Catch Of The Day

    Clarence Barley was thinking seriously about heading home. For the last four hours he had been sitting on the hard, dry riverbank. A coulple of six packs  and a pack of smokes later and all he had to show for his effort was a numb ass and a handfull of mosquito bites. At least Edna couldn't say that he was sitting around doing nothing.  He loved his wife but Lord could she nag!

    Sighing to himself he baited his hook and threw it out one last time.  Feeling just a bit on the far side of sober he looked for a place to relieve his full bladder. He hobbled over to a tree that looked to him to be in need of some fertilizing.  Damn!  He hated being an old fart.  Took him longer to get a good piss going than it did to boil an egg.  Relief washed over him as finally nature kicked in and his full bladder emptied.  He was giving himself a shake and zipping up when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.  Looking around he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.  Shrugging off the unease he had felt he turned back to his pole and saw that finally he had a bite!  Happy to be able to tell his wife that his fishing trip hadn't been a complete waste of time, he did a little jig as he grabbed his rod.  The cork bobbed and weaved.

    Clarence waited for just the right moment to set the hook and when it happened he gave a happy tug.  The line was tight and the fight was on!  Except... something seemed a little off.  Clarence was doing all the fighting just trying to keep the rod in his hands.  He wasn't sure what he had caught, but it was a big one and it was strong! 

      For fifteen minutes Clarence sweated, heaved and pulled just trying to get the damn thing up to the bank.  His muscles were protesting and he was almost ready just to cut the line when it went slack.  Thinking that the fish had broken off the hook he was reeled it in. Something dark began to emerge from the water.  As it came closer to shore he could see that it was a woman, a young woman.  Her long black hair hung slack and straight.  Clarence didn't know what was happening ,  he considered that it might be some kind of dementia that comes on with old age.  He also thought about the look on old Harry's face when he told him about this the next time they faced each other at the chess table.

    The closer she came the more details he picked up.  The girl, thing, whatever it ever it was, was short.  She stood maybe five feet tall.  She was nude but her hair hid most of her body. Her skin was milky and gray, like wet cement, clumps of moss grew over her in small tufts.  He noticed her hands; smooth skin and black fingernails, the fingers themselves were webbed. 

    A trill ran up Harrys' spine like an electrical current.  The back part of his mind began screaming at him to run away. His body was as useless as his bladder had been just a short time ago.  She came up to him and he could smell her, river water death and decay.  She lifted her face to his and his mouth opened in a silent scream.  Her eyes were solid black and soulless, her mouth a thin wet slit which ran with dark rancid water.

    Placing her hands on either side of his face she leaned into him.  Numb cold raced through his body as he heard her whisper with a hiss "I've been waiting for you."  With a jerk backwards she hit the water taking Clarence with her.  The water boiled for a second, circles following circles until once again the water was calm.