1/29/15
I’m screening your calls, Neptune. It’s been a while since you’ve dialed but all the same, I can’t come to the phone right now, too busy keeping the ground beneath me.
This is a pull most often felt by those with close ties to the water. Whether you’ve had an aquatic job or suffer from a general love of the ocean, you’re subject to hear the watery cry when close to a coastline.
This used to be a dangerous affliction when I lived in Mill Valley after my summer seasons on the Middleton. Driving over the Golden Gate was a trying task—trying not to stare out the window at the roiling current. I may have swerved out of my far right lane from time to time but overall left the Bay Area accident free.
Since living in Portland the salty calls of Neptune are heavily diluted by the slim waters of the Willamette. City runoff and water treatment doesn’t carry the same weight as a heavy ocean swell. Regardless the summer was filled with frequent dips.
Just when I thought it was safe, my salted senses fired full boar. I’m beckoned from a ferry out of Hong Kong to jump in. Sitting in the passenger seat clacking away at my keyboard, looking at my boots of Spanish leather, I feel like some sort of reverse Odysseus, having travelled the throws of landlife only to return and find myself woefully unprepared to meet the ocean.
Seeing the deck of a passing boat strewn with coiled line and purpose-oriented equipment makes the fisherman in me salivate. These sirens drive a demonic metaphor into my head – the maintenance of a deck is far superior to that of an inbox. Simple, direct, and instantly rewarding, boat work carries a man’s passion with a gentle sway. His goals kept steady by the even keel of the boat, flowing with the satisfaction of a big catch and ebbing with the disappointment of a jellyfish haul.
Part of me thinks that the best thing about fishing is the secret it holds. Talk to anybody about a 9 to 5 and they will be able to fully grasp what you do with the right questions and answers. Fishing on the other hand carries a heavy requirement of experience to truly be understood, that’s a currency that no salary can match.
Neptune, bro, I hear you. So sorry but I ain’t got on my fishing shoes.
