On the Opposite Shore

As a fisherman, there comes a time in your life when you will go fishing without the one who taught you how to fish. A time when you can never fish with him again.

If you are lucky, you will go with your brother — who actually learned to fish properly — who can help you remember how to fish passably for yourself.

There will be a drive of some distance to a favorite place to fish with the one who taught you how to fish. You will reminisce about prior drives to this place — this river, lake, bay or shore. You will drive by the place where you always stopped to eat, and you will remember — almost taste — the crisp bacon, the patty melt, the rhubarb pie, the root beer float, the things you always ate together. You will stop to refill at the gas station with the best prices. You will buy a day-pass fishing license at the best place to buy tackle. Through the low cloud of cigarette smoke, you will marvel that the proprietor lives on in apparent health, while the one who taught you how to fish goes fishing no more.

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