A Genuine Fish Tale

Good morning.  What a beautiful and chilly day.   The blooms in Florida may be taking a peek and staying closer to the stems today.  Detours are costly; financially, emotionally, and can be costly, physically.  You can never live in a detour even when it is difficult to turn around and return to the highway.  Usually this requires you making that decision mentally and allowing everything else that is costly to catch up.  Well, I am back on this highway even though the car is old and I feel a little batted around.  No real harm done. 

Today’s story is about a little three year old boy named Lane and a young twelve year old girl named Prissy.  They were really way out in the country.  It was a hot August day and they were hungry and thirsty.  Oh they had been served breakfast but it was at least nine in the morning. 

Lane, asked, “Can we have a pop and a moon pie?”

“You can if with money.  I don’t have any,” Prissy answered.

They talked as they walked through the field, swinging the sticks they were carrying.  They knew to ramble around outside, especially in the fields where the tall grass grew, to carry sticks just in case they happened up on a snake.  There were lots of green snakes, rat snakes, and sometimes a king snake may show up.

“I’ll race you to the apple tree,” shouted Prissy and they were off running.  Of course Prissy’s long legs gave her triple the advantage of Lane.

They climbed up into the crab apple tree and chose themselves a nice green apple to eat.  Lane rubbed his on his shorts the way he watched Prissy doing hers.  

“I guess an old green apple is better than nothing,” remarked Lane.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“I still wish I had a pop.”

“Well sometimes you have to use what you have to get what you want.”

“So, do you think we could sell these apples,” he asked?

“Nope, Mama uses these apples and she would come close to skinning us alive if we do that.”

“Prissy, what is that tree?”

“Catalpa worms, silly boy. You know that.  We fish with them. Remember?”

“Then let’s just sell those catalpa worms.”

“Well now, you may be on to something Lane.  We do have them and fishermen do need them.  A lot of fishermen come down this road to go to the river.  After lunch we can bring some cans out of the fire barrel, because Daddy didn’t burn the trash yet, so we will sell these worms and go to the store later today. Yep, we can do that.”

When lunch time arrived they ate quietly and hurried to finish.  Mama looked at them and figured they had something really important to do since there was not one complaint about eating all of their butter beans.  She smiled to herself and was happy to have Prissy spending time with Lane because she had her hands full with the baby.

“Mama can we have black colored crayon,” Prissy asked?

“Look in the junk drawer in the kitchen.”

After finding the crayon Prissy took one of the big nails also.  Going out to the fire barrel and tearing the side off one of the cereal boxes in the trash, they scrounged up a few cans and a big piece of tin that already had nail holes in it.

“Perfect,” said Prissy

The two rushed out to the catalpa tree.  The tree sat between two apple trees, about sixty yards apart; one had tons of apples and the other had already been picked clean by Mama.  Filling six cans with catalpa worms was not hard at all.  They wrote on the inside of the cereal box with the crayon,

WORMS TO FISH WITH   3 PENNIES OR A CAN FOR ONE DIME

They went to the road and found a tree facing the right direction. They propped up the tin and using the nail to hold their sign by pushing the big nail through the sign and into the tin, they found a comfortable place to sit and wait.

Without saying a word, Lane jumped up and ran back to the apple tree that still had lots of apples.  He returned carrying as many apples as his little arms could hold secure against his chest. Now they would eat apples and wait for the fishermen to drive by.  The road to the river was after the curve so they knew Mama would think the trucks were slowing down for the curve and she couldn’t see them for the bushes growing in front of the windows on the side of the house.

An hour passed while they kept putting the worms back into the cans and eating apples.  Finally they had a customer.  He only had six cents so he bought six worms.  The next customer bought a whole can full and then they sold five and after about three hours they had sold them all!

Prissy told Lane to sit on the front door step and she tip-toed into the house and to Mama’s bedroom.  She whispered to her mama, “Can we walk to the store?  I have pennies.”

Mama gestured by shaking her head up and down and holding up five fingers.  Prissy knew that meant to hurry back in five minutes.

The dirt road was not an obstacle for those two.  They even picked up a few rocks and threw them up into the trees to watch birds fly away and squirrels scamper to higher limbs.  They finally arrived at the little store with a gas pump in front and a pop box on the front porch.  They put a nickel in and took out an orange pop then they went into the store.  They bought a handful of penny candy and asked for nickels in exchange for their pennies.  Two moon pies later they went to the porch and bought two more pops, one each this time.  Finally they were filled up and placed the pop bottles in a crate by the door, told the store owner bye and walked back to the road and headed home. 

Lane grumbled first and soon Prissy was hurting in her stomach too so they went straight to the couch when they arrived home.  Mama felt them and they did not have fever so she asked them what they had been doing to make their stomach hurt so badly.  They told her what they ate at the store and then Lane told her about eating two apples.  She smiled and went to the kitchen coming back with a large spoon and a bottle of black syrup.   They moaned and took the Syrup of Black Draught.  Prissy was the first to run to the outdoor john and soon Lane made the trek.  The kitchen door was a swinging door for the rest of the afternoon and finally supper was finished.

“Please do I have to eat,” Prissy whined and Lane looked at Mama with big pleading eyes agreeing with Prissy’s question. 

Mama filled the wash tub on the back porch behind the wood bin and they took turns to take a bath, put on pajamas and go to bed. 

When morning came they neither wanted to play outside but decided to stay inside while Prissy read stories from Mama’s big story book. 

“Prissy is yesterday a fishing tale,” Lane asked.

“Yep; it was a genuine fishing tale.”