Hook, Line & Sinker, Cont'd

Just as the three boats were about to leave the launch, Aria appeared with the lunch cooler and thermoses. The sun shone through her golden red hair making it look like a halo. Her blue eyes always sparkled making her look devilish is a fun sort of way. Isidoro couldn’t help but smile as she greeted the crew and gracefully stepped into his boat. Her smile always did him in. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Aria cheerfully apologized, “but I thought I would bring some hot coffee and warm muffins for everyone. I made a few sandwiches and threw in some fruit for lunch. There’s enough for everyone.” Cooking and feeding people were second nature to her. Nobody ever went hungry if Aria was along on an outing.

Isidoro knew he had been blessed the day he met Aria. He had been widowed for over a year when he realized he couldn’t raise five young sons on his own. Being a father and trying to be a mother at the same time was too much. His work required travel to destinations all over the world and he was at the point he would have to change careers to be home at night for his sons. His parents had helped as much as they could but they were no longer young. Five active grandsons took more energy than they had left. They had encouraged their son to remarry and give the boys a mother.

The online dating sites hadn’t been very successful. Swipe right, swipe left was a major flop. If she swiped one way, he swiped the other.  It seemed members had become expert at scrolling and swiping. It was a fast-paced activity…” nope”, “nope”, “nope”, then a “maybe” or a possible “yep” only to find she had swiped “nope”. It might work for some but he had signed up for a free ten-day trial and had not found a single match. He didn’t want to waste money on a membership that probably wouldn’t yield results.  A couple other sites had short term success…a couple text messages and meeting for coffee face to face. But it never seemed to be the same face used for their profiles. How many times had an AI face been attached to the profile? It was hard to even pick the face out in the coffee shop as so many did not resemble the profile photo they had used. One woman had said she was into sports, outdoors, canoeing, camping and skiing. After a few online chats, he suggested meeting at Starbucks for a coffee. She was one of the few that used a current photo and he approached her at the coffee shop with some pretty high hopes and expectations. She was confident enough in her appearance to post an authentic and current photo. She had a natural wholesome beauty and a warm personality. Maybe, maybe this is the one for me he thought.  However, as they chatted, he realized the camping, canoeing and outdoor sports that she enjoyed had been when she was a Girl Guide. There wasn’t much common ground. In fact, she didn’t even drink coffee. Isidoro was thoroughly discouraged. For six weeks he had poured his energy and spare time into a search for a partner and mother for his boys with absolutely no success.

The day he saw the sandwich board outside a local church saying SPEED DATING TONIGHT 7 P.M. he thought what the heck, I have nothing to lose. He dropped his boys off with his mother for dinner and the evening and made his way to the church basement. Arriving promptly at 7 o’clock, he followed the group down the stairs to a low-ceiling room. Card tables were set up: each table had two chairs opposite each other.  The sixteen card tables were set up in grid fashion across the small floor. Each table had a red checked gingham cloth covering it, a small vase of flowers or a small candle adding a bit of warmth to the atmosphere. Not exactly romantic but a touch of warmth nonetheless.  Almost like Italy he thought. Humph, maybe this is a sign.  He had been young when his parents emigrated to Canada with him and his brother and sister but he could still remember the cafes and restaurants in his Italian neighbourhood.

There were more than sixteen men and sixteen women waiting to try their luck at speed dating, so the organizers set up a banquet table in the back corner that provided space for four additional couples to begin the round. Isidoro was surprised that the numbers had worked out…. exactly twenty women and twenty men. No odd person out at all which seemed odd in itself.  He wondered if being in the church basement brought divine intervention to the evening.

There appeared to be two main organizers, one a woman and one a man. Isidoro couldn’t decide if they were an actual couple themselves or just business partners. As he looked around at the group of speed daters, he noticed everyone was a bit apprehensive about where they would sit so, they stood along the walls of the church basement. A couple twenty something women giggled between themselves as they eyed the rest of the group. Isidoro realized the group ranged from mid twenty-year-olds to an older gentleman that looked at least sixty and every age in between. The numbers might have worked out but the ages seemed too varied to make successful matches.

“Isi”…

“Isi”…

“I S I D O R O! Are we going to do any fishing today or are you going to stand there in your trance all day?” his crew laughed. Slightly embarrassed, Isidoro snapped out of his daydream and sheepishly spoke, “I was just planning where we might start filming.”

