The Big Snapper (9 page)

Dr. Bloom is sitting at the kitchen table chatting with Mom and Mrs. Greenshaw when Eddie arrives home. Dr. Bloom is very interested—he is more than interested—he is excited to learn about the roots and plants Jake's mom uses to make her medicines and ointments. Eddie thinks it a little strange that anyone could get so worked up about what grows on the island, but he also likes this about Dr. Bloom. He likes the way he compliments Mom on her cooking and how, since he has been on the island, he hasn't seemed to notice how much it rains.

Granddad phones after dinner. His treatments are to begin the following day. Eddie waits while Mom asks how Granddad's feeling, if he's being treated well, and if Grandma needs anything, before it is his turn to speak.

“What did you do today?” Granddad asks.

Eddie is surprised at how very small Granddad's voice sounds. He decides it must be because he is
so far away. “I went fishing with Fred and Jake.” Eddie stops at that. Now that he has the phone, he can't think of what else to say.

So he listens while Granddad tells him about his airplane ride. He tells Eddie about his drive through the city to the hospital and how nice all the people have been.

After they say goodbye, Eddie walks down to the shore carrying a bucket and his clam digging shovel. He follows the damp sand where the water meets the shore. Now and again he stops and pounds the sand with his rubber boot, looking for signs of clams. Where water squirts from a hole like a tiny geyser, he sets the point of his shovel and begins to dig straight down. He has done this often and he soon has four large clams. He walks a little farther and stomps his foot again. Ten inches away, another squirt of water rises from a hole. Eddie drops to his knees and begins to dig. He dumps a shovelful of wet sand next to his foot. The clam has dug deeper than Eddie, so he continues to dig further.

“You've got to be awfully fast to outrun a razor clam.”

Eddie looks up. The man in front of him bends to look in the bucket. “But you obviously are.
I see you've got four already, and they're a good size.”

For a moment, Eddie just stares at the man. He knows it is impolite but he is overcome with surprise. Until a year ago his picture used to sit on the table in the sitting room.

“Hello, Eddie.” The man crouches next to him. He holds out his hand for Eddie to shake.

Eddie takes his dad's hand in his own sandy wet one and shakes it. He is glad to finally know that his father is smarter than a crab, but he also wonders what took him so long to get out of the trap.

Eddie finds Dr. Bloom puttering around the kitchen, trying to find something to eat. Mom is in her room, crying. She has been there since Eddie's father arrived the night before. He is not staying in the cabin, however, but at Great-Aunt Ellen's in the village.

Eddie makes Dr. Bloom some toast and steeps a pot of spruce tea. Dr. Bloom tells him that spruce tea is his number one greatest discovery since he came to study the flora of the island. He also tells Eddie that today is his last day and he is disappointed to be leaving. Still, he's looking forward to one more trip to Naikoon Park before boarding the ferry that night. Eddie thinks he may be even sorrier to see Dr. Bloom go than
Dr. Bloom is to be leaving. He has no idea who he'll be sharing the cabin with next.

Once Dr. Bloom has left with his camera and notebook, Eddie debates whether he should go into his mother's room. He misses Grandma and he tries to think what she would do. He makes Mom some tea and toast like he had for Dr. Bloom. He then carries it to her bedroom and knocks on the door. After a minute or so, Mom opens it. She smiles when she sees the tray Eddie carries: a very lopsided, almost frightening smile because her face is puffed up like a mushroom from crying.

“Oh, Eddie,” she sniffles, lifting the tray from his hands, “he doesn't deserve you and me.” She sets the tray on her dresser. “Will you pass me some more Kleenex, dear?” Eddie does as she asks. He then watches as she blows her nose and dabs at a fresh flow of tears.

Eddie wanders out to the boat shed, leaving his mother to cry and eat her breakfast. He is not sure how he feels—a jumble of sadness and anger. It has kept him awake most of the night. And now that he sees Mom puffed up from crying he is so hurt and angry he could spit! Why would his dad take off and then come back like that?
He said he was going to bring them over, yet he hadn't called them in almost six months. Does he expect them to just forget about the whole past year? More than ever, he wishes Granddad was there to help sort things out. But he's not, and Eddie will have to deal with it himself.

Eddie grabs his fishing rod and tackle box and hurries down to the deserted wharf. Granddad's skiff is the only boat remaining, as the fishermen have left for the day. It is a quiet mid-morning with the exception of the eagles and their high-pitched mewing and the gulls screaming overhead. Eddie imagines they are telling him off for doing what he knows he's forbidden to do. But they don't know how badly he needs to be alone and that this is the only place he knows where he can really think.

Eddie has never driven Granddad's skiff, at least not without Granddad sitting next to him ready to take the throttle when his arm begins to ache. But he is certain he knows exactly what to do. Still, he is thankful the water is calm and there is barely a breeze.

It takes some strength to pull the starter cord. Eddie must stand tall and yank the cord as hard as he can. When the engine finally jumps to life,
the throttle vibrates in his small hand. He fights with the powerful engine, but his anger seems to have built muscle and he is able to guide the boat into open water. Picking up speed, he bounces crazily across the bay. By the time he cuts the engine farther out, beyond Granddad's regular fishing spot, he is quite shaken and exhausted from the effort of simply keeping the skiff headed in the right direction.

