DOCKYARD

A heated kettle whistled loudly in the strait Kitchen of Max's apartment soon after daybreak, alerting Max that it was ready to be served and the owner swiftly responded to the call when he dashed into the Kitchen to with his pajamas which he had worn during the night after realizing that the robe wasn't the best nightwear to keep himself feeling the cold breeze that enveloped the four corners of his apartment building. It was only after he had woken up from sleep the next morning, that he found out that he had forgotten to close his bathroom window which was open enough for the cold to sneak into the small apartment throughout the entire night. He quickly turned off the gas to stop the outcry of the Kettle that instantly stopped whistling as soon as he did the needful. Then he took the hefty Kettle off the gas heater by the handle and dropped it beside the sink below two fry pans that were hung on a loop upside down alongside several other utensils except for the cutleries which he had kept in a little plastic container inside a cupboard erected on the wall above his head not too far from where his ceramic dishes and hard brittle plates were arrayed in one section of the lengthen black cupboard made of furnished steel beneath its plastic skin that was enclosed at the front with a glass opener.

Beside the door, was an old refrigerator where he took some stored peanut butter in a little jar together with some slices of bread which he had wrapped inside a transparent cellophane to prevent it from getting frozen completely but his plan to safeguard the peanut butter did not work, only the bread was still in tact after he took them out of the fridge and found the butter almost completely frozen.

"Damn! There's not enough gas to heat this thing up but anyway, I still have to try to heat it a little bit",

He muttered to himself peering at the jar which he held slightly above his head . Then he took the bread before placing it on top of the fridge and closed the lid of the refrigerator. Afterwards, he walked back to the gas cooker where he had the peanut butter still frozen in the jar, placed carefully inside a small brittle white pot of Italian design containing little residue of water.

He carefully arranged the small pot on top of the gas cooker and turned on the fire to get the cold jar of peanut butter warmed up.

Whilst he was taking a look inside the pot quite unaware of the presence of someone's esle standing behind him, a familiar voice that came from the unexpected intruder compelled him to turn around in order to see who said something which he heard.

"It seems to me that you are up early",

The voice said, which sounded a bit hoasre to Max who felt a bit startled to hear Jeremy's voice unexpectedly.

"You almost scared me. how long have you been standing there?",

"Huh... Not quite long enough to see you take that jar from the refrigerator",

Jeremy replied looking squarely at Max's face which turned sour when his old friend noticed that he was still looking wretched in his worn out outfit that he wore and slept on throughout the whole night while the bandages on his face were still intact to cover much of the bruises especially on his broken nose though some of his injuries left uncovered were still yet to heal and had a turned to mild scars on his face.

"Hmm. Go wash up in the bathroom and call me when you're done, you got that?",

"Absolutely. But you look as if you are in an hurry to leave. Do you have anywhere in mind that you plan to be today?",

"The docks",

"To do what? Don't tell you're still....",

Jeremy responded and dropped off his jaw in a fit of surprise after recalling Max old habit of paying visits to the docks while Max felt a sudden flush of nervous when he realized that Jeremy had figured out what he wanted to do at the docks in the early hours of the morning though not all of his plans were known to his old buddy.

"None of your concern. You better go get a shower right now or else, I'm gonna have to leave you behind lock doors",

Max threatened, turning his back on Jeremy to take another glance at the frozen jar of peanut butter which had eventually succumbed to the heat and was already melting away like he had hoped the entire time the two fellas were talking to each other as a result of the hot temperature caused by the fire that seemed to melt down the solid icy state of the peanut butter into liquid matter.

"Alright, fine. Grumpy old man",

Jeremy grudgingly obeyed and left Max alone in the Kitchen to prepare breakfast which soon became ready for both of them in the next hour but the two men had to properly get themselves dressed for the trip first before sitting down at the dining table to have their first meal for day. Max had his pajamas changed into a white T-shirt covered by a hefty black jacket that swallowed his torso completely including his hands and wore a black trousers while Jeremy had no choice but to put on an oversized shorts and a green T-shirt belonging to Max, which stuck tightly to his torso without giving him enough space for him to move his arms more freely around than usual.

Before departing from the apartment, Max had his fishing gear and some tight ropes carefully checked out after he and his guests were done eating the tasty grub he had preserved and prepared for them to feast upon. Then they both left the apartment thoroughly tidied from the living room to other compartment in the interior aspect of his house. Two hours later, they found themselves strolling on a long pier at the docks where a large number of trawlers of different sizes including some fancy yachts were anchored on both sides of the pier since their affluent owners had left it ebbing softly on the slow current of the ocean alongside the other fishing vessels under the profound heat since the sunny weather had started becoming more intense. Max kept peering at the distant horizon where he could barely make out three seagulls surfing in the bare sky way high above the ocean bed under the hot sun as he walked along the narrow wooden pier alongside Jeremy whose mind had trailed off elsewhere rather than where they were going.

"I feel stuck",

Jeremy mumbled to himself, breaking the silence which had dawn on them ever since they arrived at the dock in a taxi cab.

