A Fishing Trip by Sonia Sprague-Houser (black authors fiction .txt) 📕

A Fishing Trip

“What! We’re we going to the mountains?” I exclaimed happily. Somehow I just knew this was going to be a trip I would always remember with my dad. The terrain consisted of a tangerine colored clay, humongous mountains off in the distance, and plateaus that towered Mesa Verde. The farther away the truck got from the hot, desert of Cortez the landforms changed rapidly. After every curve it seemed that the grass was getting greener and the trees towered high as if they were reaching for the sky. In a blink of an eye we were heading up a mountain. It was as though the clang and the crackle of each rock pulled me in closer.
In amazement, I marveled at the beauty every mile we drove over the mountainside. If it was quiet enough I could hear animals as they scurried off into safety. The air was filled with the smell of fresh pine trees from a distance. As we got closer to the river the sound of the water murmured over the rocks. Rubbing my hands together I couldn’t help but think about how cold that water might be. Suddenly, I felt my dad’s truck come to a powerful stop. “Wow, that surely was a sudden stop!” I exclaimed.
In a blink of an eye I noticed several trout swimming through the river over the rocks. Motivated by my desire to catch a trout I couldn’t wait to get out all our fishing gear to get started. Without hesitation I knelt down to feel the chilly water that was gracefully moving. Everything was visible from top to bottom of this river. It had a colorless image like the ocean does on a clear day. The rocks had a course, but slippery feeling about them.
Anxiously, I cast my first line as far as it could reach. Peering closely, I could see the trout were biting the bait. Reeling in my line made me think of those slippery worms that I was going to have to put on the hook. As I ran my fingers over the worm, it wiggled so much that it terrified me. With my mouth wide open, I had to ask my dad to finish baiting the hook. Those worms felt too creepy and crawly for me to deal with! Surprisingly as the day was coming to an end we were very satisfied with the trout that we caught. My mouth watered just thinking about how tasty they were going to be for dinner that night.
As I rode home that night I reflected back on the time my dad and I spent on the river together. It was a moment that I will always remember. I would like to go up that mountain again to get to the river full of trout.

Publication Date: 01-10-2010

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