Thinking of her decisions, Katie decided to head to the pier where the fisherman was at. Even though there was a group of people at the beach, she decided to do it later. After all, she wanted to see if the changes work on guys as well. So she did a quick skip to the pier, as she can’t wait to try the ring out on more people.
Down at the pier, the fisherman, who was Jake, was sitting near the edge of the pier on his beach chair as he was trying to get a catch. Getting a new worm into his hook, she tossed the rod out and the line flew into the sea. Placing it on the stand, he sat back and picked up a book started to read.
Things have been boring lately and Jake needed to kick back and relax, as there was nothing to do at the auto shop he works on. But this is the best he could do to relax. The beach was pretty much the closest thing he has as he grew up on this beach. Ever since he was a little kid, he always enjoy going down there. Always playing in the beach with the other kids and growing up surfing and playing sports. Now, it’s just fishing and relaxing. He just wish that he can be a kid again, so he can play in the sand just like old times. But that’s just a little pipe dream, as he knows that he can’t go back to the way things were. Course; what he didn’t know is that his wish would soon be answered when he heard a young voice from close by.
“Hey mister! Catch anything?”
Jake heard them and looked down to see a young girl of ten looking at him with a smile. Seeing this, he shrugged it off and said, “Nope. Nothing to catch. Not much of sea life goes around here lately. Just the little guppies and the like. You wish to join me?”
Katie smiled warmly and said, “Got nothing else to do. My name of Katie! What’s yours mister?”
“Jake.” He said as he asked another question, “Exactly how old are you young missy?”
Katie turned to him while crossing her legs in an Indian stance. “I’m ten.” She answered.
“Don’t you think you should be in school by now?”
“No.” she responded, “I’m on Spring Break today and decided to head on down to the beach.”
“By yourself?!” he asked in shock.
Katie shook her head and said back to him, “No. I’m with my big sister, Kellie. She’s with her friends getting new swimsuits.”
“And she let you go to the beach by yourself?” he kept asking, “You are too young to be by yourself on this beach.”
Katie made a pout and said back to him, “Hey! I’m ten years old! I’m old enough to take care of myself.”
Jake sighed and decided to leave it at that. After all, there’s no one else on this beach besides him and two couples grouped together on the sand. So there isn’t much trouble to go around. “Whatever you say, missy.” He said back to her while showing her the rod. “Well, while you’re here, do you know how to fish?”
Katie was silent before she shook her said and said, “No… I don’t think so…”
Jake smiled and asked, “Why don’t I teach you some things. It’s not that hard, once you get use to it.”
Katie looked to him and had to think of it. But in reality, she was looking at Jake entirely and wondered what to do with him. Looking at him, she could tell that Jake really let go. At forty-five years of age, he was a middle age man with muscle that were once tones and hard, but had now become soft with a bit of flab. His stomach has a bear gut that would resemble that of Santa Claus with his pecs have nothing but flab on him. His face was in much worse shape and he had wrinkles on his eyes and mouth, circles around his eyes and a salt and pepper beard on his face. His black hair had a gray ring around it and he was completely bald on top of his head. Long story short, Jake was past his prime.
Katie finished looking and could tell that she has a lot of work to do. Of course, she need to be comfortable with him before changing his age a bit. So she smiled and answered back, “Sure thing! I got nothing else better to do anyways.”
Jake smiled and said, “All right! Let’s get started.”
So the fisherman started to show Katie how to fish properly, showing her how the rod works, the bait she needed, how to latch the bait, and how far of a trajectory she need to take. “Now with a good swing, you can get enough leverage to gather as many fish as possible.” he said, getting her ready. “You ready?”
Katie has everything set up and turned to him saying, “I’m set.”
“Good. Now throw the hook!” he said to her.
She nodded as she started to wind back and thrust the rod forward, letting the hook flying into the air and landed into the sea. Once the hook was in the water, Katie was excited and said, “I did it! Now what?”
Jake soon laid back and said, “Now, we just sit back and wait for something to bite.” Katie heard him and sighed, knowing that this day was going to get boring. So she sat cross-legged and waited for a fish to get the bait.
As she was waiting, she decided to get to know him better. So she looked to him and asked, “Hey Jake? Do you always like to go to the beach?”
Jake looked to her and gave a breather. “Well yes, I do.” He said to her, “I use to live close to here, so I spend so much time in the beach since I was young.”
“Oh…?” she started to get intrigued, “How so…?”
Jake gave it some thought and explained his story, “Let’s see… When I was your age, my family comes to the beach every spring and summer. I always love to play in the sand and the seawater non-stop. Course, when I was growing into my teens, my body was disposed enough to get into sports around here. From volleyball to surfing, I was really athletic. Then when I was in my twenties, I was one hot stud. You should’ve seen me with a body of a male super model. Those pecs, the six pack abs, my gluts, I was quite a lady’s man. Course, when I hit my thirties, I pretty much lost everything. Guess working at my dad’s auto shop should really to a number on you over the years. Guess that’s the reason why I never had a girl before.”
Katie heard him and was shocked by the news. “Really?” she said in shock, “You never had a girlfriend before.”
Jake chuckled and continued, “Yeah… Bet you didn’t expect that. I guess I never had much of a chance hanging out with the girls, giving that I was busy with so many things. When you work at your dad’s business like me, you never had the time to have a relationship with any of the girls. Maybe if I were younger, I would’ve had a chance in love. But it is a pipe dream as I don’t think there would be a wish big enough to pull something like that.”
Katie heard that smiled to herself. After hearing his life story, she knew what she could do to him. With the ring on her finger, she has many possibilities to pull off. She can make Jake younger, whether it be in his twenties for her now sister to date, in his teens so he can get a fresh start, or the same age as Katie to become friends. She could even aged to match the age she wants Jack could be, so she could be his girlfriend. Or if she wants, to be the same age as Jake is in. Sure that would mean that she would be middle age like him, but he does need some company. After all, fishing with him seems really relaxing.
Speaking of which, the hook dipped through the water as something caught it. Jake saw this and told Katie, “Looks like you caught something! Reel it in!”
Katie turned to see the hook disappearing and quickly reeled it back to get her catch. She tried to pull back with all her might as the catch was struggling to escape. After the struggler, Katie managed to reel the hook back and she managed to bring up a trout from the sea. Jake saw this and was pleased with that. “Wow… A Rainbow Trout.” He said with amazement. “Not bad for your first catch. Just toss it into the ice box to keep it fresh.”
Katie nodded as she placed the fish into the box Jake opened. Once she let the fish go, Jake closed the icebox and was pleased with what she did. “You did a good job with getting your first fish Katie. Maybe you might grow up to be a fisher like me some day. Too bad that I would only meet you just this once. Wish I could hang out with you a bit more.”
Katie heard him and knew that it was now time to set up her own wish with the ring on her finger. Rubbing her ring, she started by saying, “Oh, I had fun too Jake. Even though fishing was boring, at least I enjoyed myself with you around. I just wish that…”