Goodbye Benny

I went fishing today. That's right, fishing. Whats that? You didn't know that I fish?? Well indeed I do! Not very often, in fact it is probably only once every 2 years or so, but I do indeed fish! Today was an especially excellent fishing day. I caught... wait for it... prepare to be amazed... 2 FISH! I am not even kidding you!!! It was amazing. The first fish was a beautiful little trout. He let me hold him which I thought was very kind. Unfortunately for this fish, his name is Benny, he caught the hook right on the roof of his mouth. Trying to get it out was no walk in the park. When we were finally able to extract the hook, he had a pretty mighty gash. I gently laid him back in the water (i'm a catch and release kind of girl) but instead of swimming away he sort of just sunk underneath a rock... Um.. Benny? Benny? BENNY!!!! Oh the horror!! The sadness! The overwhelming grief!!!!!! I massacred this poor innocent creature! Benny please, I didn't mean it! I just wanted to hold you for a second! I was only trying to teach you not to take the bait! You weren't supposed to die! I was told that we would probably have to take him home, because it looked like he wasn't going to make it. And so, I left him there under that rock where I could see his little trout tail and I fished on.

Was that heartless of me? Was it cruel of me? To have just slaughtered an innocent creature for sport, and then cast my line once again in hopes of catching another? Yes it might have been heartless and cruel, but dangit it's also really exciting and fun! And to reward me for this inhumane act, I immediately caught another!!! Now this next fish was a real beaut. I mean, wow. I had seen a few like it swimming around earlier. And I wanted to catch on sooo bad! Why? Because. It was yellow. Yes, yellow. Like the sun. Or an egg yolk. Or a fish. Like this one. SUCCESS!! This fish caught on so fast, it was like it was destiny! But I wasn't going to have another episode like Benny. So I carefully reeled him in, and let him swim around some so that he wouldn't exhaust himself and die. The moment came when I was going to lift him out of the water and get my victory photograph. Alas, it was not to be. As soon as I lifted this gorgeous ray of sun, he flipped over and unhooked himself!! He slammed back into the water and in two shakes of a lambs tail he was off! Never to be held by my sweet hands...

Because you don't believe me, I drew a picture of the moment.

Well after that extremely disappointing occurrence we decided it was best to head home. So I went to gather Benny so I could take him home for a little supper. Please imagine this next part as I try to explain. I could see Benny's tail and under side where I had left him beneath a rock. He was floating belly up. I knelt down on a rock in a very precarious position that was not stable in any way and reached out to grab him. I plunged my hand and the better part of my arm into the ice cold water and grabbed hold of his tail, and to my utter astonishment, he jerked away! Benny was alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How could this be? He's been floating like this for a good fifteen minutes! I grabbed a hold of him again, determined that he must be mine and he must come with me, but again he jerked and flopped and slipped right out of my grasp, wriggling himself deeper into the water and further underneath this rock. It came to the point where I could no longer see or feel Benny. And so, with a heavy heart, I left him there. Probably to die. Please don't tell anyone that. There was nothing I could do. I tried to help him. I tried to free him. But Benny was a naughty fish. Anyways. That is my adventure for the day.