TWO FISHERMEN BY THE SEA

 

Most times when we walk early on the beach it’s just Deborah and me. 

but the other morning we happened to walk past two old men fishing by the sea.

We quickly exchanged greetings then quietly let them be…

knowing you never say ‘Good Luck’ to a fisherman by the sea.

When we returned we found these two fishermen laughing and…smiling a lot.

They called us over to show us all the fish that they had caught.

We talked with them a while and…before our visit with them was through…

they regaled us with a fishing story….as fishermen are wont to do:

“We were standing on this very shore,” Tom began, “when Bob began to shout…

I feel it on the end of my line! He said. I think I’ve hooked a trout!”

“As I was happily reeling in my catch” Bob said. I heard Tom begin to shout..”

“Reel any faster Bob?” He said, “theres a dolphin after your trout!”

When matching fishing prowess with a dolphin, however, your margin of error is thin…

and even though Bob was reeling as fast as he could…the dolphin was closing in.

Just as Bob was about to lose his battle…and kiss his trout goodbye…

an osprey swooped down…grabbed that fish and flew up to the sky.

The hook, however, was still in that trout’s mouth…

so Bob kept reeling without saying a word

determined to wrestle his trout from the talons of that bird.

After a while of playing tug-of-war the osprey let out a shout…

then angrily gave up the fight and let Bob have his trout.

As those two fishermen stood there smiling at us…

we weren’t sure if their story was true

or if they were spinning a fishermen’s yarn…as fisherman sometimes do.

But we didn’t care 

We were glad on our walk that particular morning that it wasn’t just Deborah and me….

We were glad to have met and been enchanted by…two fishermen by the sea.