A Man's Job (A Deadliest Catch Fan Fiction)

Chapter Three

Video explains the life of a greenhorn in the eyes of Captain Keith Colburn of the Wizard

~COPYRIGHT 2014~

Early in the morning, everyone was woken up by the sound of an air horn blowing. Rubbing her eyes, Jacyn got out of bed and headed into the small kitchen area. Travis was already standing there making a hardy breakfast for the tiring day ahead.

"Good morning everybody!" Josh chirped, coming down from the wheelhouse with Casey in tow. "Ready for the first season back?"

"Hell yeah!" they all cheered with smiles on their faces.

A few minutes later, Travis lay the breakfast out on the table and everybody chowed down. After, Casey and Josh headed up to the wheelhouse to start the boat up and get ready to pull out of the harbor. Everybody else geared up in their fishing equipment and headed out on the deck to prepare.

As they pulled out of the harbor, Jake Jolibois, Travis and Zack spent time briefing the greenhorns; Jacyn, Tim and Cody. The three of them began by grinding up herring to make the bait. Then they began making the bags of bait that they would later place in the pots. There was never a dull moment, especially when they came to the spot that Casey and Josh chose together to fish.

Jacyn, Cody and Tim took turns with the jobs they had to do as they threw the pots in the water. One would run over and get the bait, jump into the pot and hook it up. Another would throw the line over the boat and the buoys. The other would remain making bait.

After setting multiple strings, Josh called Jacyn up to the wheelhouse. By time she got up there, her body was aching and she was breathing heavily.

"Can I help you big brother? I have work to do," she said, huffing and puffing.

He grinned and came over to her, wrapping her in an embrace, not caring about her being soaking wet.

"You're doing a great job out there. Keep it up," he told her.

"Seriously? You brought me up here just to say that? Josh, I can't just leave Cody and Tim to do it by themselves! Now, goodbye," she said, running down the stairs. "And thanks by the way! Love you!"

Casey laughed and looked at Josh. "You have such a soft spot for that girl," he observed. "But you're right, she's doing a great job for her first day of crab fishing. I'm surprised to say the least."

"I knew she'd surprise us all," Josh responded. "She always does."

"Let's just see how she battles the exhaustion. We have a quota. There is no time for slacking off. Especially in opilio season. It's too dangerous to slack off with all of the ice."

"She's not going to slack off, Casey. I know my sister. And so do you."

"I might've known your sister for a long time, but people are different when they are put under pressure and ordered to do hard work. For all you know, she's going to give up."

"Casey, I love you man, but if you don't stop dogging my sister, I'm going to kick your ass. Jacyn will not give up. I know her."

"Whatever you say, Josh. I'm just saying that anything's possible."

Josh rolled his eyes and kept his comment to himself, continuing to learn the points of being a captain.

A few days later, the entire crew was exhausted but they had the tanks filled with crab. They were finished with the first trip out. They could get some rest while the boat was heading back to the harbor but once they got there, they had work to do. That included emptying the tanks and sending them out to be weighed, etc. There would be one day rest and then they'd head back out onto the Bering Sea.

Jacyn shucked herself of her fishing gear and hung it up to dry. Without a word to anyone, she headed into her bunk room that she shared with Josh and curled up in a ball in her bed, passing out right away.

Josh headed down into the cabin to congratulate Jacyn but what he found was his baby sister sound asleep in her bed, her mouth wide open, small snores escaping. He chuckled and headed back upstairs where Casey was manning the wheel.

"Hey, I need to talk to you about something man," Casey said when she spotted Josh.

"Sure, what is it?" he asked, taking a seat in the chair across the room.

"We were a little crowded on this trip. I'm thinking that three greenhorns is a bit much for this boat."

"Dude, you're just trying to get my sister off the boat. Get the hell out of here."

"No, I'm being completely freaking serious. She did a good job but it was a bit crazy out on deck with three greenhorns. It can be a bit clumsy out there and we don't need clumsiness in opie season. We're going to need to get rid of one of them and it's only fair if we get rid of Jacyn. She was the last one to sign up to be on crew," he told Josh.

"Man, I can't do that to her! She begged me, cried even, to come out on the boat and fish this season! I can't just kick her off. It'll break her heart," Josh explained.

Casey paused and took a moment to think. Rubbing his chin with two fingers, he tried to think of a solution. Then an idea popped into his head.

"She won't have to stop fishing this season. What if we just found her another spot?" he suggested.

"Another spot? Hell no, I ain't letting her on another boat! If I'm not watching her, no one is."

"Come on, the Time Bandit is short on deckhands. Eddie Jr. and Sr. got hurt from the ice and you know that Neal doesn't really go out on deck. They don't have a greenhorn. That'd be a good boat for her to join. Johnathan and Andy like her and she's close with Scott, so it's perfect."

"Andy is completely against women being crab fishers. He doesn't think that they are cut out for the job. So I highly doubt that he'd want her on the boat."

"Let's give him a call then," Casey proposed.

Josh thought about it for a moment and figured that it wouldn't hurt to give the skippers a call. Picking up the phone, he dialed the Time Bandit's number.

"Time Bandit," Johnathan's voice echoed through the receiver.

"Hey John, it's Josh from the Cornelia Marie," he replied.

"Hey man, what do you need?"

"I need to ask you a humungous favor," Josh confessed.

"Depends what it is. But do continue."

"Things are getting pretty crazy over here on this boat with three greenhorns and I know that you are a little short on people cause of Jr. and Sr.'s injuries. I was sort of hoping that you'd be able to help us out and take one of our greenhorns off of our hands," he spoke smoothly into the phone.

"Well, sure! Why the hell not?" Johnathan responded enthusiastically.

"Awesome. You have no idea how much this is going to help. I'll catch up with ya at the Harbor and introduce you to your newest greenhorn then. Thanks again, John."

"No problem, kid. Talk to you later. Be safe on the trip back home."

They hung up and Casey grinned at him.

"Was it really that hard?" he wondered, eyebrows raised.

"No, but he doesn't know that he's getting my sister and I have a feeling that Andy isn't going to be very happy about it," Josh said.

"We'll just have to wait and see what happens. I'm sure they'll be fine with it. They can't say no to her. They've adored her since she was a child. You just watch and see how Andy turns into mush with a small pout from her. Jacyn has them in the palm of her hand."

Josh laughed and sat back down in his seat across the room. They'd just have to wait and see what happened back at the Harbor.

~COPYRIGHT 2014~