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A'ite....here ya'll go. And each and every one of you need to say something nice to CN. If it weren't for her, y'all'd be waiting to next week for another installment.
Wannabe...
Chapter 17
Billy couldn’t quit smiling the entire trip home. “Mr. Baker, I can’t believe you got me a boat”. “I didn’t get you a boat Billy, I’m expecting you to earn it. There’s a lot of stuff we need to do around your house and I’m expecting you to help me with it. That and I want those fishing reports to keep coming. But now, don’t get ahead of yourself. We’ve got some stuff to do to the boat too and some things I’ll need to show you before you get turned loose with it.” “Oh, you can’t count on me Mr. Baker.”
They drove on with Billy grinning ear to ear and Mr. Baker telling fishing stories. They were almost home when Billy remembered the box Mr. Make Do had given him. He slid it into his lap and pulled the carboard flaps on it and fished around in there to see what it was. “Billy, that was a good thing you did back there.” “No better than he did for me Mr. Baker”. The box was crammed full of stuff. Some of it looked useful, some not so much. A bunch of hooks and corks. Some miscellaneous lead of a bunch of sizes all chalky from age. Some spools of line. Some plastic jig skirts that were kind of faded. And another smaller box inside. “What are these Mr. Baker?” He held up it up to show Mr. Baker as he drove along. Mr. Baker slowed the truck and rode the breaks when he reached for it. “Let me see that Billy.” He studied it while bringing the truck almost to a stop. “Billy, that’s an old Hellbender. Probably the best trolling plug they ever made. As good of shape as this on is in, It’s probably worth $15 or so.” “Really? Well, there’s several of ‘em in here and a bunch more pretty close to it” Mr. Baker pulled the truck over. “Let me see that box”. Mr. Baker fished around in there for a bit. “Billy, this box is chuck full of vintage wooden crankbaits. Hellbenders, Flatfish, some South Bend stuff, here’s some Heddon River Runts.…..and look, you’ve even got 2 Creek Chubs here. You ought to put them up, they could be worth a bunch of money.” And he handed the box back to him and Billy looked at ‘em some more and thought about it. “Mr. Baker, will you help me pick the good ones out? I’ll put them back and save them, but I want to use some of them. I don’t think Mr. Make Do would want me to just hide all of them in a closet.” “You’re probably right Billy. Sure, I’ll help you with it. Maybe we could find a display case for the rest of ‘em.” “But how do you fish with them?” “I’ll help you with that too Billy”.
They made the last 2 miles and backed the truck up to Billy’s carport. Mr. Baker had Billy go get the saw horses from his garage and they put Billy’s new boat on top of them leaving enough room for his Mom’s car. They put all the extras in the corner for now.
“Billy, I’m feeling a little run down. I think I’m going to go take a nap. Why don’t you load up and go fishing and stop back by this evening and let me know how it goes”. “You bet Mr. Baker. I think I’ll see if I can’t catch a few and then come back and clean this boat up a bit and check in on you later. Thank you so much.” “Don’t thank me, Billy, I’m not giving you anything. You’re gonna earn it. Besides, sometime down the road, I expect you to give it to somebody else that deserves it. Just like Mr. Make Do.” “I will Mr. Baker. I will.”
Mr. Baker made his way back to the house. He was bone tired from the little drive and all the excitement. He was supposed to get the results in two days, but judging from how tired he was, he didn’t really need the results to know what they’d say.
Billy headed for the lake. It was bright and sunny again with a little bit of wind. Pretty close to the weather he had the last time he’d done pretty well. Still, it was hard to concentrate knowing what was waiting for him back at home. He managed to hold out for 2 and half hours before it was too much for him. Still he managed 4 and one of them was pretty good, so he had his story for Mr. Baker.
He hurried back to the house and grabbed a broom, a brush, some dishwashing liquid from the kitchen and pulled the garden hose around and started cleaning. He swept and picked out all the sticks and pine straw and found at least 7 hooks half stuck under the braces. Once he had all that out, he started in with the water hose, soap and brush to get all the dust and dirt out. After an hour, it was beginning to shine like a new penny. While he cleaned, he thought about how excited his Mom was going to be to see it. But then realized, she must have already known about it, otherwise, Mr. Baker wouldn’t have taken him to get it. After rinsing it the last time, he decided to go clean up the house a little bit and start dinner for her. That was the best way he could think of to say thank you until she got home.
Thank you! 
Originally Posted by Jethro
