when they barely even knew each other. He probably ran into a mate yesterday and organised a ‘boys’ fishing trip and had totally forgotten about her. She supposed he would drop around some time to get the fishing gear though, since he had paid for it.
Caitlyn was just unpacking her backpack on the kitchen bench when there was a knock at the door. For some reason, she assumed it wasn’t Thomas as she had already accepted that she’d been stood up. But when she opened the door, there he stood. ‘I’m so sorry’ he said straight away, before she even had a chance to say hello. ‘My boss called me at five o’clock this morning, and asked me to help unload the boat. They went out last night and caught a full load, but a couple of blokes got food poisoning last night from their midnight snack, and by the time they got back to shore, they couldn’t help with the unloading, so they were short-staffed, so I got asked to help out. This should have been my weekend off.’ Suddenly he stopped talking when he saw her half unpacked back pack. ‘You thought I wasn’t coming, didn’t you’.
‘Ah, no, not at all.’ stammered Caitlyn. She could see he didn’t believe her so she confessed. ‘Well yes, I guess, but I did think you’d have a good reason. And as it turns out, you did.’
‘Like I said, I am sorry. I would have called you, but I didn’t have your phone number. And I didn’t want to call past at five o’clock this morning to tell you I might be late.’
‘Don’t worry about it, you’re here now.’
‘I sure am. So,’ he said with a slow sexy smile which made her stomach do a quick summersault. ‘You ready for your first fishing lesson.’
‘Yep, just let me umm, repack.’ she laughed self consciously. ‘I’ll only be a second.’ Everything Caitlyn unpacked was still on the kitchen bench, so she quickly put it all back in her backpack including a few rounds of sandwiches she had made for the outing.
Thomas saw the sandwiches and told her. ‘You know you can’t eat them until after you catch some fish, don’t you?’
‘Why not?’ she replied as she grabbed her keys and hat and followed Thomas outside. He picked up the fishing gear from the car port and they headed for his car that was parked on the road verge.
‘It’s a primal thing. My dad always told me, you never fish on a full stomach. You’ve got to be hungry, so you’re more eager to get a catch. The fish can tell if you’re hungry or not.’
‘Yer, right’ laughed Caitlyn as she got in his car. Thomas turned the key and the engine roared to life. It was an old khaki coloured land cruiser. From the amount of red dust on the car, Caitlyn thought it must have been a while since Thomas had washed it. Someone had written ‘wash me lazy bones’ on the rear window
‘I’m telling you, it’s true. I’ve done scientific research to prove it.’ Caitlyn gave him a doubtful look, so he continued. ‘One day, I went out after having a huge breakfast, and I fished for three hours, and I didn’t even get a nibble on my line. The next day, I went to the exact same spot, and I was starving hungry, but I caught the best lot of fish I ever had.’
‘You actually starved yourself for a day to prove this so called theory?’
‘Nope, my mate Rob was meant to pack something for breakfast, and he forgot, so we got bloody hungry. I could have killed him.’
Caitlyn burst out laughing. By now she realised that they were heading down Reid Road, but not towards any particular beach spot she could think off. Then Thomas turned off, and Caitlyn supposed that they were going to Gantheume point to go fishing. But as they left the bitumen and headed down the red dirt road past the race track on the left that was located well and truly away from the residential area of Broome, Thomas drove straight past the Gantheume Point turn off that jutted off to the right. ‘So, where are we going?’ she inquired.
‘I’m taking you to a spot at the end of Port Road, but I thought I’d take you the back way.’ The road suddenly curved around and they were rattling along what now seemed an endless river of red dust. The sides of the road were piled up and were over half of the height of the car. Thomas explained that the road was graded about twice a year, and that the grading machines merely took the top layer of gravel, dirt and dust and pushed it up onto the edges of the road, because this saved carting the dirt away, but he also explained how in the wet, the first sign of rain meant that the road had to be closed to all traffic, as the built up edges prevented water from flowing away, and the gravel was too hard to absorb anything. Added to this, when the fine dust got wet, it turned the road to a mushy mud and even the best of four wheel drives had trouble getting through.
