As we pulled up the pots the following morning, Skipper kept grumbling. The catch was poor, the weather was bad, we should go in instead of wasting our time...
The last one we pulled up was full. I opened up the pot to let them out and gasped as the first one hit the bottom of the box. It was huge. So were the rest that fell in on top of it. My heart sinking, I looked at the top of the pot and there was Vanessa’s pink ribbon, still tied in a bow.
Skipper looked at the catch and cracked a smile for the first time that morning. “Well, I guess it was worth going out today.”
I pointed at the ribbon.
He laughed. “Now you owe Vanessa some beer. I told you to stay away from her!”
He started picking through the lobsters. They all looked like the monsters Vanessa had loaded onto the carrier boat earlier in the week. “I’ll tell you what, though. As a deckie this lucky, I’ll buy you a couple of beers in the Club tonight.”
“Fair enough.” I nodded.
We baited the pot up again and pushed it off the side, the ribbon still in place.