Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Whatever Floats



Some days it pays to go fishing, or crabbing, or sitting on the dock, just gazing. I miss those days when I had more time to sit, ponder, and fish. I need more time to relax and enjoy life. This isn't a dress rehearsal, unless I can reincarnate. In which case, I want to come back as a pier post. I can sit all day and gaze out over the water. No one would judge me when I spend time lost in my daydreams. I will conjure up pirate ships, watch endless sunrises, and sunsets. The worst that will happen to me is a boat will bump into me or children carve their initials into my side.

I know. I will come back as a fish, deftly dodging the angler's hook. I can see it now. Playfully nudging her transparent fishing line, I tease this fisher out of her daydreams. She stirs a bit in her canvassed folding chair. After a hard whap on the string with my tail, she screams with delight, "I got one! I got one!" Swiftly yanking her pole upwards, to set the hook, she frowns. The string is limp and lifeless. 

No, I got you! Snickering as only a fish could do with a few released bubbles from my mouth; I wait until she sits down again and wanders away in thought.

Initiating the slow tease again, I know she is wary now. It won’t be easy enticing her out of her daydream and back to this line I now lovingly caress with my fin. I nibble at the colorful small toy at the end of the line, until she stands up. Now I have her full attention. I continue the tease; watching her stand motionless above the water. I nibble some more and she doesn’t move. Again, not a stir from her. I am bored! One more time, I pull the toy with my teeth. I start to laugh as I watch her body jerk; her hands bring the pole straight up. Fooled her again! 

What the? A tug on my cheek lurches me forward in the water as a sharp jolt of pain shoots up into my brain. Ugh, she got me! She got me! 

I hear her snickering, as I become air born. “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, not this time.”

Maybe I'll come back as a boat, and just float.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, I want to come back as a post too. Maybe a fence post in someone's lovingly tended garden.

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