Fishing for Puppies
A children’s story by Steven A. Schnitzer, copyright March 24, 2009 all rights reserved.
Billy and Johnny were both so excited they had trouble sleeping. Tomorrow was the big day, when they would both be going down to the county fair to go fishing in the stocked fishing pool.
The men at the county fair were busy at work, preparing the fishing pool. They filled it almost all the way to the top with fresh, clean, cool water. They made sure the walkways around the pool were safe and checked all the fishing rods and reels to make sure they all worked perfectly. They cut up hot dogs to use as bait and put them in the refrigerator. Then they checked and sharpened all the hooks.
Julie was in charge of all the puppies. She picked out twenty five of the cutest, most adorable puppies for the morning opening. Julie wanted to make sure the puppies were really hungry when the children showed up, so she hadn’t fed them for two days. Their little tummies were empty, and they cried out for food. Julie made sure they were safe and had plenty of water.
In the morning, Billy and Johnny showed up before the fishing pool was even open. They watched with excited delight as puppies of all colors, shapes and sizes were tossed into the pool. The puppies looked so cute as they swam about, splashing each other and having a whole bunch of fun.
Billy and Johnny were so wrapped up in watching the swimming puppies, they almost missed being included in the first group. Once they paid and were inside the fishing pool tent, they ran to get a fishing pole. The big man in the plaid shirt with the suspenders handing out the poles told them, “There’s to be no running with a fishing pole in your hands.”
Billy and Johnny walked to their assigned fishing places as fast as their feet would take them and baited their hooks with the chunks of hot dog that were included with their entry fee. Billy cast his hot dog really close to an adorable Cocker Spaniel that immediately went after it. Just as the puppy bit down on the hot dog, Billy yanked back on the tip of his fishing pole just like his father had shown him to do. The puppy let out a yelp and began thrashing about in the water. Billy kept the rod tip up and the line tight and reeled the puppy in. The big man in the plaid shirt came over to Billy and congratulated him on having caught the first puppy. He then picked up the puppy by squeezing his thumb and middle finger into the puppy’s eyes. This was a trick he learned to keep the puppy still and not bite him while he removed the hook. He yanked a couple of times at the hook which came out pretty easily and tossed the hungry puppy back in the pool.
While all this was going on, Johnny managed to sink his hook into a really cute Jack Russell Terrier that was yelping, splashing, and trying to get rid of that really sharp hook. Johnny kept pressure on the line and kept reeling him in until the puppy was right alongside the edge of the pool where another big man who worked for the fishing pool was standing. The big man grabbed the line and pulled the yelping puppy up out of the water. With special fishing pliers, the big man yanked and tugged at the hook, trying to get it out of the puppy’s eye. No matter how hard he tugged, the hook would not come out so he cut the barbed end of the hook off and backed the rest of the hook out of the writhing, screaming puppy’s eye. He then tossed the puppy back into the pool. The big man cut the bad hook off the line, put on a brand new one, baited it with a piece of hot dog and Johnny was back in business.
Johnny and Billy were allowed to fish for thirty minutes. Near the end of their session, a pretty lady with a camera came by and took a photo of each of them with their catch dangling on the hook, a photo they could show all their friends and remember forever. When their time was up, Billy and Johnny counted how many puppies they had each caught. Billy was the winner with nineteen. Johnny had only caught seventeen; but each of them agreed, they had a great time and couldn’t wait to do it again. As Billy and Johnny left the pool, the next group of eager children rushed in as eager as Billy and Johnny had been to get their hooks in the water and start reeling in their prizes.
P.S.
If this story revulses you, consider this: fish and all creatures enjoy life and health as much as we do. Hurting, killing or maiming any living thing for recreation is not an activity we should embrace or teach our young.
|