"What's making you to feel stuck?",

Max questioned after he overheard Jeremy's remark about himself.

"This damn shirt of yours, maen. I can't believe you still kept this shirt I gave as a birthday gift eight years ago",

"I really didn't see the need of discarding it since then but Maybe I will once we are done with what we came for",

"And what would that be?",

"You pretend as if you have forgotten our usual fishing trip in the old Tyranus many years back",

Jeremy suddenly got curious and stopped walking at once immediately after his memories of them fishing in the middle of the ocean with barely enough surviving gears to safeguard them from harm, came back to him.

"Oh no, shit. Is that what this is all about, Max?",

"Pretty sure, yeah",

"Oh my goodness, don't tell me you still ride that old Godamn boat",

"Actually, I do and that's where we are headed right now",

"You really act like an old man and yet you are just twenty five",

"Can't help it, dude. Ever since you left with that cash which was supposed to set our lives straight in the city, that old boat has been the only thing earning me some cash to keep the landlord at my house off my back",

Max replied as they came close to where he had anchored the boat , on the left side of the pier facing the ocean, and tied it up to a stake using a rope to safeguard the trawler from getting stolen as it situate amidst several other similar vessels that were quite bigger and more refined than the old Tyranus, the name his father had given to the fishing vessel during the time when he was still actively working as a tour guide for visiting tourists under a private research agency before unforeseen unfortunate circumstances made him lose the job and inevitably ended up here in the remote region of Geneva.

"Then sell it off and look for something else to do with the cash. Like an investment or a new business plan",

"I can't afford to sell it, Jeremy. Who knows what will happen to me in the future if things don't get to work out like you said after it gets sold?",

Max asked in his defense as he stride softly on the bridge and adjusting the ropes which he carried on his left shoulder while the other hand held his fishing rod.

" I understand what you mean but how much will you get from catching fishes all year long with this little fishing line that looks old as well?",

"Don't worry about this fishing line. Most of the bigger ones are already waiting for us in the boat",

Max replied feeling undeterred by Jeremy's arguments.

"Really? Then who's gonna use this?",

"You are",

Max retorted as they approach the boat leaving Jeremy in utter surprise since he didn't plan to take a fishing role in Max's desire to capture a tuna like he did few years back. Before Jeremy could say anything to dissuade the fisherman from having a fishing partner, Max jumped into the boat and dropped off the fishing gears on the deck of the boat. Then he swiftly began to untie the rope that he had tied to the stake whilst Jeremy remained standing on the pier peering at him without joining in. Unknown to him, some fellows whom knew him and who had been chattering with a good number of old fishermen spotted him from afar, at the other end of the narrow pier where other boats also crowed the vicinity. At first, one of them saw him walking beside Max in the strange outfit and wasn't quite sure it was him until they came a bit closer enough for him to recognize his familiar face. The man didn't say anything about it when his doubts about Jeremy were confirmed as soon as Jeremy stood watching Max remove the huge rope off the stake and surreptitiously nudged his companion on the shoulder with his elbow to see what was going on right now in front of them without those whom they were talking to knowing about it. His partner obeyed and followed his gaze only to beheld Jeremy climbing the boat to join Max on board and to haul the rope onto the deck after rolling it up together.

"Isn't that Jerry?",

The man's partner asked after getting a good recognition of the culprit who had run off with his boss's ill-gotten money. He deepen his gaze at the center of attraction regardless of the fact that one of his eyes was a bit impaired by a deep cut slightly below his eyelids, now a scar of a forgotten machete fight with local gangsters that his sight almost became handicapped.

"I guess so, Marcus. The boss won't be pleased to hear that Jeremy's back in town",

"Of course, he won't be happy about it. After all, that thief ran off with his money",

"And now he's back with that the same fellow whom I believe must be an accomplice to the theft",

The man said peering intently at the two oblivious men who were now chasing away some of the seagulls that were trying to get a bite at the lifebait Max brought out from a container at the left flank of the deck.

"Why do you think he came back here after six years?",

"I don't know but there's only one way to find out if he's really indeed sticking around long enough for us to get a hold of him",

"I get your point. Why don't we tell the boss first before he falls into our hands?",

The man questioned looking indignantly at Marcus.

"We'll let him know about it but first, we need to be sure that Jeremy Garcia is really back in town. For now, we leave him be. Let's go",

Marcus ordered and began to leave followed by the other man and some group of fishermen who were eager to get some information from the two men concerning their license to carry out fishing activities in the side of the ocean without any interference.

As for Max, his eyes coincidentally caught sight of the two men walking away with a bunch of old fellows following behind them as he was searching for the fishing rod he had dropped earlier while Jeremy had gone to the front part of the boat to get a good view of the ocean but he could hardly make out their face since all he could see was their backs instead of their faces. Seeking no further action to find out who they were, Max shrugged and went back to finding the rod which he did seven minutes later before heading to where the engine was and turned it on as soon as he got there while Jeremy returned from where he stood at the front of the fishing vessel a little later before Max steered the old Tyranus out to sea.