His father said "ok, son, time for bed" Sheesh, he thought
to himself, how in the heck did he expect him to sleep on the night
before Christmas?
"Yes, Dad" and off he trudged to bed. Lying in his room he thought
back to the previous week. Last week he went fishing with his Dad
for steelhead in the near by stream. His dad had caught two. He on
the other hand had sat on the bank because his father had told him
that he needed a proper rod and reel for steelhead, not the old
steel rod and auto reel that he had been using for trout. Besides,
his dad said he was not old enough to fish for the most noble of
trout. He had actually caught a few trout that summer, little dinks,
just "Pecker fish", as his dad called them. Several times during
that day he had seen his Dad look over at him and smile. Gawd, his
dad was a strange duck, about as square as a brick and as cool as
a sidewalk in July. At 15 he knew he was "man enough".
What did his dad know?
His father had a fine bamboo rod, and as the story went, his father
had gave it to him. He had held it once. It was so fine and felt like
it had a life of it's own. Man oh man, what he would give for such
a rod, but granddad had passed on many years ago and gone with him
were his only hope for such a rod. He would be more then happy
with a simple fiberglass one.
That summer he had cut lawns and delivered newspapers and after 9
months he was no closer to being able to buy a rod and reel then he
was 8 and half months before. Just why did things have to cost so
much he wondered? That year had been a tough one for the family
so he had given most of his money to his Mom.
Dad had lost his job, and the new one was not as high paying, so
he took a second job at night cleaning offices. He knew he wasn't
supposed to know these things, but he had over heard his Mom and
Dad talking late one night. More then once actually
He tossed, and turned that night, sleep escaping him. Once when
he awoke it was 11 pm, then 1 am, then 3 am, would this night
never end he thought? Around 5 he could stand it no longer so he
sneaked downstairs and peek under the tree. "Humm, more of the thin
rectangles packages that meant clothes!" he thought to himself.
He rolled his eyes. Just what he needed, another sweater or sum
more socks.
He went to bedroom and retrieved the two packages hidden under
his bed. For his Mom, he had gotten sum new slippers and for his
Dad, he had tied up a "fisherman dozen" of polar shrimp. Gawd,
if his dad knew he had messed with his fly ftying stuff without
him there! Back down he crept and laid the gifts under the tree
and it was then he notice "it", a long slender present with the
words "from Dad" on it, and next to it, a much smaller box from
his mother.
Could it be he thought to himself? Naw, probably just another
used rod like the one he had. He started to go back to his room
to wait for his folks to wake up, but something stopped him so
he went back and picked up the gift. Humm..sur was light he
thought to himself. He compared it to his own height and figured
it was about 5 ft tall. He shook it and felt something inside
rattle very slightly. He picked up the smaller box. My, it sur
was heavy for it's size he thought to himself. He sat they debating,
should he open them. Or wait for his folks..Ya right,
and he tore them open.
His hands trembled as he slipped the two pieces of the rod
together. It was so light, so perfect. Then, he felt bad, cuz
he knew ther were more important things his family could use.
He waved it back and forth and as the rod moved side to side,
his emotions also were torn between happiness and doubt.
Just then he heard a noise behind him and he turned to see
his dad standing there. His Dad had a smile wider then the
Mississippi. "What do you think?" he said.
"Aw, dad it's well.. it's , it's perfect, but.." he stammered.
"But it must have been expensive."
His dad smiled again and took him aside. "Son, I made it for
you as my dad made mine for me. You are old enough now to
understand these things and the money you gave your Mom."
He motioned to the other box, "bought that"
He opened the other box and found the new reel he had
been eyeing at the hardware store. He fitted it on the rod
and checked the balance. It was perfect maybe even just a
tad this side of better then perfect.
<pre>He looked up at his father feeling ashamed of the thoughts
he had had just the week before, but his father laid his hand
over his shoulder and said.
"C'mom, time for the men in this house to go fishing for steelhead
and afterwards I'll start showing you how a rod is built,
like my father showed me"
Carpy
