by Renee Hart
By Friday, Lissa was quite confidant in her ability to distinguish one fish from another and hadn’t made any serious mistakes. She’d also learned a few things about fishing gear that she figured might come in handy.
Trey was a ready source of information on fishing. They’d spent some time in his grandparent’s garage with him showing her dip nets and all kinds of lures. He knew more about fishing than she’d learned in her entire life. The best part was how happy he was to share his knowledge with her. All she had to do was ask and he’d tell her everything he knew, in stark contrast to her current ‘partner’, Mr. Shilling.
***
Monday morning started off with much the same routine until they got to the dock at a different lake. Lissa had learned there was little point in asking questions, so she just followed along behind.
When Mr. Shilling stopped next to a boat emblazoned with the Fish & Game insignia, Lissa groaned quietly. She had little experience or knowledge about boats and wasn’t looking forward to getting into one with her taciturn partner. There wasn’t any room for a safe retreat if she made some kind of mistake. Fortunately, he didn’t require much of her at the beginning as he commandeered the boat and set their course around the lake. She was almost starting to enjoy the ride when he turned the boat suddenly at the sight of a couple of fishing boats back in a stand of reeds.
Without thinking, Lissa stood up to take a look in their direction. Later, she wondered if Mr. Shilling had made a hard turn deliberately, but the result was predictable. She flipped right out of the boat and into the lake. Popping up out of the water, Lissa saw the back end of the boat speeding away from her. For a minute, she entertained the thought he was just going to leave her out there. He must have noticed her fall out of the boat!
She looked around to see the fastest direction to exit from the icy water only to find the four fishermen in their boats standing up to watch this drama. Her splashing around wasn’t going to improve their fishing anyway. Hearing the sound of the boat coming back, she turned to see Mr. Shilling heading her way not even trying to hide the smirk on his face.
As he pulled the boat alongside her, she latched her arm over the side and attempted to climb back inside. Her partner didn’t offer any assistance, as he stayed back and shifted his weight around to keep the boat level. There was no way she was going to ask him for help. Gritting her teeth, she made one all-out effort and managed to get in. The sound of clapping came from the other boats. She gave them a half-hearted wave of thanks.
Soaked to the skin in her heavy winter uniform, Lissa knew he wasn’t going to take her back to the dock. She didn’t have anything to change into anyway. Her only hope was that sun would dry her out before she froze to death.
As if she wasn't humiliated enough, he pulled up next to the fishermen and had her check out their gear and licenses. The four men jokingly complimented her on her diving and swimming skills. She just smiled back at them and thanked them for their cooperation, as if nothing had gone wrong and she wasn’t soaking wet.
The rest of the morning flew by and by lunchtime, her uniform was nearly dry. It turned out that the long sleeves and warmth of the winter uniform worked in her favor on this day.
After lunch, Mr. Shilling was in a more friendly mood, and he said it was her turn to drive the boat. She decided not to tell him that it was her first time driving a boat. Instead, she used the little she’d learned from observing him to get them going away from the dock. He searched the reeds and side creeks as they motored along the shore.
He spotted a fishing boat in a small inlet, and pointed her in that direction. She headed for the boat with a bit of trepidation. The one thing she hadn’t been able to discern was how to stop. She started to slow down, but something about the fisherman’s actions caught Mr. Shilling’s attention and he waved her to speed up. He didn’t want the man dumping evidence over the side of the boat if he was doing something wrong.
Shouting something at the man, Mr. Shilling leaned forward over the front of the boat, watching him closely. The distance between the two boats was closing rapidly and Lissa started to get nervous. The fisherman was eyeing them with a desperate look and it only grew worse as he watched them speeding towards him.
Fortunately, (or so Lissa thought), she had the presence of mind to turn the boat aside enough to avoid running directly into the other boat. The stunned look on the fisherman’s face as they blew past was Lissa’s last sight of him. He watched them race headlong into the bank where the boat slammed to a stop, launching Mr. Shilling into the middle of the brush.