The spindly native bushes which crept up to the embankment at the edge of the road were covered in a fine red dust.
Caitlyn looked around. She knew she was only a five minute drive from town, but glancing around, the route had an isolated feel. They could have been in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of kilometres from any sign of civilisation. Thomas interrupted her quite observation. ‘Look’ he said, pointing to the right. Caitlyn let out a small gasp.
‘Wow’ she said softly. Through the scrub, over a rocky knarled edge, she could see the vastness of the Indian Ocean. The colour of the water went from the brilliant iridescent blue that so typified Broome to a rich, deep, dark blue out on the horizon. There was barely a ripple on the water, almost giving the appearance of a vast sheet of glass.
‘There’s actually a cliff beyond that rock edge with a fifty foot drop.’ explained Thomas. ‘I would stop and show you, but as we’re running late, I want to get to our spot so we can get some fishing in before the tide turns. I’ll show you that another day.’
‘It’s beautiful’ said Caitlyn. She was quietly surprised that Thomas was already talking about there being another day, but on the same token, she was secretly pleased. They drove on for a couple minutes in silence. Caitlyn snuck a peek at Thomas’ handsome profile while he drove, but quickly looked away again and out her own window. She would be most embarrassed if he caught her staring.
Just as suddenly as they had driven onto gravel, they were back on bitumen and had come up to a T-intersection. Thomas turned right, and they were back on Port Drive, with the Jetty stretched out just a couple of hundred of metres in front of them. But just before the jetty, Thomas turned right again, and followed the fence of an old lay-down yard, before heading down a small hill past the Broome Fishing Club, which was perched on another hill top, before he swung his car into a car park at the end of the parking lot. But not before he drove past a dozen or so boat trailers.
Past a couple of rocky outcrops, was an isolated stretch of beach which was peppered with small rocky boulders along the shore line. They had a reddish brown tinge to them and looked liked some giant invisible hand had come along and scattered them like a handful of dice.
Thomas and Caitlyn each grabbed some of the fishing gear and walked down the concrete boat ramp which had small, square grooves that ran across the width of the ramp indented into it to increase tyre traction for cars putting their boats out of the water. They walked towards the bottom of the ramp. Thomas went to warn Caitlyn. ‘Be careful down here, it’s sli…’, but it was too late, Caitlyn stepped on a mossy part of the ramp near the waters edge and lost her footing. As quick as lightening, Thomas dropped the two rods he had in one hand and caught Caitlyn around the waist. Caitlyn looked up at Thomas. His face was merely inches from hers. Neither of them moved for a few seconds, then Caitlyn found her footing and righted herself. After a few seconds of watching Caitlyn regain her composure, Thomas smiled to himself before he bent over and picked up the rods he had dropped and directed Caitlyn to follow him onto the sand.
‘Thanks for catching me before. I thought I was a goner.’
‘No worries. Glad I could be there for a damsel in distress. Look, down here, just past those rocks.’ They walked to a sandy stretch of beach and set their belongings down.
Caitlyn looked out to sea and saw an old pearling lugger out towards the horizon, its majestic sail filling with the soft breeze. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed that Thomas was getting busy with unpacking. He drove two rod holders into the sand at the waters edge. Caitlyn gulped as she notices his strong muscle bound arms flexing with the effort. His sleeveless T-shirt only made it harder for her to pretend she wasn’t looking.
Next, Thomas grabbed the rods and set them in the rod holders. He then took out some bait and put it on the rod he had bought from Caitlyn. Before Caitlyn had a chance to say anything, he had cast the line out into the water and returned it to the water.
‘I thought I was meant to be learning how to bait a line and throw it out.’ Caitlyn laughed. ‘I barely had time to see how you did all that.’
