Midnight Water

The little trawling boat rocked gently on the waves. The black water seemed to stretch on for ever in the night. Jerry had never been out this far into the Gulf of Mexico before. He'd ran a few trawls down the river with his cousins. But this was his first paid job.

"Peaceful, no", said a voice.

It was the captain of the small vessel, Mark. Mark was in his forties or so Jerry guessed.

"Yea, it's so quiet", said Jerry.

"Not many birds this far out. Just, do me a favor, stay in the boat."

"Sure thing."

Jerry tried not to take offence to this last remark. It was true, Jerry was only seventeen, but he wasn't an idiot. Mark didn't smile, he just turned back toward the small pilot house and sat back in his chair. Jerry did his best not to be annoyed. They'd been out there for hours already. And still they hadn't so much as dropped a net. They were just floating there aimless. Jerry slumped down and put his arms over the edge of the boat.

Something caught his attention, a flash of light in the water. Jerry focused hard. He wasn't sure if he had just imagined that light in the darkness. Then. it happened again. Jerry reached over and picked up one of the long catch poles. Carefully he reached down toward the spot where he saw the light. The water began to glow in ripples as the pole touched something. Jerry looked back toward the pilot house. But Mark seemed almost asleep in his chair.

Jerry had heard stories of lights in the water before. Jellyfish and some algae were known to glow at night. He didn't want to seem stupid so he didn't bother telling Mark. He pulled the pole back and the glowing stopped. This became a game to him. He'd poke the water and watch it glow then pull the stick back. Just something to breakup the emptiness of the night.

Jerry sometimes thought he saw shapes in the water. What looked like faces. Smiling at his imagination he poked at on one. The glow was so bright. He went to pull the pole away, but the pole didn't come. Jerry stood dumbfounded as the pole twisted from his hands and disappeared into the water.

He stood there a moment completely unsure what just happened. Maybe he just dropped the pole or it caught a log that was just under the surface. The pole was wooden so it should be floating. Jerry leaned down close to the edge, which was still a good five feet from the water.But he couldn't make out anything in the blackness. He walked over to the pilot house. Mark was audibly snoring. Jerry picked up a flashlight from the wall mount and walked back to the boats edge.

But before he could turn the light on he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look and there sticking up out of the water was the large catch pole. Jerry walked over to it. It was just standing out of the water about three feet from the boat. Jerry reached out for it, but couldn't get a good grasp. Slowly the pole started to sink. Panicked Jerry grabbed a handful of rigging from on of the trawls and stepped over the edge of the boat.  The pole started sinking faster. Jerry lost his footing.

The boat made a strange metal noise as he stumbled off the edge. It was as if the boat was pitched up to aid in him falling off. But Jerry never let go of the rigging. With both feet dangling over the water Jerry scrambled to get back into the boat. He crashed onto the deck, out of breath. He looked over his shoulder towards the pilot house. Mark was standing there with a thermos lid of coffee in his hand.

"Thought I told you to stay in the boat", he said.

Jerry couldn't respond. He wasn't sure where to start.

"Come on kid. It's showtime", he said throwing the rest of his coffee over board.

Jerry stood up and watched as the mechanical arms dropped the nets into the water.  The Gulf flashed to life. The sound of the engines cut through the silence. Shaking, Jerry walked into the pilot house.

"The water, it took a pole from me", he said to Mark.

Mark gave him a sideways look.

"Kid you ain't seen nothing yet."