After nearly dying two or three times since getting lost at sea, I imagined Mrs. Harrison giving me one of her curious smiles. What have you learned so far from this incident?, I could picture her saying.
A lot, I imagined myself saying back. In fact, I came up with a couple of new rules for Survival School.
Oh?, she woulda asked, eyebrow raised.
First of all, keep the saltwater away from the fresh.
A good rule, she woulda said.
Second, don’t eat anything that smells like week-old roadkill.
Smart, she woulda said. Anything else?
Yeah, I might have answered. Fish don’t care about rule number two.
I didn’t have too much hope for the gooey squid brains on the end of my hook. It’d been days after all since I’d gotten a nibble. But it wasn’t too long after sunrise when the line started tearing off one of the reels like zrrrrrrrrt!
At first I thought it was seaweed. But when I picked up the reel I could feel something tugging back.
Stranded, sick, starving. It doesn’t matter. The feel of a fish on the line gets your heart racing. Especially when you’re hungry.
I could feel the saliva building up in my mouth as I reeled. It was a little mahi.
I wasn’t even sure I could wait to cut it up with the bait knife.
I didn’t.
But I did throw the line right back out in case there was a school.
I always keep a line out. If the fish want to bite in the middle of the day, I’ll catch em then. If they’re looking for a midnight snack, that’s fine too. Only problem is that I think you're supposed to have more than one food group in there. Maybe some lemons or limes for scurvy.
Good news is I haven't seen any scurvy on me. Bad news is I don’t know what scurvy looks like. Other bad news is that my stomach’s not used to a fish-only diet, and what goes in must come out.
What’s come out has been, well, painful.
Still, I try to eat as much as I can when I catch something, because I don't know when I'll run across more. People think the ocean's just full of fish but out here over the deep blue, you can go days without seeing signs of life.
Not even birds–that's what scares me most. If I'm close to land I should see birds.
And I don't.
Still, I can’t help but think I must be near to something. Because of the junk floating in the water. Mostly weird little bits of plastic and foam, but it had to come from somewhere, right?
Anyhow, that’s been the cycle.
Catch a fish.
Eat some of it raw. Save the gross parts for bait.
Sleep when I can curled up around the center console.
Sponge up the dew in the mornings.
Make calls on the ship-to-shore.
Look for land on the horizon.
Hope for rain.