– continued from last week’s episode –

Sally regaled Rusty with adventurous tales from Patagonia to the Northwest Territories as he sat in the tattoo artist’s chair… The gun hummed as it moved, creatively painting a northern pike to life on his forearm.

Nearing completion, she approached the sketching wizard, bent to his available ear, and whispered a request to complete the artistry herself. “Hey lady, that’s up to you and this dude,” was the response.

Flathers sat motionless… He was mesmerized like a fish trailing a lure to a boat. “Rusty, do you trust me?”  And with that…  Just below the once gaudy fishing scar, brought to life with the new painting of a radiant fish, she penned this line: “Chicks dig guys with fishing scars, forever SS.”

Officially, a love affair spawned. Their courtship made high society news with a front-page feature in the Low Tide Sportfishing Review.  Rusty Flathers, amateur status angler, had somehow accomplished the impossible. He had landed outdoor fashion model Sally Squatsnfishes, and the buzz in the fishing industry was palatable.

The rancid smell of fish slime inside the ice shanty brought Rusty back to conscientiousness. He pressed the speed dial number that would connect him to Sally’s cell. Her phone rang twice.

She answered on the third ring…

– To be continued –

– continued from last week’s episode –

Would she take the mobile phone call? Rusty Flathers and Sally Squatsnfishes had originally met in an online fishing chat group while he was recovering from the northern pike slime infection. Their shared interest in all things piscatorial immediately lit a spark that continues to burn bright (more so in Rusty’s eyes).

Memorable first dates take on many forms. For this get-together the two would meet on the corner of Gillnet Avenue and 22^nd Street. Rusty had made reservations at the Fresh Fin Tattoo Parlor where they served frosty mugs of beer, along with fish and chips.

With the pike infection in remission, Rusty wanted to ink a miniature replica of the northern fish over top of the visually affected area. What he had not planned on… Was Sally being drop dead gorgeous.

Meeting on the corner outside the shop her auburn hair flowed like the dorsal fin of a quill backed carp sucker. Exchanging pleasantries, he was immediately mesmerized by her eyes that were a shade of golden dorado. Entering the building she moved with the grace of a great Alaskan salmon finding its way upstream.  Flathers was hooked.  She was truly a trophy catch for a deserving fisherman.

At first the talk was small, and the beer was cold.

– to be continued –

– continued from last week’s episode –

Sally’s ancestral background was loaded with fishing accolades dating back three generations to her great great grandmother Molva Squatsnfishes.  During the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin…  Molva was a participant in the once famed High Hook Setting Competition.  She took a bronze medal in the event and later returned to the States to organize her own private fishing academy in upstate New York.

This lineage of high-hook-setting was eventually passed down to Sally herself.  A lightning bolt technique: up on your toes, arms arcing above your head, rod tip scratching the roof of the ice fishing shanty.  When properly performed it was a masterful scene of speed and grace.

Rusty Flather’s now blinked twice.  He had Sally’s cell phone number on his speed dial.  His current situation inside the ice fishing house demanded immediate action.

-to be continued-

– continued from last week’s episode –