Lissa had fallen on the floor of the boat while the engine still ran at high speed, though the boat was aground. She regained her senses and turned the motor off. Lifting herself up on the bench, she took a look over the front end of the boat, hoping to find Mr. Shilling alive and well, but there was no sign of him.
Carefully standing up in the boat, she called out “Mr. Shilling? Are you all right?”
There was no answer, but she thought there was some kind of moaning or groaning coming from a large clump of reeds just ahead of the boat. Steeling herself for the worst, she clambered over the benches to the front of the boat and leaned out over the front. The sight of single boot sticking up in the air gave her a slight sense of relief. It appeared to be moving which meant he must still be alive.
Climbing out of the boat, Lissa made her way over to the boot to look for Mr. Shilling. He was lying in a muddy wallow with his legs up against a fallen tree. His eyes were closed, but she could see he was still alive, as his mouth was moving. Hearing her approach, he popped open one eye and stared up at her with a baleful look.
“Um…Mr. Shilling? Should I call 911?” Lissa asked with a tremor in her voice.
His eye closed and he lay there for a long time without moving. Lissa was frozen with indecision and looked around for any kind of help. The fisherman she'd almost run into had disappeared and there was no one else in sight. When she looked back down at her ‘partner’ he had both eyes open and was staring at her with a very dark expression on his face.
“Would you like me to help you get up?” she ventured.
The sound of a deep gasp made her realize that Mr. Shilling had gotten the wind knocked out of him when he somersaulted into the brush. As his lungs filled with air, he shuddered a bit and then began to shake himself, checking for broken bones. Finding nothing serious beyond the fact that he was lying in thick mud, he pulled himself up to a sitting position. The sucking sound of the mud almost made Lissa burst out laughing, but common sense kept her quiet.
After that, Mr. Shilling took charge of the boat and got them back across the lake without any comment. His unnatural silence in the face of his near death experience was unnerving and Lissa feared the worst would come at any moment. She was trying to decide if it was better to quit or get fired by the time they got back to the office.
With her ‘partner’ heading straight to Mr. Burns’ office, Lissa stopped near the coffee pot to consider her next move. The sound of Mr. Shilling shouting came through the closed door as a kind of muffled roar and went on for several minutes, much to the amusement of the other people in the room. They knew something had gone horribly wrong, but none of them were brave enough to ask her for details. They had all seen the mud-crusted backside of Mr. Shilling as he’d passed through the building.
Maddie came over and stood next to Lissa for a moment as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
“Keep your chin up, honey. It’s not as bad as you think,” she said before walking back to her desk.
Lissa was trying to figure out just what that meant when the door to Mr. Burns’ office opened and Mr. Shilling appeared. He didn’t look at anyone on his way to the back door, and when it slammed behind him, Mr. Burns peeked around the corner of his office door. Seeing Lissa standing near the coffee pot, he motioned for her to come inside.
Lissa cast a desperate look around the room, but no one met her eyes as she made her way to the boss�
�s office. She knew she was on her own and this was probably the last day of her new job. Swallowing hard she stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind herself.
Mr. Burns was looking at some papers on his desk as she stood there waiting. He cleared his throat several times before looking up at her. He pushed one of the papers across the desk.
“You have to fill out an accident report about what happened today,” Mr. Burns continued briskly. “I’ve decided that one week of training with Mr. Shilling is enough and I’m assigning you a new partner starting Monday. You’ll be working with Rick Johnson on city patrol.”
Lissa kept quiet as she tried to figure out this turn of events. She’d come in expecting to be fired and found herself with a new assignment and another partner. After a week with the dour-faced Mr. Shilling, she was sure anyone would be easier to get along with than him. A lump of gratitude rose in her throat as she considered what to say next.
“Uh…thank you. I’m….,” words failed her at that point and she fell silent.
