A FISHERMAN'S GIFT

I think I was six or I might have been younger. It was our vacation. The stream near our house had flooded, a few yards more and it would have reached our gates.

 You know what they say when life gives you lemons you make lemonade. So we decided to go fishing. I had never fished before nor have I since. Saying I was excited would be an understatement. I went with my older sister. Our neighbour, a skilled fisherman himself, was the one who supervised our fishing. He made our fishing poles. The fishing poles were a bit of a disappointment at first because I thought the poles would look like those in cartoons with the fancy weird mechanics. They were instead long wooden sticks to which a string was attached and at the end of which was a hook. But the disappointment about the poles did not affect me long as I was distracted by the tiny fish swimming aimlessly in the shallow water near my feet.

I was all set to fish. But then of course came the matter of the bait. We didn't have any, so our neighbour hooked a tiny piece of pineapple to our fishing poles. An unusual bait but I did not care the least. My sister and I started fishing. We waited and waited. Then my sister caught a fish. I lifted my pole to see what I had caught. My pineapple was gone. A fish had bested me. My disappointment might have been reflected in my face because our neighbour brought out a mug. Being the skilled fisherman he is, the mug went into the water, and out it came filled with tiny fish. He swiftly caught one in his hands and hooked it to my pole.

 It may sound very silly now but I was at the time overjoyed. A fish was caught in my hook, that's all I cared about. I remember running to my mother to show the fish I had caught along with the exciting story of how. The pole with the fish stood supported by a pillar outside my house till someone threw it out, I guess. I do not remember that as well. But the happiness I felt, I do remember.

 It's been years since our neighbour passed away and even more years since the incident but the memory will stay with me for many many years to come. The memory makes me wish for two things. First to be like that man who unknowingly gifted a happy memory to that silly child and secondly to be that silly child who was ecstatic with something so insignificant such as a dead fish.