‘All in good time. I just want to duck back to the car for a second. If anything nibbles on that line, pick it up and start reeling it in.’
‘Got it.’ And with that he disappeared around the outcrop of rocks. A few minutes later, he was back with a fold up chair. He unfolded it and put it near Caitlyn’s fishing rod.
‘There you go, now you can sit and wait for the fish to bite in comfort.’
‘What about you? Don’t you want a chair as well?’
‘Nah, I’ll be right’, replied Thomas. ‘I’ll be too busy teaching you to fish. And besides, my mates would think I was a big woos if they caught me sitting down while I was fishing. I wouldn’t live it down if they caught me.’
Again Caitlyn laughed ‘But it’s alright for me?’
‘Sure is’, Thomas laughed back at her. He enjoyed seeing Caitlyn laugh, she shone from the inside out when she did so. It was a quality he rarely saw in other people. ‘It shows that I'm being chivalrous to my star student... well let’s face it, my only student’.
Thomas then picked up his rod and went over and crouched next to Caitlyn. ‘I’m going to do a basic rig on this line now, so watch and learn. Then with more patience than Caitlyn could have asked for, Thomas started to show her what he was doing. He showed her how to use the knife to cut a fresh clean end in the line, then he explained a bit about selecting sinkers and hooks according to the type of fish you were planning to catch. ‘If you’re after a few nice little garddy for example, to use as bait for a larger fish later on, one of these small sinkers is ideal. Garddys tend to swim towards the top of the surface, so you don’t want your line to sink, so this will keep it where they are most active. Then if you use this nice little one owe hook, it’s just the right size for a small bit of squid bait or a prawn’.
Caitlyn concentrated extra hard as she watched Thomas put the basic rig on the line. When he finished, he surprised her by slicing a clean cut through the fishing line above the sinker. He then used the knife again to nick the knot that had held the hook, until the line came away and left the hook without any line holding it.
‘What did you do that for?’ exclaimed Caitlyn, somewhat startled. ‘I thought that was a good “rig” as you fishermen call it’.
‘Yep, it was. But the idea is I’m meant to be teaching you. So now, you’re going to do it. Do you reckon you can remember how I did it?’
‘Well I’ll give it a shot, I guess.’ And with that Caitlyn picked up the sinker and threaded it onto the line. She then proceeded to tie the hook on in the line as she thought she remembered Thomas doing it. Every now and again, Thomas gently corrected her technique verbally, but never in a condescending way. It wasn’t long and Caitlyn had tied her first rig. ‘It’s not as neat as yours.’ she said with a sigh, but Thomas assured her it was excellent for a first effort.
After that, Thomas suggested to Caitlyn that she reel her line in and check her bait. It was still intact. Thomas cast it out again and rested the rod in one of the rod holders.
‘Now’ he said in a mock official sounding voice. ‘Up here young lady, for part two of your lesson’.
‘Yes ssssir.’ Caitlyn replied in an equally official sounding response. They both laughed at the silliness of it all, as Caitlyn followed Thomas up the beach about ten metres. He was carrying the rod that Caitlyn had rigged up a few minutes before hand.
‘Next, I’m going to teach you how to cast a rod.’
‘But aren’t we a bit far from the shore line?’ said Caitlyn in a mildly alarmed voice, ‘I have pretty much zero faith in my casting ability as it is. From here I doubt I’ll even make it to the water’s edge, let alone beyond that.’
‘Ahh, but I’m not intending for you to cast into the water.’ Thomas said in a cheeky conspiritual tone. Seeing Caitlyn’s confused look, he continued. ‘This is what you call a literal dry run. The idea is you cast up the beach onto the sand. That way you get a real feel for what result your casting has on your line.’
Again with the utmost of patience, Thomas gave Caitlyn a step by step guide to how to cast out the line from the rod, and as he did so, Caitlyn saw the hook and sinker sail fifty feet up the beach. Then he handed the rod to Caitlyn for her to try.
