“Ha!  That’s my third one!”  Belle grinned as she held the fish up for her father to see.  She tossed it into the cooler, ignoring the much larger fish her father had caught.  She picked up her lemonade and took a deep, cool drink of it.  Then she rebaited her hook.<br/><br/>They sat there, in the quiet, lines in the water.  Water always had a hypnotic effect on her and she let her mind wander idly.  Of course, within seconds she was thinking of Diego.  She could not see the Mona Lisa smile on her face.  It was only when she felt her arms starting to burn that she shook herself out of her daydreaming.<br/><br/>She stretched, then got up.  “Would you hold my rod, Daddy?  I need to powder my nose.”  She went below to the latrine, then walked to her room for more suntan lotion for her arms.  The bottle was empty.  She decided to check her father’s room for a bottle.<br/><br/>She opened his top dresser drawers and rifled through playing cards, cuff links, aloe vera sunburn lotion, Tic Tacs, then near the back of the drawer her hand touched cold metal.  She grabbed hold and pulled out a pistol.  She stared at it.  She knew nothing about guns, so she didn’t have a clue what kind it was, but she did know it was dangerous.  She slowly put it back in the drawer, then gently closed it.  She stood there and stared for a moment.  Then shook her head.<br/><br/><em>Why am I surprised?  There have always been radical groups who would kidnap my father or kill him.  I’ve lived with that most of my life.</em><br/><br/>But seeing this gun, in her father’s drawer, really drove it home to her.  She thought of the beating he had taken.  She felt shivers run up her spine.  She waited a few minutes until she got herself together.<br/><br/>She returned to her father’s side.  “Catch anything while I was gone?  You didn’t take one off my line and call it yours did you?”  She laughed.  “Just kidding, Daddy!”  She hugged his shoulders, then took her rod back and sat back, relaxing.  “Isn’t this perfect? Just the two of us, relaxing, swapping fish tales,” she laughed, “getting sunburned.”<br/><br/><br/>