All Aboard Andi's Dream Ch. 04

They quickly brought the fish on to the fighting cockpit so everyone could touch the magnificent beast. The twins were ecstatic that they could finally touch a unicorn. "Honey," said Yi, "If this were a unicorn, there is no way I could touch it."

"Why?" asked Madeline almost tearfully.

Before Yi could answer, Paul called out, "Back in the water!" He had been looking at his watch and didn't want to see the beautiful sailfish out of the water for a second longer than three minutes. "Mr. Unicorn" was gently carried back to the swimming deck and lowered into the water. They maneuvered the fish along the port side of the fishing cockpit and Stan put the boat in gear and started moving forward gently. Miss Nicoletta held the bill and wagged the fish's head side to side to get the water moving across his gills. Soon he started wagging on his own. With an impatient wiggle, he broke free and swam gently alongside Andi's Dream for a few moments, then with a powerful kick of his tail, he disappeared into the blue depths.

Leaning over the transom, the twins watched the whole release. "He was really a unicorn," said Sandy.

Madeline nodded her head in agreement. "Yi was just fooling us."

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"This is Daniella G on the deep blue sea. You just saw that gnarly sailfish catch on this luxury liner. Now Brad, Marissa, and myself have been invited to dinner here on the battleship USS Andi's Dream. Normally, Brad and I will be doing the cooking."

Brad leaned into the frame. "What she means is that I'll be doing the cooking, we'll both be doing the eating."

"True enough, but tonight the top chef on this troop ship will be doing the cooking and cleaning. This is the girl that helped land that monster sailfish, Yi-jin Carlson. Yi, what are we having for dinner tonight?"

Yi opened the port fishbin and showed the day's catch. "Boss-man Dr. Paul and his buddy Don caught these monsters, and the twins and my little sister caught this nice sheepshead. The girls get the sheepshead tomorrow for dinner, the Mahi-Mahi is going home with the Athertons so..." Yi hoisted out the Wahoo and said, "I'm thinking we're going to have tacos for dinner tonight."

"TACOS!" shouted the children, and all three raced down to the cockpit to watch. Yi taught her fan club (Sandy, Madeline, Bitty, Andi, and Macy) how to clean and fillet the wahoo that Paul caught earlier in the day.

"That's my poppa's pointy fish!" Madeline informed Daniella.

Andi expected the twins to be grossed out by the process, but they were fascinated as they watched Yi make a long cut down the backbone, then slowly peal back the meat as she deftly separated the meat from the body. By the time Yi was finished with the Wahoo, the twins said that they were ready to clean their own pointy fish and they both wanted a knife set of their very own.

Once the fish was filleted and the remainders given to Mr. Unicorn for his dinner (which is what Yi told the twins as she tossed the remains of the carcass over the side) Yi made wahoo sashimi for an appetizer, with wahoo tacos and sesame seared wahoo steak with pineapple chutney for the main course.

"My Lord Yi, that was incredible," said Don Atherton after dinner, "Are you positive that you won't come to work for us?"

Yi jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward Paul, who was in the galley finishing up scrubbing a saucepan that Yi had used to prepare dinner. "Are either of you going to be doing dishes for me?"

"Oh, hell no."

"My words exactly." Yi winked and set out cups of raspberry sorbet for dessert.

After dinner, Daniella copied all the video and still pictures they shot on to Paul's 3 TB data drive, then she, her boyfriend Brad, and her sister Marissa left on the Danny G back to Florida. The sun was just below the horizon as they pulled into the channel leading to Nisi Arcadia. The twins were already asleep, and they missed watching their mom at the helm ease Andi's dream to the dock.