Rain Cuisine

Rain squall hit one afternoon a few weeks ago and shut everyone down for a few hours. When the sea is bad enough, all you can really do is hang on and you think that’d be enough for Dad but it wasn’t. He insisted we do Pen Patrol in the rain. “What’s the difference? You’re getting wet anyway.”

Thanks, Dad.

Underwater, the sound of boats thumping against each other is endless. Behind that is the dock system creaking and groaning as it gets shoved in weird directions. Underneath all the other sounds is the gentle hiss of rain hitting the water. It would almost peaceful if I wasn’t scared white about being crushed against some pontoons or something – the quality of my work is directly proportional to my fear of being killed while doing so. Dad pretended not to notice how quickly I finished…I think he was cold, too.

Bad weather on the sea is a fact of life and some people are better at coping with it than others. Some forget to tie their equipment down and it either blows overboard or the boat rolls and it goes over the side. Hopefully it doesn’t take your nets out along with it; otherwise you can find yourself missing a catch it took you two or three months to build.
After we were done and into some dry clothes, we headed to B-Ring where the Food Court is. Most of the stalls were closed but Uncle Chong’s Social Aid and Pleasure Club was doing a brisk business. He’d tarped off his outdoor dining area and it looked like half of the Colony showed up for dinner. Uncle Chong's place closed down after the Crash and I posted his Rain Pho recipe because I don't know when I'll be tasting his again. You might find it worth trying (if you can catch enough rain, that is). I'd give anything to be eating with my Dad again right now.