Shark- The Carroll Angler's Bring

“Eddie”, his mother yelled, “get dressed and come down here”. This was the third time so, the normally easy-going Eddie, knew he’d better get moving, and yelled back “I’m coming, I’m coming”. Finding sox to wear, was a lost cause, so stepping barefoot into his Dockers, and pulling his belt tight on a pair of light beige cargo shorts, Eddie grabbed a tee shirt and carried it down the back stairs to the kitchen. “Eddie” his mother said, as if he had been there all along, “will you please finish mowing the lawn? Your brother got a call before dawn and rushed off like he was on fire.” “Did Jimmy take the car?” Eddie asked, looking out at the empty driveway. “You don’t need a car to mow the lawn”, she answered, sarcastically. Eddie said, exiting through the screened front door, “I’ll look great picking up Annie for the dance tonight, riding on a lawn mower” letting it slam shut in tempo with his own sarcasm.

The old John Deere, started right up and giving a couple of smelly exhaust puffs seemed almost eager to finish the job, started by Jimmy, Eddie’s older brother. It was almost noon, and Eddie figured another hour or so to finish the job. A fearless four-foot alligator decided to cross the lawn, and Eddie took the opportunity to pull his tee shirt out of his back pocket, wiping the eye stinging sweat from his face, neck and arms. As the long tail melted into the swampy area, adjacent to the house, Eddie cut the last long strip of grass at the front of the house, near the mailbox, which he reached into and grabbed. He found three letters, a couple of ads, and the 2021 Carroll telephone listing booklet, mostly commercials for local businesses. No mail for Eddie, so after hosing off the grass and dirt from Johnny’s (dad’s name for the mower) fading green and yellow body, and fueling him up, Eddie backed the old mower into the shed. Before leaving, Eddie covered Johnny with a fitted canvas covering, that his dad had specially made to protect his personal pet and headed back to the house, with mail and dripping tee shirt in hand. Eddie’s mother, Barbara, met him at the door, taking the mail and handing him a big beautiful ice cube filled glass of sun made sweet tea. She asked, “are you hungry?” “I’ll eat later”, Eddie said, still in a mood. Climbing the front stairway, he stopped at the bathroom, leaned in and turned on the shower to a temperature between hot and cold and shuffled down the hall to his room. Kicking the Dockers off one at a time, selecting some dry tighty whities and a pair of clean cut-off jean shorts, stripped off his dirty grass covered cargo shorts, and naked on tippy toes quickly darted back down the hall to the safety of the bathroom and a refreshing cool shower. The combination of soap and water, and grass and dirt, gave the resulting flash flood a look of soggy Lucky Charms and shredded wheat, reaching for each other to stay out of the drain. As the water became clear, Eddie turned the faucet off, and snagged a towel from the rack next to the shower. Stepping out of the shower and drying his hair, Eddie thought, I better call Annie, and fill her in on the car situation. She was going to be pissed at me and beyond that with my brother Jimmy.

Downstairs, Eddie discussed the approach he should take regarding Annie’s degree of disappointment, with his mother. She was not helpful. She still hadn’t heard from Jimmy, which further angered Eddie, because his mother failed to get a destination of where he was going in such a rush. Dialing Annie’s number as thoughts of what she would say, flooded his head, it rang 3 times before her mom said “hello” in her best Mrs. Doubtfire style. “This is Eddie, may I speak with Ann please”, trying to sound as polite as he could. “Well dear, you could, but Ann is not home at the moment, may I take a message? She said she wouldn’t be home from the Carroll Angler’s Tournament until later tonight.” Feeling a bit relieved at not having to talk to Annie, but wondering to himself, “how the hell could I forget the fishing tournament?” Eddie politely said “please tell her I called” said goodbye and hung up the phone.

Feeling hungry now, Eddie headed to the kitchen and slathered four pieces of Wonder bread with way too much Hellman’s mayonnaise, then choosing the largest ripest tomato from his mom’s garden, took his time cutting two perfectly matched slices. Centering each tomato slice on the bread and over salting and peppering both, covered the masterpieces and headed for the living room. Turning the television on, the news was chatting about something going on down at the Carroll pier. “You want something to drink”, Barbara asked from the kitchen, cleaning up Eddie’s mayonnaise mess. “Can you grab me a Publix water, please”, Eddie answered. The news reporter continued talking about activity down at the pier and something about more police arriving and a rescue helicopter about to land. “We’ll have a film crew there and set up as soon as we get back from this. Barbara handed him the water, and sat on the arm of the couch, listening intently. “What happened? She asked”, Eddie said, “I’m not sure, but Annie’s down there for her fishing tournament” (not telling his mom that he’d totally forgotten about it).

