MEMORIES
I remember when swimming in the lake in June made you an honorary member of the Polar Bear club! My sister, the Brown's, and I would jump off the dock and climb out for as many times as long as we could stand it. The parents would ask, "Aren't you cold?" Our reply, with shivering bodies and blue lips, would always be, "No! Th th th the w w w water is w w w w warm!" By Andy Walker
I will always remember one summer evening when I was 10. I was practicing my casting off the end of the dock, just to see how far I could cast. After about twenty minutes I got a bite on my line. In the past I would cast my line for hours and never catch anything. I just enjoyed chucking the lure. As I reeled in the line I was suprised by the fight I had on my hands. It definetly wasn't a weed!
As the fish got closer I could see that it was a healthy rainbow trout! I love to eat trout, but I also have a hard time killing something so beautiful and this was a beautiful fish! I watched the fish swim at the edge of the dock for a while I made the decision to pull the hook out an let this beautiful creature go.
As I started to remove the hook from the tired trouts mouth my sister ran to the edge of the bank, saw the fish, and ran down to the beach yelling at the top of her lungs, "Andy caught a fish, Andy caught a fish!" The crowd of onlookers swelled and I knew that the fish would not be set free that day, but would become a meal. With mixed emotions I cleaned the fish and my mother cooked it. It was a lovely meal. This is one of those weird memories that sticks in the back of your throat, not sure if it was a success or a failure... It sure would be nice to catch a rainbow trout of the end of the dock again, and set it free this time.