The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2004, Qupperneq 39

Vo!. 58 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
185
shoulders sagged.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” They
stood in silence for a minute, and then
Gary let out a dejected sigh. “ I should real-
ly be going,” he said quickly. “I... I’ll see
you around.” He turned and began to pace
stiff-legged down the cracked path that led
home.
“Wait!” Jimmy called out. Gary
stopped and turned slowly back to face
Jimmy. Jimmy shuffled his feet nervously.
“You know, I don’t think I’m gonna be
doing much fishing up where we’re going
and I was kinda thinking that, well, I prob-
ably don’t need this here ole’ fishing pole
no more.” Gary held his breath, hardly
daring to guess what was coming. “So,”
Jimmy continued. “I was kinda wondering
if... if maybe you might have some use for
it.” Gary stood open mouthed for a
minute, and then laughed as he threw his
arms around Jimmy.
“Thank you Jimmy! Thank you so
much! I’ll take real good care of it for you!
Promise!”
“I know you will,” Jimmy whispered,
returning Gary’s hug whole-heartedly.
They stood in jubilant silence for a while,
and then said their good-byes, each head-
ing in their own direction, heading home.
It was about three weeks later when
Gary found himself sitting alone on the
rock by the stream, looking into the trans-
parent water wending its way down the
streambed. He gave a gentle tug on his new
fishing rod, tongue protruding from his
mouth in an effort of great concentration.
He had already caught two fish this morn-
ing with Jimmy’s old fishing pole. It sure
was a swell fishing pole.
Jimmy. Gosh Gary missed him. It was-
n’t all that much fun fishing by yourself.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t much fun
doing anything by yourself.
“D’you reckon there’s any goldeye
down there?” Gary turned with a start at
the sound of a voice behind him. His eyes
opened wide and sparkled with glee as he
casually said,
“I dunno. But if there is, this here
doohickey is sure to catch it!” Gary stared
at the other boy seriously for a moment,
and then, unable to keep a straight face, he
began to giggle. The two ran towards each
other, arms outstretched. They fell to the
ground, wrestling and laughing and insult-
ing each other happily. When they were
too tired to continue, they lay down on the
hot rock, allowing the sun to bathe their
faces gently. They lay side by side, trying
to catch their breath.
“What made you come back Jimmy?”
Gary asked between gasps.
“It wasn’t working out with the lum-
ber camp,” Jimmy answered lazily.
“Someone offered dad a job back here and
he jumped at the chance.” Gary beamed,
his face positively glowing.
“This is great!” he cried out. “We’ve
still got another two weeks before school
starts again. We can go climbing and
exploring and fishing and-.” Gary stopped
in mid-sentence, a thought suddenly per-
vading his mind. He swallowed and looked
at Jimmy with anxious eyes. “Say Jimmy,”
he asked softly. “Does this mean I have to
give you back your fishing pole?” Jimmy
just laughed.
Avery Simundson