Fishing with my brother, Ed - a portrait

Dawn arrives.

The chirping of birds adds a musical quality to the otherwise stillness of
the air. 
Small animals, brought to life by the morning’s sun, are scurrying
about as they begin their busy day doing whatever it is they do. 

A low-lying fog blankets the water like a soft cotton quilt giving an
almost surreal appearance to the bayou and off in the distance, one could
hear the distinctive sounds of a large bass herding a school of baitfish
on the water’s surface.

The warm glow of the rising sun burns away the bellowing fog and
reveals a mirror like lake surface and two young boys wading in the water.
Bare foot, with their pant legs rolled up, they are proudly holding  their
fishing rods that they bought with money earned from selling newspapers.

At the top of the hill, near the road, two bikes lay on the ground next to
two brown paper lunch bags.  Each bag containing an old mason jar filled
with grape Kool-aid and a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich hastily
thrown together in the predawn hours before the boys quietly slipped out of
the house to avoid waking their mother.

Small talk and laughter fill the air as they cast their “magic” lures to that
mysterious spot where that big “lunker”  bass lives.  At this very
special moment in time, all of their problems disappear.
And, everything in the world seems ----“right”.

Richard Orlon Griffes  ---04/ 14/ 2002