Friday 30 March 2012

Forty Eighth Friday Flash: Old One Eye




*This week's story suggestions of false teeth, broken lighter, wet socks, wilderness and murderous rage were provided by @Crusaderofchaos you can also find his blog World in Ink here where you will find book reviews, astronomy and other geeky things.

The fish just weren't biting, two hours of sitting on a small rowing boat with my friend Bill and nothing. Myself, I was enjoying the peace and quiet, Bill on the other hand seemed to be getting more and more annoyed by the minute.

Bill tried to light a cigar with his lighter, but it wouldn't work. He looked at me and I shrugged. He knew I hated the things.

“Damn fish! Where are they?”

“Maybe it's your foul mood scaring them away.”

“Ha ha! Very funny!”

“Come on, let's move a little, maybe our luck will change.”

Bill shrugged. “Worth a try.” He got out the oars and rowed us over to the other side of the lake.

“There you go, now we can get a better view of the countryside.”

“Bah! All I want to do is catch old one eye.”

“Don't start that again Captain Ahab!”

“It would be a tale I could tell me grand kids.”

“All your grandchildren are vegans, they think fishing is gross and immoral.”

“Stupid muddled up kids,” said Bill with a sigh. “Hey! There he is!”

“Where?” I said spinning my head around, just spotting the tail of a large fishing disappearing lazily back into the water. It was said that old One Eye was six to seven feet long.

Bill threw his line in the fish's direction. “Come on baby, bite!”

We sat there for several minutes in utter silence until the fish whacked the side of the boat with its tail, rocking it side to side.

“The bugger!” shouted Bill, his long beard quavering as his chin went up and down. “This my only chance, I'm going in!”

I moved to stop him, but he was over the side before I could grab him. I paced the rowing boat, my wet socks squelching in my boats, agonizing on whether I should join him, but I was terrible swimmer and would most probably make things worse.

A moment later my old friend came bursting to the surface.

“Did you see him?” I asked leaning over the side of the boat.

“Not only that, I caught the bugger!” he said with a toothless grin.

“Wow! But why did you let him go?”

“I think the kids may be right, I could feel his strength, his legacy, I couldn't harm such a majestic creature.”

“Good for you, but what about your teeth?”

“What! He said smacking his lips together and then pounding the water with his fist. ”Damn you One Eye!”

I couldn't help but smile as I helped Bill on board wondering if Old One Eye was now swimming around sporting a toothy grin.

13 comments:

  1. Now that's one funny fish story!

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    1. Thanks Larry! Glad it worked. Dan you tell I've only ever been fishing once?

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  2. Loved the line about the vegan Grandchildren, so very now. The image of a denture wearing fish will, however, invade my dreams for certain tonight.

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  3. And next time you tell the story the fish will be seven to eight feet long, right?

    I imagine its mouth will look like this one: http://www.wildflorida.com/articles/Sheepshead.php

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    1. haha exactly!

      That fish is super creepy! Thanks Tim.

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  4. Talk about the one that got away, eh! Funny story.

    Just a comment, you do seem to me, at least, to have over used the old exclamation mark. I counted 11 in this short piece. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like their over usem somehow it doesn't look right on the page. ^_^

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    1. Glad you liked it Helen.

      Very true. I think my social chatting skills have crept into my writing. Will definitely keep an eye out for that.

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  5. Haha! Well ol' one eye will have something to bite WITH now, won't he? :)

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    1. He sure does Steve! Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  6. Something fishy about this one ;)

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    1. hehe thanks Leigh! Commented on yours. Hope it came through?

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