"How good was your catch
today?" I asked my neighbor as he pulled by on his little wooden boat.
"Not much," he sighed,
"The fish just ain't biting anymore. I'm gonna try one more time today, if
I row out a bit further I ought to find something."
"How's the water then?" I
hunkered down in my spot on the shore and peered out into the murky water.
"Getting slowly worse every
day," he shook his head while he sorted his lures and bait. "I don't
know what the hell the city started dumping in the water, but it smells of
something foul."
"I don't smell anything,"
I turned towards the water and tried to get a good whiff. It smelled the same as
it always did, a salty, muddy scent.
"Just row out close to the
falls and you'll notice," my neighbor replied as he wrestled with his
fishing line. "Give it a month or two and I'm sure the stench will creep
out to here."
I looked up towards the falls, the
water looked clear at least, but it was hard to tell for certain. They never
dumped much good down here, but they've certainly never dumped out anything
toxic. I mean the water has never been truly safe, but it was never dangerous
unless you rolled around in it all day. I turned back to my neighbor as he
finally got his affairs in order and prepared to row back out.
"Good luck out there," I
wished him well.
"Thanks I'll need it," he
nodded his head as he rowed back out.
~~~~
My first story for the new wave of stories in this blog. Comment on your feelings and opinions on this piece. As for the image that inspired this piece, I can't for the life of me find a source or original creator. I've done the reverse image search, but that didn't turn up anything of value. If anyone does know where this came from could you inform me, I'd like to give credit where it is do.
