Page 10 of Nothing Without You

Eventually, she felt like the fish was tiring. ‘I feel like it’s coming in.’

‘Keep going. You’re doing great. I think I saw it there, where the water’s clear. It’s huge.’

Suddenly, they could see it, a large silver fish that swam towards them in the waves, its final flings of freedom making them both catch their breath as it jumped high in the air before plunging below. As the fish trailed across the shallows, it wriggled and flopped in the clear water. Walking backwards up the beach, she pulled it up until it was visible on the waterline, its mouth open and its large eye staring straight at her.

‘It’s amazing,’ she said, running her hand over its shiny silver scales. ‘It’s bigger than me!’

‘It’s a mulloway, and I reckon it’s gotta be nearly six feet long. They love deep gutters. I’ve never seen one that big. It must be old.’

She looked at the fish again, the waves breaking behind it, the spray from the waves misty in the air. ‘I want to let it go.’

Chris’s eyes opened wide. ‘Really. You don’t want to eat it?’

‘No. I want to let it go. Look at it. It’s beautiful.’

He twisted his mouth. ‘It’s up to you. It’s your fish.’

‘Can you help me get the hook out of its mouth? Dad usually does it for the big fish.’

‘Are you sure about not keeping it?’

‘Yes.’

He looked up and down the beach. ‘I’ll help, if you promise not to tell anyone we let it go. I’d never hear the end of it.’

‘I promise.’

‘Run and get the folding ruler out of my creel. I’ll measure it for you first.’

‘Five foot, eight inches,’ he declared as he held the wooden ruler beside it. ‘Remember that length.’

Holding it firmly with one hand, Chris gently wiggled the hook free from its mouth. He held its large body against the sand with both hands, and she looked at the colours of green and bronze that glimmered in amongst the silver scales. The huge fish twisted, its tail kicking up sand as it fought for breath. ‘Do you want to put it back in the water?’ Chris asked. ‘It’s going to be hard to hold.’

Evie put her arms around its body and clasped her hands together. ‘Can we do it together? We’ll walk out in the water and then let it go.’

Together, they lifted the fish and waded into the water until it reached their hips. The fish squirmed as if sensing the freedom of the depths below. Evie examined it closely, her fingers tracing its shiny scales. ‘That was amazing!’ she exclaimed, meeting the fish's gaze with a smile.

With care, they lowered it back into the water. As it neared the surface, it sprang from their grasp, disappearing into the depths in a shimmer of silver. A fleeting blur darted through the clear water, vanishing towards the deeper expanse. Only ripples remained, and they stood silently, scanning the surface for any hint of its existence. Birds swooped and dove, while waves crashed, obscuring what lay beneath. Chris broke the quiet, his voice filled with awe. ‘I’ve never released a fish like that before. But it felt... incredible.’

‘I knew it would.’

‘What now?’ he asked.

She grinned at him. ‘It’s a competition. Catch and release. See if you can get a bigger one.’

Standing side by side, they spent the next two hours fishing. When the pipis looked like they were running out, Chris gathered more and filled her bucket. Between them, as well as the mulloway, they caught four bream and two dart. They were even, but she was the overall winner today, with her catch and release fish.

Evie felt like she was really on holiday now. The fishing was what she loved the most, and now she was with someone else who loved it also. ‘We’ll tally up the fish count at the end of the holiday. I have a book I write in, and I’ll keep a record of who catches what,’ she told Chris.

By the time the two girls came back from their walk, Chris and Evie were talking and laughing like they had been friends for ages. She even mentioned that she remembered him from her first day of school. ‘You poked your tongue out at me. Standing next to Mrs Montrose and holding a list of students. It was you.’

He looked bashful. ‘It was me, and I remember you because of your long hair and black shoes.’ He laughed. ‘I do remember, and also I knew who you were even after that because your father sold us a vacuum cleaner, and I saw you in his shop.’

‘Oh, I never saw you.’

‘I was with Mum and she was cranky with your dad because something wasn’t right with the vacuum.’ He sighed. ‘She gets mad when things don’t work.’

Evie laughed. ‘Oh, he’s used to that. Don’t work in a shop, he tells me.’

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