The Carroll Angler’s Club started in July of 1955, and was intended to keep the teenage boys of Carroll out of trouble during the summer. They were taught water and boat safety, and how to fish, as well as having respect for the ocean and its inhabitants, especially the local fish like Bonefish, Snook, Redfish, Spotted Trout, Tarpon, and Bull Sharks. Then, and rightfully so, in 1961, membership was extended to girls also, and the same year, The Annual Carroll Angler’s Club Fishing Tournament was begun. Moving to the mantle, Eddie started finger dusting three trophies with a large golden shark on top. Eddie’s dad, Michael (Mike) Sheehan, had won the coveted Shark Trophy three years running from 1962 thru 1965, and was a huge supporter of the club and tournaments. Mike was a Florida journalist and this week he was on assignment in South Africa (Jeffreys Bay in Eastern Cape) to cover The J-Bay Open Surfing Competition, number six on the World Surf League’s schedule. “The water and the waves are perfect for this event”, he had said during last night’s weekly phone call. He also said he had visited some nearby animal sanctuaries, and had already mailed a boat-load of film home to be developed. “EDDIE” his mom yelled, “LOOK”, Eddie turned to look at the television and there was his brother, Jimmy.

Jimmy was being interviewed by a reporter, and as his mom, turned the sound up, Jimmy, speed talking, said only two intelligible words, “great” and “white” Eddie and his mom knew the word “shark” was understood. “Call the cab company Eddie, we’re going down there”, Barbara said. Eddie reached for the phone, but before he could pick up, it rang, and Eddie jumped a little. He said “Hello” and a voice said “Eddie it’s Jimmy” “what the hell is going on?”, Eddie asked shaking his head, still seeing his brother on the TV. Jimmy told him that their friend, Dudley Harding, had decided it would be fun to go out before sun up, catch a shark and then drag it through the tournament site, to freak out the contestants. What Dudley didn’t count on was getting his propeller hung up on his own fishing line. So, he called me on his new Nokia cell phone and begged for help. I took dad’s boat out to help and found Dudley, hanging over the side of his boat. As I approached, he yelled “Shark”, and pulled his bloody arm out of the water. At first, I thought he was joking; but there was the familiar sight of a shark’s dorsal fin swimming toward me from behind Dudley’s boat, only thing missing, beside his arm was “Jaws” music. I tied up to his boat and jumped in and tightly wrapped up his arm and helped him into my boat, reclining, one of Dad’s fishing seats, to make him comfortable, while I hooked up a line to pull his boat back to the Carroll pier. I used Dudley’s phone to call the police and they set up the rescue stuff at the pier. “Wow” Eddie said, Jimmy hurriedly continued, “that’s not all, as I was pulling Dudley’s boat toward the dock, I realized I was also pulling a shark too. He leaped out of the water and I knew immediately that it was a Great White, which we don’t see a lot of in these waters. When we got closer, the Coast Guard took over and captured the shark, which I suppose they hauled back into the Gulf of Mexico, to terrify others.” The entire conversation, Barbara kept pulling on Eddie and whispering, “is he OK?” “Is he OK”, finally, while Jimmy was taking a breath, Eddie said “yes” to his mother, and he’d explain everything in a minute. Jimmy went on to say the EMT’s said that he probably saved Dudley’s life by wrapping the arm so tightly. Jimmy also said “I ran into Annie, and she told me she has a surprise for you, and that I’d better clean any blood out of the car, for when you pick her up for the dance tonight”, or “I’ll kick your ass.” “See y’all in a little while.”

Eddie, started getting ready about 5:00 to pick Annie up for the dance at the Carroll Pier at 7:00. He couldn’t wait to see her face. It had been almost 20 hours since he saw her last. They had gone swimming at a fresh water pond with their friends, a good day, everyone excited about going back to school as seniors, in a few short weeks. Eddie could only think about the hugging and kissing with Annie, in the back seat, on the ride home last evening. Her lips were so soft, and she felt so pliable as their teen bodies were learning how to melt into each other. A little nervous, but hormonally driven, Eddie was eagerly looking forward to being alone for a whole night with Annie.

Annie hopped in before Eddie could be a door opening gentleman, she flung her arms around his neck, and kissed him hungrily, but impatiently. Pulling away from him, before he could pull the car out of the driveway, she told him to close his eyes and to hold out his hands. Eddie complied, and felt something rested equally in his hands, “OK, open them. Guess who won the Carroll Angler’s Tournament?” Annie proudly asked. “Me” she said. Eddie holding the Champion Shark trophy like an infant, lavished praise and admiration on Annie, for her effort and victory. It was going to be a great night.