Mr. Burns studied her for a long moment before turning back to his paperwork. It was clear their meeting was over and nothing more was to be said of ‘the incident’ with Mr. Shilling. She turned to go when he cleared his throat once more.
“Why are you wearing a winter uniform?” he asked in a slightly annoyed voice. “The handbook clearly gives the date for changing over to summer uniforms.”
“Sorry, sir. There was a mix-up with my uniform order. My summer uniforms won’t be here until next week, uh, next, next week,” she stammered.
In reply, she heard a small grunt as he looked back at his paperwork. Figuring that was the end of their conversation, she fled the office with an overwhelming sense of relief. With the clock showing it was past quitting time, she was surprised to find everyone hanging around the office. They tried to act nonchalant as she came out, but she knew they were waiting to hear she’d been fired. Ignoring their covert glances, she headed for the back door. It was time for a nice hot cup of java from her favorite coffee stop, and, since she didn’t get fired. She figured a donut to celebrate was also in order for the day!
Chapter Four
Finding Jessie manning the counter and Trey sitting at the little picnic table outside, Lissa related the day’s adventure to her eager audience. When she told them of her unexpected swim, there were collective groans of sympathy for her misadventure. It wasn’t until she got to the part with Mr. Shilling’s acrobatic exit from the boat that the mood lightened and everyone began to laugh at the picture she painted for them.
Trey was particularly amused and nearly lost his seat at the table, he was laughing so hard. Seeing the mishap from his perspective, Lissa joined in and soon the two of them were hiccuping from the giggles, which only made them laugh harder.
Jessie threw them both a warning look as she was taking care of some customers. As they drove away, Jessie came back over to the table to join them.
“Careful, you two. My customers are going to start thinking I’m serving more than coffee with your antics,” she said with a grin.
Trey looked up at his mother, trying to force a serious face, as Lissa took a big gulp of her coffee trying to drown her hiccups. Catching Trey’s face out of the corner of her eye, Lissa burst into a gale of laughter which caused coffee to spew from her nose. The three of them were laughing so hard they didn’t notice Ryan pulling up next to them.
As he surveyed the hilarity from the safety of his truck, Jessie took a couple of steps backwards, banging her head on his rear view mirror. Looking around to see her attacker, Jessie found her brother watching the three of them goofing around. He quickly got out to see if she was okay.
“Now I see what goes on around here when I’m not on duty,” he growled with mock anger.
“Oh, Uncle Ryan! You missed it! Lissa just shot coffee out her nose,” Trey shouted gleefully.
Lissa was holding a napkin over her face, partly in pain and partly in humiliation to have Ryan find her in such a state. Here she’d been hoping for a chance to make a better impression on him and he had to see this. His timing was absolutely terrible, she moaned to herself.
“Are you okay?” Jessie asked, hearing her moan. She came over next to Lissa to check on her.
“Fine! Fine! I’m totally fine,” Lissa said abruptly, pulling the napkin from her face and forcing a smile for Ryan’s sake.
He grinned back at her with a goofy look on his face.
Trey looked from his uncle to Lissa and back again.
“Yuck! You’re looking at Lissa like she’s a…a…a girl,” he blurted out.
All three adults turned to stare at him in surprise.
“Um, honey,” his mother began, “she is a…a girl.”
Trey turned red and spun around in his seat to avoid their gaze.
“You know what I mean,” he mumbled under his breath.
Wisely deciding to change the subject, Ryan jumped in with his own news.
“Guess what? Or should I say ‘who’ is in town tonight,” he asked brightly.
“I can’t imagine,” Jessie ventured to take the bait. “Please do tell us.”
“The Paxton Rascals are playing in the park on campus tonight. I’m thinking the four of us should grab some subs and head over to get a good spot on the grass before they’re all gone. What do you think?”
“What, or who are the Paxton Rascals?” Lissa asked.
“Only the best bluegrass pickers in all of Alaska,” Trey crowed forgetting his embarrassment. “I’m in! Come on Mom! We gotta go!”
