Fishing For Trouble [Open]

Astor left the house running, as she was wont to do, and ignored her mother’s protests regarding her lack of footwear; if her feet were any tougher on the bottom, she’d be able to walk across coals. Which, by the way, she had tried, and had immediately decided that she didn’t want to do again. At least, not for a good reason. ”I’ll be back….eventually!” she promised as she rounded the corner of the small house and sprinted for the ocean, heading uphill.

Most tracks to the ocean went downhill, but downhill led to fish, and Astor wasn’t after fish this time. Having some of the smallest hands over the age of thirteen, her favorite target was the crabs and lobsters that huddled close to the rocks underneath the cliffs. She knew how to watch the tides, as every child did, to not get thrown up against the stones and bludgeoned to death. And besides, climbing down the jagged rock face was fun, if not particularly mother-sanctioned. But she knew what she was doing.

Forty minutes later Astor dragged herself away from the rocks, the thick, tight-weave net on her belt crawling with irritated crustaceans, and let herself get pulled into a riptide, not in the mood to climb back up the rocks. The drag would get her away from the cliff until she could angle her way back toward the scattering of docks south of the harbor. She shot herself out parallel to shore when she’d reached a safe distance, and took her time paddling on her back toward the sand. When she reached the end of the dock she untied the crab bag from her belt and tied it instead so it hung in the shade underneath the dock, hauling herself on top of it so she could dry in the sun. As she flopped onto her back on the weather-worn boards, she realized she wasn’t the only person taking advantage of this prime fishing spot. Hanging her head over the side of the boards so her hair could drip-dry, she grinned at the person. ”Hi there. Do I know you?” A standard greeting for this sixteen-year-old; to her, everyone was a stranger when she couldn’t recognize anyone by their face alone.