How to Catch the Big Ones

Oobi dangled his feet over the edge of the dock. His fishing pole dipped in the water out of boredom. Uncle Ullie told him never to let the tip of the rod go in the water, but what did Oobi care; nobody was around, certainly none of the fish. So what did it matter? Not that Oobi was feeling sorry for himself. Why should he? Just because he couldn’t go out on the fishing boat because he couldn’t swim, didn’t mean he couldn’t catch the big ones. As Tyree Jefferson said, “The big ones can be anywhere. They don’t have to be in the middle of the lake. They can be on the shoreline too.” Tyree was right too. Oobi didn’t have to know how to swim to go out on a boat to fish. He could sit right on the edge of this dock and catch the biggest fish there ever was.

Oobi looked over at Cannubi, who was sticking his muzzle into the water trying to bite some of the smaller fish that were swimming near the surface. In any minute Cannubi would finally lunge at one of the fish until his whole body would wind up in the water. Oobi tapped the water with his rod, as if he were counting the moments until Cannubi would fall in. One, two, three, and splash there went Cannubi. Stunned like he always was, Cannubi paddled around in circles until he remembered where the shore was, then sculled himself back to the shoreline. Cannubi stood on the ground like a wet seal, then shook himself until all his fur was spiky damp.

Oobi definitely thought that Cannubi smiled, it was the corner of his mouth that would go over the edge of his teeth and create almost a snarl. But Cannubi would wag his tail and come bounding down the dock and then lick Oobi in the face as if Cannubi had really done all of this for Oobi’s entertainment. Most of the times Oobi did laugh, but not today. Today was not a good day cause in reality Oobi wanted to be with Uncle Ullie who was out deep-sea fishing. But Oobi couldn’t go on a boat because Oobi didn’t know how to swim. That was the real problem, and he was even angrier when Cannubi licked Oobi on the face as if he were trying to make Oobi laugh. “Cannubi, go away.” Oobi said, and then pushed the dog away from him. “You smell bad when you’re wet,” he exclaimed. And with that the dog slunk away as if he had done something very bad.

In reality Oobi was jealous, he was jealous of the fact that all Cannubi had to do was to jump into the water and he could swim. Why couldn’t it be that simple for himself? Why couldn’t Oobi just jump in the water and suddenly swim, like walking, or breathing? He could hold his breath. And he could walk under the water when he was in the swimming pool. But he couldn’t swing his arms and kick his feet so that he was swimming. What’s the big deal anyways? They have life preservers on boats don’t they? But that wasn’t the point, or at least that’s what Pannubi said. “The point is that you need to know how to swim, and I don’t want to risk your life with a life preserver. Especially if it doesn’t work.”

When Pannubi told Oobi that, Oobi was watching cartoons and Pannubi was reading the paper. Oobi hadn’t even looked away from the show to see his dad’s face. He knew what it looked like. That stern look, then one where there is no smile, and his eyes got bigger behind the glasses. “Fine,” said Oobi as he turned up the volume to his show. “I don’t want to go out on a stupid boat anyhow.” Oobi didn’t even think that Uncle Ullie knew how to catch a fish. He probably went to the store and bought it, then put it on a stringer and pretended that he caught it in the water. He knew that his mom had signed him up for lessons this week. But then she also did it the week before and the week before that. When the time had come around, Oobi would tell his mom that he wasn’t interested, and then she’d cancel the lessons. “Why did she keep doing that? Didn’t she ever learn?” Oobi slammed his tackle box shut and stomped on back to his bicycle.

Home again, and after he put everything away, Oobi walked to face his mother. “Mom,” he said. “I’m going to try this week.”

“Try what?” She questioned.

“Try to learn how to swim.” And with this small statement, Oobi’s voice quivered off into space.

“Good,” she said. Mannubi knew full and well, that if she did anything, it would go the wrong way. So she folded the sheets in even squares and concentrated on what she was doing instead of how she felt.

In two days Oobi went to his class. It was wet and noisy, with lots of children diving and screaming. He walked to the edge of the pool and waited with the other children. He shivered out of fear and gusts of cold air; but by the end of the hour, he was floating. He initially thought that he was going to throw up, but as time went along, he felt kind of fine with the whole thing. It was interesting how his body would float in the water. And it was interesting how his hands would slap against the surface, and how it could cut through the water and then slide through his fingers. He found that his feet wiggled through the water like he was a turbo charged superhero, and he could feel himself propelling through the water like a thrown dart.

By the end of the two-week period of time, Oobi had learned how to swim. Not like a professional, but good enough to go fishing with Uncle Ullie, and that was good enough for Oobi. So when Oobi walked down the gangplank with his fishing pole and tackle box next to his Uncle, he felt proud and excited. Proud that he learned to swim and excited to go fishing.

It was a trip that was as grand as was expected. The waves rolled up to the side of the boat, and the deckhands roared with excitement as they helped the fishermen bring big fish onto the boat. Fish as large as Oobi flopped on the deck and rolled about. People threw out bait on the lines that were the size of the fish that Oobi was used to catching. But best of all, Oobi caught four big, not medium, not large, but big fish. The size he’d seen on television fishing shows.

On the way back to his house, Oobi looked up at his Uncle Ullie who was driving the truck. “Thanks for taking me Uncle. I had a great time.”

“Well thanks for learning how to swim so I could take you,” Uncle Ullie smiled under his beard. “But I have a secret to show you.” Then Uncle Ullie pulled into a parking lot. “Come on boy,” he tousled Oobi’s hair and marched towards an open door. “This is really where I catch the big ones,’ he said. Then he pointed to the fish that were lying freshly packed in ice, side by side.

“The only reason I would stop here is so that it would drive you crazy enough to learn how to swim. In reality,” he sighed. “I couldn’t catch a fish to save my life, and today you caught more fish in one day than I’ve caught in a whole year. So,” he smiled, “I think the next time we go fishing, you can show me how to catch to big ones.”

And with that Oobi laughed and gave his uncle a big hug.