Anchors

A day in the life story with a "Man vs Wife" theme. Guess who wins? Yep...that's right.

Anchors

A very short (and somewhat true) story by D.J. Lutz, copyright January 2011

     There was no beer to be had because, as everyone knew, fishing was serious business. It was a calling, bestowed upon a lucky few by a higher power, and Stanley had that calling.  That said, there might as well have been a keg on board, given the lack of fish in the cooler. Stanley had been out for the entire day, running the outboard at full throttle, going from hole to hole. Nothing. Not even baitfish were biting. While the empty cooler did indeed seem to mock him, Stanley was really bothered by his wife, who had told him before he left that the fish wouldn’t be schooling today.

 “Moon’s not right,” she said.

 “How would you know about fishing and the moon?”

“A wife usually knows more than her husband gives her credit.”

 “We’ll see. Just get the grill ready, we’re having fish for dinner.”

The trip had been a loser almost from the beginning. Just starting the motor took over an hour. Seven hours later, rainstorm.  It had snuck up on Stanley while he was pulling up to a bridge. Everyone had said “Don’t go out today, front coming in,” but Stanley knew better. No, a little rain wasn’t going to bother him. He would just set the anchor and allow the current to push his boat safely under the bridge. The plan worked, keeping him out of trouble for the moment. Nice and dry, Stanley knew that his luck, like the tide, had finally turned. The rain eventually stopped and he was ready to weigh anchor and get going.

Stanley had never lost an anchor before, but then again, he had never dropped an anchor into a pile of rocks like those.  Cutting the line, his anchorless boat started drifting with the tide, the engine now only sputtering in vain.

A day of running the boat at top speed meant that, like the cooler, there was nothing left in the gas tank. Two hours of drifting with the waves gave Stanley time to think. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.  “Damn, could my wife have been right?”

Fortunately, a Jon boat came by, skippered by an old man hoping to net some shrimp. Stanley sighed in resignation. He knew that there was nothing more embarrassing than getting towed back by a flat bottomed boat, but he had no choice. 

Fishing was, indeed, serious business. It was a calling, bestowed upon a lucky few by a higher power. Stanley may have been skunked this time, he thought, but there would be a “next time,” for he had that calling.

As his powerless boat was being tied to the dock, Stanley realized that he now had to answer to that higher power.

His cell phone had buzzed.

“Hi dear…no, you were right…”

Author's Note

You may think that this actually happened to me, but in the real life version there were more disasters. This is the cleaned up version. And I was not alone....

Reviews

[Sara Boepple]

Clever. I'm wondering...just because I always want a sequel... (a) what she had planned for dinner and (2) how much she razzes him for losing the anchor and fixing the engine. But that could be because "I ARE THAT WIFE!" Nice strong verbs like "bestowed" and "skunked" add forward movement to the narrative. Well done!

[E.H. Monroe]

Enough to sink the teeth in, even without any nautical knowledge unless there are assclowns that don't know what an Anchor is.

The feel of your pieces are always comforting, even when full scale fight sare involved. Its flawless, just a retelling of a story and a situation that are seemingly a lazy day at sea and teaches a message at the end. Always listen to the higher power.
The comedy and tragedy go hand in hand and just when you think its not enough, the audeince feels the douchy chill of being pulled back to land, hat low and embarassment on high.

My daily stop for some hard wisdom and pitch perfect writes.

Sir, I salute you

[Marie Harrison]

When are the men going to learn to bow to the intuitive nature of the female. Ha! Loved this story! Very clever!

[robyn.alexandra]

Simple and concise, an excellent short story with enough strength in the idea to make it great! Bravo.

[Priyankaabhilaashi]

A serious business...seriously handled...!!!