Fridays have been Rose’s favorite day for years, not necessarily the mornings, because of work. She enjoyed her work, but she liked fishing on the weekends with her daughters, Lilly and Daisy, more. Her weekend began as soon as she got off work on Friday and ended early Monday morning, when they returned home. On Thursday nights they packed their bags, groceries and camping gear into the SUV, thus making their Friday morning ritual the same as any other week day morning. After work though, she picked up the girls from school and immediately took the hour long trip to the WATER. Lilly longed for the view of the distant tree line as they left the city, because she knew she would soon be fishing.

A store called, ‘Paul’s Fishery’, sat on the edge of the dense forest, which was half way to their favorite camp site. Paul sold bait and tackle in the convenient store on the left side of his building and had a butcher, seafood and deli counter on the right. Two hundred feet through the back door and past one of his open air dining areas was his fishery, where he raised and sold Minos, clams and shrimp, to name a few. Past that was his stable, where he had horses, goats, chickens and other livestock.

Rose stopped by the fishery every Friday evening at 6 pm like clockwork, because she had a standing dinner reservation under a backyard canopy with Paul. While they ate and flirted, the kids munched on candy and chips at the stable with the animals. Over the years they grew to have certain FEELINGS for each other, but were careful to keep them under wraps because of her children. Every weekend he offered her a job and she always politely declined with a smile, hug and kiss on the cheek.

They left Paul’s and headed deep into the woods to their secret spot near the creek. Once there, the first thing Rose and Lilly did was cast a few lines to see what the fish were biting on. Daisy loved bug hunting, so she gathered wood for the fire while rummaging for caterpillars, worms and other free bait. After twenty minutes they set up camp, placed the poles for the overnight fishing and prepared for nightfall. Lilly always started the fire and stayed up most of the night reading and fishing by the firelight, while Rose and Daisy soon fell asleep listening to nature’s music by the water’s edge.

They’ve been coming here for years, and the kids didn’t realize it, but when their dad died, Rose needed to supplement her finances, so she learned to catch, clean and sale fish. This was fun quality time with the girls and helped with bills too. Monday came too soon and as they were packing up, Rose noticed and a puddle of OIL under her SUV. She knew nothing about cars, so the fear that it might not be something simple, hit her quickly. Thoughts of: What if she needed another engine-or car? Where would that money come from? That would be a lot of fish or maybe she would need a second job. When she thought of a second job she thought of Paul, so she stopped at Paul’s on the way home for some oil and a hug.