His crew was always good-natured as well as skilled. Emilio and Claudio were brothers who were both skilled camera men and fantastic editors.  A large part of Isidoro’s success with his television show was due to the editing skills of Emilio and Claudio. They captured footage from their respective boats and could edit and make it appear seamless. There was one time he hadn’t been able to reel in the big catch he needed for his program. They netted the fish, stuck a hooked lure in the fish and tossed it back in the water. By the time he reeled it in, the struggle seemed real and they captured his bent rod and fight and a beautiful shot of Isidoro and Aria with the fish. It seemed like true success. That year, Berkley had been his sponsor and they had stuck a Berkley Flicker Shad Crankbait into the fish. That sure boosted the sales of Berkley that Father’s Day. It was a simple trick of the trade to keep his sponsors happy. He did what he had to do.

There were other tricks of the trade. Timing was everything and he always had to fish and film out of season so that his Saturday morning show was current and interesting.  A few years earlier he had been caught and fined by the tough guy Adam who worked as a conservation officer.

Conservation officers as they were now called rather than game wardens were trained to police standards. Adam had worked as a local auxiliary police officer after university and loved the authority he felt he had. When the conservation officer position was advertised, he updated his resume with his police experience and played up his upbringing on the lake…. a skilled boater, a seasoned angler AND a university degree. His countless hours lifting weights and training at the gym gave him the bulk and physique to match his authority.

Meeting Adam hadn’t been Isidoro’s best day. He was under pressure to meet his deadline for his Saturday morning show. Three weeks prior to the season opening, Isidoro and his crew headed out to film. It was an absolutely nothing day…no bites, no fish but no worry.  He had allowed himself an extra week for such a situation. The following week, he and his crew tried again. They arrived at a spot on the opposite shore that was protected with bull-rushes and Isidore felt positive vibes that they would get the footage he needed for his show. He had no sooner cast towards the east, when the conservation officer appeared from the point just to the west.

Tough Adam being full of himself and his own authority would hear no explanation and was only too happy to slap a $4000 fine on Isidoro and confiscate his fishing rod and tackle. Isidore knew his sponsor would replace the gear but what hurt more than the fine or losing the equipment was his suspended fishing license for the remainder of the season. Thankfully, he had been in the business long enough to have a collection of taped fishing excursions and was able to play reruns for the season.

Soon after the run in with Adam, Enzo came up with the bright idea of magnetic decals to stick to the side of the camera boats. If they were fishing out of season, the CHEX NEWS decals were attached to both sides of each boat. They had rehearsed five or six probable stories that would require a news boat just in case they ran into conservation officers again. They also made it a practice to not promote where or when they would be filming and fishing. They varied the lakes and days of the week and had managed to keep under the radar.

“I’m thinking we should head down to the last little bay before the lake joins the river. If we don’t have any luck, we will head over to the north shore although I haven’t enjoyed it since the day we met Adam,” Isidoro directed.

Aria sat up front with her back to him. Her reddish golden hair was tied with a scarf and hung down her back. Her face was tipped to the sky and the sun was almost above the low mist at the surface. Soon the mist would be gone. She is one beautiful woman Isidoro thought. I am a lucky man.

Isidoro navigated the boat around the islands and enjoyed the scenery on both shores…trees, fields and hills. It was nicely greening up with each passing spring day. It was about a twenty-minute ride from the launch to where they planned to film and he allowed his mind to wander back to the night of speed dating several years before.

It still seemed strange for a church to host a speed dating evening but it had worked out well in his case. Of the forty participants, there had been six successful matches made that evening. His match with Aria was one of them.

The organizers turned out to be both life partners and business partners. They had met at a speed dating event ten years earlier. Both were fashionable and polished and quickly made everyone in the small basement feel comfortable and relaxed. They wanted everyone to be as happy as they were as a result of speed dating so they operated rotating evenings in various church halls. Cost effective yes, but it also screened participants. Some just wouldn’t step inside a church.

Sheila had welcomed each participant and explained the agenda for the evening. Her partner Ken would look after the flow of the participants and indicate when it was time to move to the next table.  

Sheila explained how the rotation would work: “The tables are numbered one through sixteen. Because we have forty participants tonight, the banquet table will have numbers 17, 18, 19 and 20. The men will move up: in other words, the man from table one will move and sit down at table two when the bell tells the men to advance. The women will stay at the same table. Because of the large, awesome turnout tonight, we will have to limit each interview to six minutes. Please be considerate and give each other time to ask and answer each others’ questions.   It isn’t much time but this should take about two hours for each participant to meet the other participants.”

Ken spoke up and said, “There will be refreshments following the round of speed dating so you will have an opportunity to further question or converse with one that might interest you. Good luck everyone!”