The first couple of casts, Caitlyn only managed to get the hook, ten feet away, but with a few friendly pointers from Thomas, ten feet soon turned into thirty feet.
Twenty minutes later Caitlyn exclaimed ‘Well, I think I’m getting the hang of it, but I feel a bit silly casting onto dry land.’ She laughed slightly breathlessly as she cast up onto the beach for what felt like the umpteenth time.
‘I suppose you would.’ replied Thomas with a chuckle. ‘Anyway, I think you’ve got the idea. Let’s head back down and check your line.’
As they walked back down to the shore line, Caitlyn was about to ask Thomas why he was being so nice and giving up his precious free time to give her a fishing lesson, but she decided against it. She didn’t want to put him on the spot like that. She just wanted to enjoy the day as it came.
Thomas got Caitlyn to check her line, and this time he also got her to cast her line back in. It went a fair distance out, and Caitlyn was quietly chuffed with herself. But she didn’t let on. Instead, she started, ‘So is that how you learnt to cast, on dry land that is.’
‘Yep, sure is. Down south at Bussleton in Nan and Pop’s backyard. It’s how me and all my cousins learnt to cast. Pop would stand there for hours making us repeat our casting, until we could get the line from one side of the yard to the other. The yard was thirty five feet wide, so that was no mean feat for a six year old. We used to pretend to grumble and complain, but secretly, we loved it. Especially when we finally managed it. Pop would make such a big deal of it. Anyone would think we’d just won gold at the Olympics. Pop had a way of making us feel special for the smallest thing.’
Caitlyn was surprised by the tenderness in Thomas’ reminiscing. It was unusual for her to witness a male being so sharing with their inner thoughts. But as if he read her thoughts, he quickly and swiftly changed the subject. ‘So what is it that you do in Broome, Caitlyn? Are you leaving town soon? Is that why you had your garage sale?’ He held his breath for a moment. He hoped he was wrong about her reasons for having the garage sale.
‘Oh no. In fact, just the opposite, I just arrived, but having such a small unit, it quickly became apparent, that me and my worldly goods were not all going to fit in, so the garage sale was a good way to clear out some of the unnecessary junk.
‘But back to your original question, I’m a teacher with Broome Christian Primary School. I teach year seven there.’
‘That’s interesting. I might have to start calling you Miss Caitlyn. Do you enjoy teaching?
‘I love it. Teaching is my passion. Ever since I was ten years old, it’s all I wanted to do. And as I got older, I became even more determined to become a teacher. I just knew I wanted to work in a job where I could help make a difference if possible.’
‘So have you been teaching for long?’
‘No actually, I just finished Uni, and this is my first teaching position. But I love working with kids and have always been involved in youth programs and what not. I used to work in a vacation care during the holidays to help support myself...’
Caitlyn was about to continue, but suddenly there was a sharp jab on her fishing line and there was a long whirring sound as the fish began to take line off the reel. She jumped out of her chair so suddenly that the chair over balanced and tipped over.
‘Easy’ laughed Thomas, ‘Just pick your rod up. That fish is well and truly hooked, the way he took that bait.’ Caitlyn quickly grabbed the rod, while Thomas put her chair upright again.
‘So I just start winding?’
‘That’s the name of the game, but try pulling the tip of your rod up high, then winding as you let your rod go down again. That’s it, you’re doing fine’ Thomas said encouragingly.
‘Hey, this is more fun than it looks, no wonder Aunty Tara loves this so much.’ Caitlyn laughed breathlessly as she continued to wind.
‘You mean you no longer think, all those people that love fishing are boring.’ Thomas said with more mock seriousness. He saw the startled look on her face and broke out in a smile. ‘I’m just kidding, you don’t have to answer that.’
‘Oh, ha, ha. Very funny. But seriously, I never realised it could be such an adrenalin rush to pull a fish in.’
