“Do you think you can come back in ten minutes?” I asked.
“Sorry, I’m from the lodge. I have to get back in ten minutes to fix something else, and the boat is going to be moving soon.”
“Shit!” I hissed under my breath. I looked around frantically again. There was only one option. One thing left to do to get rid of this loud, shaking thing that would not turn off. I walked over to the large window and pulled the net curtain aside. The water was only a few meters away, and so I tossed it and watched, waiting for it to sink. Only, that did not happen.
“No! No!” I gripped the windowsill in horror as the vibrations acted like a bloody motor and the pink dolphin scooted over the water like a speedboat. “Shiiit!” I watched as the pink thing darted through the water, motoring past a group of crocs.
CHAPTER 39
Max
That had been awkward. Beverly had leaned in to kiss me, and I’d had to stop her right there and then and tell her I was seeing someone. She’d looked surprised, but had accepted it gracefully. Nodding and words of “she’s a lucky girl” had followed. I didn’t want to tell her that I was the lucky one—that would probably just make her feel worse. But then when the manager of the boat had leaned over and told me he’d just seen some tiger fish, I jumped at the opportunity to go fishing, even though I hated it. I hated touching fish; I hated looking at fish. They repulsed me, ever since I was a child and had fallen into my grandfather’s koi pond. I was only three and at that age the fish had seemed so big and terrifying. I’d been so traumatized, especially when one had started nibbling on my toe.
But here I was, sitting on a little boat, some distance away from the luxurious, nice, fish-free houseboat, with my line in the water, while a man talked to me about how great the tiger fishing was if we went a little further down to the rapids.
“No, this is great here. I love this spot,” I lied. Sure, it was beautiful here: the call of fish eagles above my head; the sound of the water lapping against the grasses which came all the way up to the banks; the vervet monkeys playing in the big tree branch that hung over the water. This was paradise on earth. What was not paradise on earth was the fact that the manager was now suddenly standing up and winding his fishing line in frantically.
“Caught something,” he said, yanking the fishing rod backwards. “Feels like a barbel.”
“Great,” I said, trying to sound happy for him because he looked thrilled.
He wheeled in the line, fighting what was clearly a huge fish, and when it emerged from the water, I thought I was going to vomit.
“Grab the net!” he shouted at me as the fish flopped around, fighting the line to get back in the water.
“Me?”
“Quickly or the line will break.”
I reluctantly picked up the net and angled it towards the fish, but looked away. The idea of seeing the entire slimy fish out of the water made bile rise in my throat. I felt the massive weight in the net and only turned again when I didn’t. The manager had taken the fish out the net and was now asking me to take a photo of him and the fish before he released it. I took the photo, trying not to look directly at the fish itself, its big mouth opening and closing as if it were drinking air down in big gulps.
“It’s strictly catch and release here,” he said to me as he gave the slimy thing a quick kiss and tossed it back in the water. “But you still get a hell of a rush from catching it,” he said, looking almost high on it.
I nodded and agreed, even though I felt sick to my stomach. I picked the net up again and was just about to put it away, when I heard something motorized behind me. I turned. Something pink was darting across the water, getting closer and closer to the boat.
“What the . . .” I leaned over the side of the small fishing boat and stared as a familiar-looking thing came straight for me.But it couldn’t be, could it?Yet the closer it got, the more I recognized its shape, size and the noise it was making. I looked over my shoulder. The manager was rinsing his hands and rebaiting his line. The pink thing started to veer off to the left so I quickly scooped it up in my net before it motored away. I pulled it towards me and did a double take as I looked down and had my suspicions confirmed. I looked back at the houseboat and saw the net curtain in Ash’s room billowing in and out in the breeze. I picked up the binoculars that had been given to me for birdwatching and quickly raised them to my eyes. And there, only revealed for a second at a time as the curtain billowed out, was Ash’s very shocked-looking face staring at the door.
Oh, Ash!I smiled to myself and then quickly turned the vibrator off, slipping it into my pocket before the manager saw.
I knocked on Ash’s door the second I returned from fishing. There was no answer, but I could hear shuffling inside.
“Ash,” I called again.
“Go away,” she fired back quickly.
“I’ve just come back from fishing,” I said, trying to hide my amusement, not to mention the heat I was feeling at the thought of her playing with that toy alone in her room.
“And I caught something very interesting. Want to know what it was?”
“Not really.” She sounded pissed off, and I wasn’t quite sure why. The last time I’d seen her, she had been anything but pissed off, leaning over, letting me gaze down her top.
“I’m going to tell you anyway,” I said, dildo safely tucked away in my pocket. “A very odd fish, actually. Unusual.”
She didn’t respond.
“Strange color – pink.”
I heard something, as if she’d just gotten off the bed, or a chair.
