"Why didn't you say no?"

"Why didn't you say no?"  (E) Writer's Cramp entry 1-13-2013 #2108576 by Chris Breva

680 words

Jimmy and his brother Bob were standing on the bank of the river fishing on hot summer day. As is often the case when it's hot, the fish weren't biting at all. Bob sat down on his lounge chair and sat back so he could see his pole if he needed to but felt certain it was a moot point. Both Jimmy and he had stakes driven into the ground, the tops of which were angled into a V shape. The idea was that if a large fish took the bait and tugged hard on the poles, the rods would stop their fishing poles from being dragged into the river and lost forever. Just as Bob made himself comfortable his pole bent nearly double and the back of it jumped into the air as a large fish struggled with the hook on the end of the line. Bob grabbed the pole and stood up to begin the struggle of reeling the fish in. Jimmy stood beside him coaching him and encouraging him not to pull too hard or he may break the line. It was quite a struggle but after a few minutes Bob pulled the biggest large mouth bass he had ever seen from the river. He reached up and got a high five from Jimmy and prepared to take the big fish off of the hook. Like many rivers, the river he was fishing in was so polluted that he had no intention of keeping anything he caught. He was merely fishing to be fishing. Suddenly however the strangest event took place. The fish spoke to him! "Kind prince," the bass said, "if you will permit me to go free I will grant you any wish you make."

After Bob got his heart stated again from the shock of a talking fish he said "Yeah right! . "You're suppose to be some kind of magic fish but didn't have the power to know the worm was actually bait. You also don't have the power to know that I never had any intentions of keeping you to begin with. However now that I know you're a talking fish I am going to keep you because you're very valuable. I'll be rich and famous."

"I don't have ESP," the bass said, and you won't be rich because I won't talk regardless of what you do to me. You'll look like a fool. If you let me go though I'll see to it that you have huge amounts of money and that your name makes the nightly news."

"Make it 10 million dollars and you've got a deal," Bob said.

"Ten million it is," said the bass. "It's in your bank account now by wire transfer."

"Let me confirm it," Bob said.

"Well hurry up," the bass said. "This tank is awfully small. And throw some bait in here. I'm hungry!"

Bob called the bank and inquired about his account balance. When the clerk told him he had ten million dollars spread out over several accounts he was elated. He told them he would be in shortly to make a withdrawal. Then he thanked the bass and let it go. Jimmy and he went to the bank. Bob identified himself to the cashier. "We've been expecting you Mr. Rossalini," a voice behind him said. "I'm Special Agent Forbes, US Secret Service, This is my partner Special Agent - in Charge Cliff Fielding. You sir are under arrest for embezzlement."

"Embezzlement!" Bob exclaimed. "What am I suppose to have embezzled?"

"Your computer shows that you hacked into a social security fund and embezzled ten million dollars."

"Warum hast Du nicht nein gesagt," said Jimmy. "Why didn't you say no?


Later that night after he had been booked by the police and put in jail Bob was watching television. The news came on and to his surprise Bob was the headline story for the national news. He remembered that the fish had told him he'd be on the news. "Warum hast Du nicht nein gesagt," Bob said to himself. "Warum hast Du nicht nein gesagt,