Fishing on the river.

This fishing trip took place just before my oldest son left for Iraq in 2005.

 Caleb and Jared, my two nephews had arrived early afternoon on Thursday. They are seven and eight years old. They had called earlier in the week and wanted to come up and go fishing. I agreed to it and took two days of vacation so that we could have a long weekend together.

 

 “Where is Malachi,” asked Jared as he jumped out of the car. “He is working. He will be home soon,” I replied.

 

 “ When are going fishing,” asked Caleb. “Later on today,” I answered.

 We unloaded their stuff and took into the house. They said goodbye to their mother. Then they ran off to find the dog.

 

 I went into the house to finish up a few things before we were to head out fishing. When I had just about finished I called the boys in to the house. In they came running like a couple of bulls in a china closet.

 

 “ Take these two cans and go find some worms,” I told them. Off they ran looking under rock and logs for worms. Caleb grabbed a shovel and headed to the compost pile to poke around for worms. After awhile the boys came backed covered with dirt and their cans were full of worms.

 

 With enough worms to catch enough fish for a month the boys were ready to go. Grabbing their fishing poles they jumped into the truck and were ready to go. Of course they first had to fight over who was going to sit by the door. Once that was settled we were off to the lake.

 

 The fishing started of slow. Soon the boys were complaining about no fish. “Can’t you find a better place to fish,” they cried. “This place is fine,” I replied. Besides there are no trees here for you to tangle you lines in. Then Jared yelled, “ I got a fish”! Quickly he reeled it in. Proudly showing the sunfish that he had just caught. “ I caught the first fish,” he said, rubbing it into his brother.

 

 “ Can’t wait to eat the fish,” said Jared.

 “It is to small to eat you dummy,” replied Caleb

 “Boys enough arguing And Caleb your brother is not a dummy.’ I replied.

 

 The afternoon continued with sunfish being caught one after another. The boys wanted to keep each on that they caught. But in the end they were all tossed back as they were not much bigger then the palm of your hand. It was an enjoyable time with the two of them. Reeling in fish as fast as they could before the next one could catch one.

 

 The next day went by quickly. We didn’t go fishing that day. But we did go hiking and out to dinner that night. Malachi had joined us for dinner that night. I told the boys that I had to go out for a while and that Malachi would be watching them. They were to obey him and go to bed when they were told or there would be no fishing tomorrow.

 

 Saturday morning I was up early getting things ready for fishing. I heard Jared moving around so I went in and told him to get up and get dressed. “When you are dressed go down to the living room and wait for breakfast,” I told him.

 

 A few minutes later I heard Jared go stomping down the stairs like most boys. I think he was trying to wake his brother and cousin. As he walked in to the living room I heard the yell that I had been waiting for.

 

 “Jeremiah!” yelled Jared, as he ran across the room and leaped through the air landing on his older cousin. Jared began punching Jeremiah in the arm and wrestling with him as boys naturally do.

 

 “Hey Caleb, Jeremiah is home,” yelled Jared. Soon all three of them were wrestling and rolling around on the floor.

 

 “ What are you doing home?” asked Caleb. “How come you are not at the Marine base?”

 

 “ I have a few days off,” replied Jeremiah.

 

 “You going fishing with us?” asked Caleb.

 “Why would I want to go fishing with you two? You would probably scare all the fish          away with your ugly face.” replied Jeremiah.

 

 Shortly there after we all piled into the pickup truck and headed out to the river. Jeremiah, the two boys and myself in the front of the truck while Malachi rode in the back. Radio blaring out country songs and the truck kicking up dust as we made our way through the fields to the river.

 

 We all picked our spots on the edge of the river to fish. Keeping one of the boys close to us in case one of them fell in. The morning was warm and the morning haze was quickly clearing as we stood there and watched the river lazily flow by. The fish were ready for there morning breakfasts as they broke the surface snapping at insects on the water.

 

 “ I got one,” I yelled out as the end of my fishing pole bent. After about five minutes of fighting the fish I landed a nice rainbow trout. A few seconds later Caleb yelled out and also reeled in a trout. After that a period of time passed before Jared caught a yellow perch.

 

“Hey Jeremiah and Malachi don’t you know how to fish? You haven’t caught anything yet.” teased Jared.

 

 “Shut up or I will throw you in you little brat” replied Malachi. “Besides you only caught a fish because he saw your ugly face and got caught on the hook when he tried to swim away.”

 

 After an hour or so we all had caught a fish or two and the bites were slow coming. We were all sitting on the bank laying back taking it easy. We were all lost in thought with our own thoughts when Jared spoke up.

 

 “Jeremiah you will be leaving for Iraq soon won’t you? Asked Jared.

 

 “Yes,” replied Jeremiah.

 

 “ Will you have a gun when you go,” Asked Caleb.

 

 “I will have two with me,” answered Jeremiah.

 

 “ Is it dangerous there,” asked Jared.

 

 “It can be at times,” replied Jeremiah giving me a look as to say I don’t want to talk about this. I mumbled to him, “Keep it short and don’t get descriptive in your answers.”

We tried to change the subject but Jared persisted with his questions.

 

 “Will you get shot at when you are there,” Jared continued with his questioning.

 

 “It is possible but nothing you need to worry about” replied Jeremiah.

 

 “Will you have to shoot somebody?” Jared persisted.

 

 “ I might have to,” answered Jeremiah.

 

 Jared’s questions finally stopped but I could tell that there were still many questions swimming through his little head. He just sat there deep in thought watching his pole and the river flow by. We were all sitting there thinking about next month when Jeremiah would be leaving for Iraq. Each one of us keeping our thoughts to ourselves while we fished.

 

 After a few minutes I looked down the river and there was a bald eagle flying up the river with a fish in its claws. “ Look at that” I hollered. They all looked up to see the eagle flying towards us.

 

 We all sat in awe as the magnificent bird flew by us. There are a few Bald Eagles near us but you still rarely see them. This was a special treat for the boys, as they had never seen an eagle in the wild before. We continued to sit and watch as it flew out of sight. Continuing in our thoughts.

 

 “Jeremiah,” said Jared.

 

“Yea,” replied Jeremiah.

 

 “ You will be ok and return home ok I just know it,” replied Jared.

 In September of 2005 Jeremiah left for Iraq with his Marine unit. While there his unit was stationed in the city of Fallujah. While there his unit patrolled the city for the next seven months. Each day they went out into the unknown. There were days when things were quiet and other days they were in fierce firefights. Then there were the days when they did not know if they would see another day.

 

 In April of 2006, As Jared had predicted, Jeremiah returned home safe from his deployment. Some of his fellow Marines were not as lucky. To this day we still think back on that morning when we were fishing and Jared’s bold statement, after seeing the eagle, that Jeremiah would return home safely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Tim, most if not all of your writing touches your readers, and, importantly, all your stories touch God and mother nature.. this one is a special because you've written about a trip that obviously meant and means so much to you.

I've seen the picture you've created with your words... I've almost heard the voices of you all.. the descriptions of how your nephews behave and speak, their questions and comments, your son's remarks.. then, your feelings at the end... so moving, so sad..

Thank you for sharing, thank you.

[Aspiring Angel]

Hi Tim,

What a wonderful story. You put me right there with you but I probably would have had to had one of the boys bait my hook. ROTFL I know stupid female thing. I loved that you shared this piece of your memories with us and I am so thankful that your Son came home safely. I always so enjoy my visits with you and I swear (scouts honor LOL) that I will try not to have my visits run so far between. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Blessings,
Lesa