Storygram #155

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The Story:

The day is just right, enough to freeze the lake to a solid floor but no breeze to chill the bones. My thermos is filled with 16 ounces of hot cocoa, and my heart is filled with high hopes that the fish are biting.

I give the lake a few careful test steps to assure myself of its solidity. A loud pop echoes over its surface as the whole sheet of ice adjusts to my weight, but it doesn’t give way and no cracks form.

I baby step out to what looks like a good spot for hungry fish to congregate, drill a hole, and drop in my line. Sitting there on a plastic bucket, I take a sip of hot cocoa and wait for dinner to latch onto my hook.

After three hours of waiting, hoping, and even some selfish praying, no fish dare to nibble at my line. I decide to stay awhile longer, at least until my hot cocoa is gone.

It isn’t long before I take my last sips and stand up to begin the trip home, destined to leave my pride in the icy hole.

As I reel in my line, it finally happens. A fish voluntarily chomps my hook, and I can feel by the weight that he’s a good catch. When I lift him from the water, I discover that my dinner is a curious creature who resembles a bass but is covered in golden scales. I immediately resign myself to being hungry again that night because who would eat a golden fish? However, I can’t walk away from such a mystery.

With expert care, I lower the fish into the plastic bucket, but when it touches the bottom, the entire bucket turns to gold. I stumble backwards, shoving one foot into the watery hole I had drilled and falling onto the ice.

From my new angle, I notice a shimmer deep in the water. As I study it long enough, it becomes clear that dozens of golden fisherman are laying on the bottom of the lake, undoubtedly because they touched the fish.

He is too dangerous to keep. But so much gold… It won’t happen to me. I can handle it. I’ll just be careful and keep it a secret.

I nervously reach for my bucket but instead, knock it over, and the fish slides onto the ice. The entire lake turns to solid gold in a wave, encasing my leg in a golden mold of the hole I had drilled.