Riddle Riddle Ree…I See Something That You Don’t See…

A Bond

“Turn that rock over. There is one.”  Reaching under the propped up rock, Tracy pulled the worm out of the hole as it was trying to escape.   “We have the can full, let’s go.”  The two cousins started running from the back of the barn to the farm house.  Their hair was pulled into pony tails that followed behind them. They had cut off shorts and t-shirts that were covered with the day’s adventure.  They always wanted to run around on the farm without shoes, but Mamaw was too worried about the thorns or critters that were in the fields.  So reluctantly, the girls slipped on old tennis shoes that were usually soaking wet from running through the creek during the hot summer days.  It was now early evening and all of Papaw chores were done.  He had promised the girls if they could find enough worms he would take them fishing.  The worm hunt was his way to get a break after eating supper.  He knew that they would find the worms.

Tracy and Anne-Marie ran to the fence that surrounded the farm house and climb the gate.  Around the corner of the house the girls ran to see their Papaw sitting under the pear tree with his border collie, Ginger.  He stood up reached into his overall pocket and pulled out his pocket knife.  Grabbing a branch of the pear tree he cut three pears.  He handed one to each of the girls saying, “This will be your snack when we are fishing, so put them in your pocket.”  Both girls smiled, put the pears in their pockets and started back to the barn to get their fishing poles.  Papaw followed with Ginger running to catch up with the girls.

Opening the barn doors, the evening sun filled the dark barn.  The girls searched for the two cane fishing poles that they used on every fishing trip.  Papaw came in the barn to retrieve his fishing pole and a small tackle box.  He knew these fishing trips were not about the girls catching fish.  It was about the girls catching his heart.  So even as he struggled to make the walk to the back field pond, he would do it to be with his girls.  Tracy ran to the back of the barn and opened the doors that lead to the back field.  As soon as there was enough light from the back of the barn, Anne-Marie would close the front barn doors.  Papaw and Anne-Marie walked to the back of the barn to catch up with Tracy and Ginger who were already at the gate to go into the back field.

Papaw had moved the cows yesterday to the front field.  The cows loved to soak in the back field pond during the hot days, but that always made the pond too muddy to fish.  He knew that the girls loved the back field pond because of the cattails that surrounded the pond.  And as the sun began to sit in the evening the pond came alive with frogs that the girls loved to try to catch.  They started the walk through the field, the girls ran with Ginger.  Papaw followed behind the girls.  His age was catching up with him; he walked with a wooden cane which required him to take his time through the rough terrain of the field. 

By the time Papaw reached the girls, they already had a worm on their hooks and were ready to start fishing.  The great thing about this pond was the deep slope of the pond let them sit on the bank and recline back to relax.  The summer evening heat was lifting and a nice breeze was stirring up. 

“The bobber went down!” Tracy exclaimed.  “Pull it in!” 

“Give me time. I got this,” Anne-Marie said with the confidence of a seasoned fisherman. 

There it was a blue gill.  Anne-Marie did exactly as her Papaw taught her on how to take a fish off a hook.  She held the blue gill by the mouth, taking her hand she start at the head of the fish and lays the fins backwards to keep from getting cut her hand.  She studied the fish and how shiny the scales were, especially how the scales changed colors as the sun light reflected.  She knew that she had to be quick to get the hook out and get the fish back in the water before he died.  They didn’t fish to keep and eat the fish; they fished to have fun with their Papaw.  The other thing was the girls hated to see animals die, so their Papaw learned quickly to not involve the girls with that part of the farm life.  Anne-Marie took the hook out of fish’s mouth and then gently placed the fish back in the water.  She leaned over to the pond and washed her hands off.  

Taking another worm she baited her hook and waited again for the next fish to come along.

The girls would last about twenty minutes at best with fishing before they would start exploring the ponds edge.  They learned that if they walk softly and didn’t talk that they could explore the cattails and find all sorts of creatures.  There were frogs of all sizes and turtles.  Papaw would often check the pond to make sure that snapping turtles had not taken up residence.  He knew that if the girls found a snapping turtle they would try to pick the turtle up and he did not want them to get hurt.  He taught the girls which snakes were okay and which ones you backed away from.  But it was always the frogs that the girls would have the most fun chasing around the bank of the pond.  

Then the whippoorwills would start dancing in the evening sky indicating that it was time to start heading toward the farm house.  They gather their fishing equipment, and start making their way back through the field.  Ginger would lead the pack this time.  Ginger could sense if a coyote or other evening critters where lurking around.  She would often bark as to tell the creatures not to brother them.  The sun was setting in front of them as they made their way down the hill to the house.  The fishing trip was successful; the girls had caught Papaw’s heart once again. 

Riddle Riddle Ree … What Do You See?