Because the clock was ticking, everyone quickly grabbed a chair and sat down. Isidoro quickly formed some questions he might ask each woman in the room.  What are the main questions I should cover in the six minutes? Well actually, it is only three minutes if we share the air time. I guess we should cover the basics… interests, goals and baggage. How could he word that without sounding too critical or judgemental? And how much did he really want to reveal about himself in an initial meeting? Should he bring up religion?  It was important to him but how could he ask that in the time limit? He realized he should have put more thought into the process of speed dating. It was more complicated than he first thought.

It was obvious that some of the ladies participating were just too young or too old so those questions could be much more casual as the answers weren’t going to make any difference to him.  He was already 39 years old so he wasn’t interested in the twenty somethings who weren’t much older than his oldest son. And he wasn’t going to grill the women in their upper fifties. In reality, there were less than a dozen women to consider in this group.

He picked a chair opposite a woman who looked mid thirties. Pleasant enough and attractive enough he thought as he gathered his thoughts and formed a few questions that he hoped would be appropriate. Thankfully, Sheila and Ken had given each participant a name tag when they registered and paid their forty dollars.

“Hello Barbara. I am glad you came out tonight. Are you from around here?” That was lame he thought.

“Yes, I am relatively new to the area and I hope to meet some people to do things with.”

“What sort of things do you enjoy doing,” Isidoro asked. “Oh, I like movies, theatre, cultural events…how about you?” she asked.

Polite questions filled up the six minutes and the sound of the bell was pretty much a relief to both of them.

At the next table, he polished his introduction but the question-and-answer period lacked enthusiasm.

The young twenty somethings were his third and fourth interviews. He found that the two friends had just completed fourth year of university and were looking for jobs and a good time for the summer. They both hoped they would find jobs outside of the small community because there just wasn’t much to do in the area. They were too young to look for anything lasting.

When he sat down at the fifth table, it dawned on him that he already knew this woman. “Well, this is awkward,” he said. “What have you been up to since our Starbucks date?”

“I haven’t been camping or canoeing, if that’s what you are hoping! It’s been hard meeting people online. It hasn’t worked out. How about you?”

“Same,” Isidoro answered, “I just happened to see the sign outside the church and figured I would give it a go. Seems like a safe place to meet face to face.”

When the bell rang, their cordial conversation ended with “we’ll probably see each other around. Good luck!”

Table six was the older woman who it turned out knew his mother through a yoga class. She understood he was a widower and needed help to raise his boys. She told him if he didn’t have any luck at speed dating, she had friends that had single daughters and she could set him up with a few blind dates if he wanted. What is it about older women, he wondered? They like to play match maker yet here she was looking for a match for herself. Strange.

When the bell rang for the seventh interview, he sat down opposite a woman with golden red hair, sparkly eyes and a big smile. Her tag said Aria.

Lucky seven he wondered. “Hello Aria, can you tell me about yourself? You look like an interesting person,” he started.

 “Thanks, I am a single career woman and have been on my own for a long time. I come from a large family of six brothers. I am the only girl. I am not exactly a tom boy but I have always enjoyed the same activities as my brothers…sports, boating, fishing, camping. It’s just who we are as a family. Mom and I have always been the odd ones out but we sure can cook and feed the gang! I have had a wonderful upbringing when you think about it!”

“Sounds like a happy family! What does your family do on Sundays?” he ventured.

“After church you mean? We always have a big family dinner and often include neighbours and relatives. Sometimes we head out to the lake to swim and fish, sometimes we play ball. We are a big enough family to make a team!”

The six minutes flew by and Isidoro had lots of questions he still wanted to ask. The rest of the evening he moved table to table but his heart wasn’t in it. He was waiting for refreshment time so he could pursue Aria a little longer.

Once again, his crew interrupted his day dreaming when they reached the agreed location.

“What are you thinking Isidoro? Should we put the magnetic signs on the boats or do you think we are here all alone?” asked Fabio.

“Even though I feel we are not likely to see anyone today, I think the signs are probably a good idea, I don’t want to lose the rest of this season!” Isidoro decided.

Emilio and Claudio organized their camera and equipment while Isidoro sorted his rod and tackle box. He kept the spear and net out of sight…. just in case.

Aria offered coffee all round and happily enjoyed the company and the beautiful spring day. It was going to be a great day.

The first five or six casts yielded nothing. Not even a nibble. But the next cast caught something and Isidoro was unable to reel it in. “Boy, this must be quite a fish, I can’t get it. Grab the nets and give me a hand!”

When the crew finally brought it close enough to see, they looked in horror…it was a body…big and bloated and it was obvious the fish had been feeding on it for quite some time.

(to be continued)