“All right! All right! You don’t have to twist my arm. I could use some help cleaning up around here first,” Jessie laughed.
“Don’t worry. Trey and I will do the clean-up and close up the shop while you and Lissa make a sub run. What do you think Lissa?” Ryan asked with a grin.
Lissa looked down at her muddy uniform and frowned.
“I’m not really dressed for a night out,” she began to say.
“That’s okay! We can do a quick run by the house on our way to get subs,” Jessie said, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her up out of her seat.
Jumping into Ryan’s truck, Lissa had to laugh as Jessie threw it into gear and proceeded to drive over the curb.
“I see ‘hurry-up’ driving runs in the family,” she said, grabbing for her seat belt. She leaned back with a small sigh. It felt good to be going somewhere fun for a change.
* * *
With a good weekend under her belt, Lissa woke up bright and early on Monday. She wasn’t sure what new challenges were coming her way with a new partner, but she was ready to face anything, or so she thought. It helped a lot that she’d caught Ryan watching her more than once as they clapped and sang along with the Paxton Rascals on Friday night. She’d found her new favorite band and a few more things to consider liking about Ryan Jackson.
Her good mood lasted up till about five minutes after meeting her new ‘partner’ Rick Johnson. In sharp contrast to Mr. Shilling, he was anything but silent. He began barking orders at her as soon as he found out she was under his tutelage. She figured he was a bit confused on the difference between training partner and slave-driver.
She carried all the gear that he’d instructed her to take out to the truck. Then she waited outside for him to finish whatever he was doing inside. She flinched when he came out the back door with a rifle case in hand. He tossed it in the back with the rest of the gear, ignoring her look of discomfort.
“You know how to handle a gun?” he asked brusquely.
“Of course. I’m from Texas after all,” she retorted.
“Well, that ain’t nothing as fancy as in Texas,” he smirked. “It’s just a tranquilizer gun, in case we run into anything contentious.”
Lissa wisely kept her thoughts to herself. She couldn’t think of anything or anyone more contentious than her new ‘partner’. With a sigh, she climbed in the truck and fastened her seat belt. This might be the longest week ever, sh
e told herself as they pulled out of the parking lot. I hope I can figure out a way to get on this man’s good side….if he’s got one.
Despite her new ‘partner’s attitude problem, the day went by quickly enough. They’d answered a few calls of bear sightings that came up empty and a moose walking down the middle of the highway, (gone by the time they got there), and little else. Their job apparently was to provide back-up to the police calls involving wildlife in the wrong places or homeowners in jeopardy.
They visited a couple of campgrounds checking up on the tourists, as some of them liked to get a little too close to the moose mamas with their calves. More than once, tourists found themselves with a far more exciting encounter than they’d planned on, and usually it went bad for them. If they were fortunate enough to escape injury, they still faced the potential threat of a ticket carrying a hefty fine. That didn’t make the Fish & Game folks too popular with the campground owners sometimes, but they had a job to do like everyone else.
By the end of the day, Lissa was relieved to see that nothing had gone wrong. She happily put away all of the unused gear she’d hauled out to the truck that morning while her ‘partner’ took care of ‘other things’ or so he said. As she was finishing up, Gary sauntered over and offered to give her a hand.
“Thanks, but I think I’ve got it all taken care of,” she said warily.
She didn’t know what this guy’s story was and wasn’t too sure she wanted to know. He was a little too friendly in comparison to the others and grinned a little too easily for her comfort level. She felt like he knew some kind of secret and was just waiting for the right moment to spring it on her.
“I heard you had some kind of ‘accident’ with Mr. Shilling on Friday,” Gary probed. “Care to share any of the details?”
Lissa realized the incident on Friday hadn’t been disclosed and Mr. Burns hadn't mentioned it at the morning briefing. He’d just announced their new assignments for the week without any explanation for the changes. She’d been relieved at the time as Mr. Shilling carefully avoided her, even going so far out of his way to walk the longer path to the door.
