Ya'll thought I'd forgotten didncha.

Chapter 13.

Mr. Baker put away the tools and went in the house. He was surprised he wasn’t any more tired than he was. He kissed Ann on the cheek and told her that the two things on her list could be crossed off and that it only cost $37 dollars. “But I noticed a few other things that needed to be done. The front door sticks a little and there’s a ceiling fan in a box in the hallway. Guess it needs to be installed somewhere. Judging by the looks of that A/C, I’m sure the filters need changing and somebody ought to take a look at the furnace and drain the hot water heater. Not a lot of routine maintenance has gone on over there I’m thinking.” “Thanks Billy. Was Billy any help”. William’s eyes lit up as he described all they’d done and how Billy listened and what he did. Ann pretended to listen, but studied his expressions and gestures more than the details. “Well good then. Now, you go in there in the living room and rest. I’ll bring you dinner in a little bit and we’ll turn in early. We’ve got a big day tomorrow. William’s smile faded a little. Ann noticed that too.

Billy was out of breath when he made it to the lake…..probably because he ran the whole way through the woods. Billy just assumed it was because he was carrying the big tackle bag. He didn’t want to leave any of it behind. He rigged up a cork and float and used the figure 8 knot Mr. Baker and showed him and it only took twice to get it right this time to get the 1/16th ounce jig tied on. The tube was straight just like Mr. Baker had showed him too. He carefully tripped the bail on the Shimano and eased the rod back carefully not to get tangled in the branches just behind him and threw the rig out with as much flair as a fly fisherman. He even put some body English on it when it sailed a little closer to the stump than he’d planned on, but overall, he gave his first cast an 8. The balsa quill float hit the water with a big thump, rose with the wave and settled back down but tipped over on its side. Billy didn’t think Mr. Baker mentioned that and it looked odd to him. He tripped the bail by hand, took up the slack and gave it a twitch. The cork disappeared and the fight was on. To Billy, it was a monster and the fight lasted 15 minutes. Truth was, it was only about 15 seconds. Just when he thought he had it, the fish went to the right and was headed for a stump. Billy sat down on him and horsed him the other way and pulled him up on the bank flopping. He stood there admiring his accomplishment. He couldn’t believe it. The first cast too. His smile started to fade about the time the fished quit flopping. Billy wished Mr. Baker was here to see it. He took the fish off, measured it and it was exactly 10 inches long. Billy guessed that it had to weigh at least 2 pounds. He released it and the fish took off right back where it came from. “Man, I’m going to kill ‘em today.” He said out loud as he smiled and reset for another cast.

On his next cast, he missed the stump by a mile and the float settled back in straight this time. Billy waited then reeled up the slack and bumped it back a little. Waited and bumped. Waited and bumped. All the way in to the bank. “Hmmm, maybe I did something wrong.” He tried again and again and again. Now he was really getting worried. It seemed so easy the first time. He dropped his hands to his hips and looked at his feet pondering his next move. Maybe the color….maybe the depth…..maybe a new spot……finally, he resolved to change to that pink and chartreuse Mr. Baker was talking about. He brought his rod back up and started to reel at the same time gazing towards his cork, but he didn’t see it. As he glanced back to his line as he reeled, the more he reeled, the more to the left it went. Finally, it connected that he had a fish about the time the fish realized Billy was on the other end and the fight was on. This one was much bigger than the last one judging by the pull. Billy fought to catch up and just as he did, the fish made a run to the right headed back to the stump. This time, the fish was quicker than Billy and went around and wrapped him up. As Billy pulled back, the fish surfaced just about the time it threw his jig. It was giant! Billy was sick and disgusted. Mr. Baker had told him to pay attention to everything and the biggest fish he’d ever hooked had just taught him a lesson. A lesson he should have learned the first time it was taught to him. With new focus, he managed to get the cork and jig back around the stump and straightened back out. Well….the fish just told me something. He threw by the next closest stump and let it settle and didn’t move it. 3…..5….8….11 seconds. All of the sudden, the cork completely disappeared and the fight was on again. This one was not quite as big as the first, but Billy still felt vindicated and pumped his fist after he let it go. Time to retie now. Just like Mr. Baker told him.

As the sun set, Billy’s tally was 11 Crappie, 2 nice Bluegill, 1 little Bass and a story about the one that got away. Easily the best day he’d ever had at that little lake. He considered the long walk through the woods to the house. He’d heard the stories the boys at school had told about the Big Foot that was supposed to live in those woods. At the time, he dismissed them as just a stupid story to scare the little kids, but now faced with the long walk in low light, it dawned on him that he was thinking about it. He put it out of his mind and made one last cast in hopes of just one more before he ran all the way home to tell Mr. Baker about it. The fish didn’t come, but he double timed it home just in case he was wrong about that “stupid kiddie story”.

He went between his house and Mr. Baker’s and rounded the corner to go in the garage only to see it was closed. The porch light was off too. Billy stopped in his tracks, catching his breath and remembered what Mr. Baker had to do today. He decided to wait and see him in the morning and tell him about the trip just like he’d promised.