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Graham rolled up in his never-clean, white 4Runner. I saw him messing with fishing gear under the hatchback and immediately I knew he wanted to go fishing. I ran around, frantically trying to get ready as he walked up to the door. Graham knows he’s always welcome in my home so he walked in and said “Hey buddy, wanna go fishin’?” I didn’t have to say a word. We exchanged a look and grinned ear to ear at each other. I was so excited I didn’t even go inside to pee. I just took a leak behind the trees and ran for the car. Off we went. The fields raced by as we rumbled down the blacktop. Graham pointed out the birds on the telephone poles. He seems particularly interested in the big ones, the hawks. Sometimes he brings those home and we go hunting with them. That’s one of my favorite things to do. But today, it’s fishing.
Graham always takes forever to get the rods rigged up, so I took a lap around the pond, scouting it out. Lots of little fish scampered away as my shadow passed the water. Finally, Graham’s ready. He started waving his fly rod back and forth. It’s beautiful to watch. For some reason, it makes me want to chase the fly and jump out into the water but I’m too chicken. I’ll stand half-submerged though. The mud feels weird squelched between my toes. “Oh, ****” I hear Graham mutter under his breath. He’s excited. It must be big. It’s not jumping though. I like the ones that jump. This one pulls, and pulls, and pulls. Here it comes. I can see the wave. “Get back!” Graham snaps at me. I just want to see what it is. Gosh, it’s as big as me. Graham really is a fine fisherman. He’s definitely my favorite fisherman. I might be biased though, since he takes me all the time. Graham takes a picture of the fish. I smile because I know I’m in the background. We caught a few more that day but that was the biggest.
The sun went down and it’s almost dark. I started edging my way to the car and Graham got the hint. I ran for the car and waited for him to unlock my door. I about fell asleep on the way home. When we got home I felt a little burst of energy and went around the yard to see if there were any rabbits. I could smell where they had been, but none here now; dang. Graham walked into the house with me and I crawled straight into bed. I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I wonder if we’ll go again tomorrow. What a great day.