Eddie prepares his line and casts. Less than ten minutes later he feels a tug on the line and he reels in his first fish, a five pound flounder. By noon he has caught three more. He is a little disappointed in the weather. When he'd first set out, it had been a calm and sunny day, but a heavy mist has drifted in and the sea and sky are now a dull and unhappy gray. He thinks that maybe it has turned to suit how he is feeling.

As he watches a charter boat pass Eddie hooks another fish. He can tell right away it is different than the others. This fish is big; it is strong and determined. Eddie allows it more line. He has given it what he thinks he can afford and clamped down on the drag, when all at once, the skiff starts moving. Slowly, the fish begins
pulling him farther out of the bay. Eddie forgets his anger for a moment and he is at once terrified and excited. Only the one time when he was with Granddad had he hooked anything so big. He tries to remember what he is to do. He recalls Granddad telling him, “You've got the whole ocean to wear him out.” So, Eddie allows the fish to continue to pull the boat.

He is concentrating so intently on the fish that he hardly notices when it begins to rain. The wind picks up. Eddie is only vaguely aware of it whistling in his ears because he is thinking about how he would like to see the fish. If he could only see it, he would know what he was up against. On the other hand, maybe it's better that he can't. If it is the big snapper, like he thinks it might be, he'd know immediately that he had no chance.

He is probably a mile from where he began when it finally occurs to Eddie that a storm is brewing. The rain is falling in enormous drops and the wind has begun to wail. For more than an hour he has not taken his eyes from the angle of the line, but now, through the curtain of mist, he sees other vessels are heading into shore. It is not possible for him to do the same
because that would mean releasing his gigantic fish, which he is not about to do.

Granddad's skiff is tossed wildly in the white-caps, and Eddie becomes frightened he might be tossed right out of the boat. He suddenly remembers the braces Granddad had attached to his new boat. When the line slackens just a little, he takes advantage of the moment even though his arms ache and his shoulders have never been so sore. Holding the rod tightly in one hand, he leans hard against it to keep it secure against the skiff. He then manages to tie the rope attached to the bow around his waist and knot it to an oarlock.

Eddie remains standing, clutching the rod tightly. He is suddenly angry at the fish. At least it is in familiar surroundings, far below the surface, out of the path of the storm. Eddie has no such advantage; he must continue the fight while being tossed about with driving rain stinging his face. Well, he'll show the fish he can take it. He will show them all.

By late afternoon, the rain still has not let up and the wind continues to howl. Eddie realizes he has not passed another vessel for more than an hour. His hands are raw and he feels the
rope tied around him, cutting into his back. Tears stream down his cheeks because he is tired, cold and hurting. Still, all he wants is this fish. Then he sees—he is sure of it—the angle of the line beginning to rise. He remembers something else Granddad had said to him, “Make him think you're strong—stronger than he is. Make him think you're a very big man.”

Eddie tries hard to do this. He holds fast to the rod, trying to convince the fish he is as strong as a tugboat. He straightens his back, trying to make him think he is two times the length of the skiff. If the fish wants six inches of line, Eddie gives him two. The line rises a little more, and the tension eases just a little. For the first time he thinks he may have a chance at winning, but suddenly the knot Eddie had tied comes lose and he is yanked forward. The wind is knocked out of him when he slams into the side and crashes to the bottom of the skiff. He is face down in four inches of water, yet he will not let go of the rod. He is soaked through and cold—so cold his arms and legs are numb and his teeth are chattering. Eddie tries, but he discovers he no longer has the strength in his knees to stand up, and the muscles in his shoulders are too cramped to
wield the rod. He is lying on it, the weight of his body keeping it in the boat as the waves pitch the skiff back and forth.

He is not sure how long he has been there when he becomes aware that the rain has stopped falling. The rise and fall of the boat eases, and he hears a sound above the flagging wind. It is clearer now. A boat engine. And then, his name. Grabbing hold of the rod, he lifts his upper body as high as he can manage. It is Fred's boat. And in it, shouting and waving, are Fred, Jake and Eddie's dad. Fighting the wind and waves, Fred pulls alongside Granddad's skiff.

“Eddie! Are you okay?!” Eddie's dad is by his side, helping him to stand and wrestling the rod from Eddie's clenched hands. Eddie has the rod gripped so tightly that his fingers seem adhered to the fiberglass.

“It's the snapper,” Eddie's voice comes out hoarse. “Don't let him go.”

“Sit down here.” His dad guides him to the seat in the bow. He hangs on to the rod while he struggles to remove his jacket, which he drapes over Eddie's shoulders. Eddie pulls the jacket close around him. His teeth are chattering crazily as he watches his dad take control of
the rod. After testing it, he looks over at Eddie in astonishment. He begins reeling it in, a little at a time.

Eddie realizes it has been several hours since he first hooked the fish and it also must be wearing out. Certainly it is too weak to put up much of a fight against this sudden and strong new opponent. It is with ease that Eddie's father plays out what little strength the fish has left in it while Fred and Jake watch from their boat. The angle of the line is rising quickly now. Ten minutes later, Eddie gets his first glimpse of his fish. Silvery white, it is a halibut, almost the size of himself.

“Look, at that!” exclaims his father. “Eddie, how did you ever hang on to this whale?”

Jake is wildly excited. “Eddie! It's Moby Dick!”

Fred whistles. “I haven't seen one that size in some time. I'll bet he's well over one hundred and fifty pounds.”