CATCH AND RELEASE
Finally,
the last day of school was over and
the beginning of summer vacation was here. Looking out the school bus window,
Joe started thinking and planning his unforeseen journey of future fishing days.
Getting
off the bumpy ride on the yellow school bus for a long two-block walk to his
house. He started his journey home by stumbling over a crumpled beat up red pop
can laying on the sidewalk. While kicking the can, he was thinking about when to
start the first day of summer fishing the lower
The
neighbor kid asked Joe, “Would you like to go fishing Saturday with me and my
brother? We are launching our new boat at
Joe
replied quicker than lightning, “YES!”
Running
the rest of the way home and forgetting about that old crumpled up red can, Joe
remembered he had an all weekend affair with his beloved girlfriend, Mary. It
was the first anniversary of being together, and they were starting to have nice
breakfasts Saturday mornings together.
Friday
night came and Joe sat by the phone thinking of what to tell Mary when she
calls. Letting the phone ring three
times, he finally answers the phone hoping it was not Mary. But it was her,
reminding him of tomorrow’s breakfast. In
a shameless tone of voice, Joe bluntly replied, “I’d rather go fishing.”
Mary
in a very calm voice replied, “It’s me or fishing and if its
fishing!”…….. all a sudden there was silence and a click.
Joe
looked down at the receiver understanding Mary’s anger, and whispers out loud
to himself as he hung up the phone, “Mary there is plenty of other fish in the
sea and I’m not a sucker.”
Meeting
the neighbor kid at his house to help pack, Joe told him his problem and at the
end he added “I’m sure going to miss her tonight, but, let’s go
fishing!”
Arriving
at the
The
hot sun warmed up their wind brut faces as they rigged their rods with crappie
rigs and minnows for Perch. The fresh air mixed with exhaust fumes from the new
25 H.P. Mercury and with the birds chirping a melody in the morning mist, put
Joe in a dreamy state. Being mesmerized by the rippling waves, Joe is thinking
about no more warm hugs and warm smiles from Mary and OOPS! He thinks he’s got
a bite!
The
day ended at the neighbor kids house eating the days catch and telling stories.
Having
a total of only 3 perch in the boat, the silence among them tested their
patience to catch more fish. This just put Joe in another state of mind trying
to convince himself to end this trip and get back to Mary. But that didn’t
work. He would rather be fishing. He thought, oh, well, catch ‘em and release
‘em, there are always more fish in the sea.
Finally, Joe broke the silence in the boat by saying, “Lets motor up and go to another spot, there’s got to be more fish waiting to be caught in this sea.”
THE END
Fishy says, "Always practice good
catch and release"
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