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Chapter 5
"It's a public bar and a chair is unoccupied, "Alice said politely.
"My name's Danny," he said. "They call me Danny the Fish because I try to make a living with my small fishing boat."
"I hope you are not touting for trade. I don't think I would ever want to go fishing in a boat or otherwise," said Alice firmly. "It's always seemed a strange sport to me. People sit for hours waiting for something to happen and then when it does, they usually throw it back."
"Not me, "said Danny, "it usually goes on my plate or somebody else's."
"Well I suppose that is reassuring, "said Alice, turning back towards her drink. But the young man kept talking.
"I didn't come here to talk to you about fishing. I wanted to put the record right about Estelle. She was not the way they said. She was beautiful and saintly. She understood that fishing was about much more than just catching fish. She understood its romance. She sometimes came fishing with me and would sit for hours watching the sunset, completely motionless, letting herself become in tune with nature. When they hurt her, this village lost somebody that they could never get back again and the sadness is most of them don't even know it."
Alice took another sip of her wine.
"You say 'they hurt her'? What do you mean?"
"Just a figure of speech, I meant nothing special."
Alice looked at the young man. He had the appearance of someone who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders - and was suffering for it.
"Whereabouts do you live, Danny?"
"If you follow the river down to the bottom of the valley, you'll find a boat house. That's where I keep my boat and I live above."
"It does sound a bit romantic, "said Alice.
"It's my life and my passion. I don't want to do anything else. She understood that like very few others do."
Alice started to feel uncomfortable about this intense young man but she felt there was some more to know.
"She was married, wasn't she?"
"Only in name. Her husband was a cold fish even when he was alive. He had his interests in the City of London, some sort of investments and that is all that interested him. He didn't realise what a warm, caring and loving person his wife was. You can see his character in the house where you are staying. It was the best for her when he died. But she still loved him in spite of his coldness."
"You're talking about her as if she was a very good friend but she was a little older than you, wasn't she?"
"She was my friend. But she was too free to be any one person's special friend. She came and went, as she wanted. She was as free as the fish in the sea and she couldn't be any other way."
Alice felt somebody behind her. She turned and there was Jack, charming as always and wearing a Harris Tweed jacket and light grey trousers with an open necked shirt.
"I was just going to have something to eat and wondered if you would like to join me again."
Alice noted that he had ignored Danny completely.
"I had planned to eat here already," said Alice, "so I will join you, thanks."
She turned to Danny.
"Will you excuse me please, Danny?"
"I've got to get back to my darts," was all that Danny said and turned away.
Jack chose an alcove in a corner well away from the rest of the bar.
"You want to watch out for Danny," he said; as they sat down to consider the menu on the blackboard.
"He seemed harmless to me."
"He's a bit of a dark person. You don't often see him out during the day, although recently there was some talk of him bothering women, watching them in their gardens sunbathing. He skulks about mainly at night. You should take care in these dark lanes that you come to no harm!"
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