The Vacation

Chapter 5

Mac pulled back on the fishing rod as the line went taught. He played out a little line and then, fairly sure the fish at the other end was securely on the hook, began to reel it in. His muscles bulged with the effort as the nylon line slowly wound itself around the spinner and onto the reel. Finally, as a reward for his patience a huge blue iridescent fish with giant sharp looking extension sticking off its face slid from the water and struggled violently.

"Holy crap what is it?" Pete exclaimed. "It looks evil. It has a built in needle to stab you with and all!"

"It's huge! Guaranteed you'd never catch a fish that big in the lake at home. Pete, get your phone and Google it." Derek stood ogling the giant fish as Mac struggled to keep it above the water and Pete dove for his phone.

"A little help here?" Derek jumped to Mac's side and together they hauled his catch into the boat. Sweating he studied the intimidating invertebrate.

"It is a Blue Marlin!" Pete announced with smug assuredness. "It says it is a prize for deep sea fisherman and goooooood eatin!"

"Hi five man!" Derek raised his hand and Mac gave it a slap. "Onto the ice you go my friend." The now unmoving fish was lifted into the giant cooler.

Pete handed Mac a beer and they returned to their places on the deck sitting and watching their lines.

"Well, we won't starve thanks to Mac." Pete toasted Mac and the glistening bottle necks clinked loudly. "I better text Brenna. She'll have a recipe ready by the time we get home."

"They were heading out in search of clothing shops today but she can look it up on her phone," Derek took a pull off his beer. "Hey tell my wife not to spend any more money. I'm sure she's racked it up by now."

Pete made a loud barking laugh and continued typing on his phone.

"Hey, about Brenna, I wanted to ask you about her." Mac leaned back in the chair and took a drink. "I saw her scars the other night. What happened again? They almost look like combat scars. I didn't want to upset her by asking or anything."

"That's right; you were pretty much gone for three months that summer and must not have paid much attention to the news. I was there but I was part of the breach team. Derek was actually down where Brenna was." He pointed at Derek with the neck of the bottle.

Derek took a deep breath and blew it out slowly through his puffed cheeks. "That day sucked." He pulled the bill of his baseball cap lower and crossed his arms as he leaned back in the chair.

"A dirt bag named Sam Parks got a bug up his ass after he got his 5th DUI and lost his job, his wife, and his kid. Instead of realizing he had a problem and seeking help he decided to take vengeance on the community by locking himself up in the top of the fire department training tower with a high power rifle and a couple of crates of ammo," he took a long pull from his bottle.

"Brenna and her crew had been giving station tours to all the classes of the local grade school down the street all day. She'd put on the outfit and show them how to stop drop and roll and all that. They were doing it out on the grass beside the station because the weather was so nice. They were on their final class, afternoon kindergarten, when the shooting started."

Mack didn't lift his eyes from his beer. He could tell the telling of the story was hard on his friend. Slowly he slid his thumbnail under the soggy label and began to peel it back.

"The first shot took the teacher to the ground. Then a kid got winged and they all started screaming and running while he took pot shots at them. Brenna and the guys started herding kids into the station but one of them had panicked and had run for the road. The sick bastard shot right in front of the kid, then when he turned back he shot in front of him again. He had him trapped and was torturing him. Brenna dove for the kid and covered him with her body. Parks pumped two rounds into her."