Just then, the fish broke through the water about ten metres off shore, and Caitlyn stopped winding.
‘No don’t stop winding.’ Caitlyn quickly started winding again. Thomas continued ‘You’ve got to get that fish up to shore, unless you plan on swimming out to grab it.’
‘No thanks’ Caitlyn said as the fish finally came to the shore line, and before she realised it, there was a forty centimetre fish flapping around on the sand.
‘Congratulations. You’ve just caught yourself a nice G.T.’
‘G.T?’
‘That’s short for Golden Trevelly. A very nice eating fish.’
The fish stopped moving momentarily, and Caitlyn went to touch it with her index finger, but as she did, it went back into a wild flapping frenzy causing Caitlyn to take a quick step back.
‘Here allow me’, said Thomas. He picked up the fish, seemingly unphased by all its flapping. In the blink of an eye, he had the hook out of the mouth. He then grabbed a knife and went about preparing it to take home.
‘Now this is the part I don’t think I want to learn’ exclaimed Caitlyn.
Thomas laughed ‘Well for now, I’ll take care of that for you. I’ll even fillet it for you ready to cook.’
‘That’s fine. It’s very nice of you to offer that.’
‘Well, as your fishing teacher, I do like to offer a value added service.’ he replied.
After that, Thomas and Caitlyn fished for another hour. Caitlyn caught one more fish, and Thomas caught a couple as well. During this time, they idlely chatted away, discussing everything from the Broome weather which was slowly becoming more bearable, to Caitlyn’s kids that she so loved to teach. Although of course, Caitlyn was professional enough not to mention any of the kid’s names.
At eleven o’clock, Thomas glanced at his watch and sighed. ‘I hate to spoil our fun Miss Caitlyn, but we need to think about packing up. I’m working tonight, and need to get a few hours of shut eye, beforehand.’
‘Not at all’ replied Caitlyn and she promptly began to pull in her line. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve kept you too long.’
‘No, no, no. Don’t apologise. I love fishing.’ Thomas paused, then added with a smile ‘And besides, I’ve really enjoyed the company too.’
Caitlyn smiled back and said somewhat shyly ‘And so have I.’
They packed up in relative silence and headed back to the car.
Thomas drove along Port Drive on the way back to Caitlyn’s unit. Caitlyn marvelled to herself at the fact that they were driving not far from the isolated road they had travelled on this morning, and yet somehow it seemed so different and remote compared to Port Drive, despite the similar vegetation at the side of the road.
‘Thank you so much for the fishing lesson.’ said Caitlyn as Thomas pulled into her driveway. ‘It’s been a very enjoyable morning indeed.’
‘Yeah, but there’s an important question that remains.’ countered Thomas turning off the engine.
‘What’s that?’
‘Have I changed your mind about fishing?’
‘Definitely. I can’t wait til the next time I tag along with my Aunty. She’ll be so surprised.’
‘In that case, you’ll be needing this.’ And Thomas promptly jumped out and started unloading the fishing gear that he had only yesterday paid for at the garage sale.
‘No, no, you paid for that, I’ll just go and buy some more.’
‘Don’t be silly. Besides, I’ve got heaps of fishing gear at home, so I can spare it.’
‘In that case, I must give you a refund.’ Before Thomas could say anything, Caitlyn had let herself inside and came out ten seconds later with a fifty dollar note. ‘I insist.’ She said and handed him the money.
‘Well, if you insist, but I better get going now a catch some zzzz’s.’ In return, he handed her the fish he had filleted for her in a plastic bag. He then reached out and gently grabbed her upper arm. ‘I’ve had a nice morning Caitlyn. I’ll see you around.’
‘Yer, me too, bye.’ With that Thomas got back in his car and reversed out. He waved one more time before he took off down the road, and disappeared into the distance.
It’s only then that Caitlyn realised how disappointed she was that Thomas had not invited her on another fishing trip, or asked for her number.