A couple of weekends ago, we made plans to take Kiera out to Lake Brownwood State Park and go fishing. There was a lot of preparation that went into our little trip.
Friday night, Kiera and Aaron pulled the fishing poles out of storage and began to clean them and fix the lines. Aaron attached a plastic worm to the end of Kiera’s pink Barbie pole and showed her how to cast. My mom and I sat on the couch and watched Kiera as she cast her fishing pole over and over into the kitchen with surprising accuracy.
The next morning, we all got up and out of the house by 8 a.m. My mother had spent the night with us, so she and I went to pick up breakfast while Kiera and Aaron headed to the bait store to get minnows and ice.
After picking up breakfast, we met Aaron and Kiera at the bait store. We pulled up in front of the store just in time to see Aaron wheeling the cooler out and carrying a bag of minnows. Now, here is where I didn’t think through all the aspects of fishing.
As Aaron hefted the cooler into the back of the truck, Kiera held the bag of minnows. She shifted them this way and that, trying to get a better look at them.
“Oh, honey!” I exclaimed. “Be careful with them. We don’t want to…” And this is where I paused. I had originally planned to say ‘we don’t want to kill them.’ But that doesn’t make a lot of sense seeing as how they were soon going to be on the end of our fishing lines.Thankfully, Kiera did not notice my abrupt pause. I looked at Aaron and quietly asked, “Are you going to explain the purpose of the minnows?”
He assured me that he would handle it and we climbed in our vehicles and headed out.
I was later informed that his discussion of the minnows went something similar to “we put the little fish in the water and they call out to the big fish and have them come to our fishing pole.”
Once we reached the park and paid our entrance fee, we found a perfect place to fish. We grabbed our snacks, chairs, and poles and headed to the end of the fishing pier.
Kiera proudly carried her chair and her pink Barbie fishing pole to the end of the pier. Aaron set her pole for her and she cast her line out like a pro.
After an hour and a trip to the bathroom, Kiera was done fishing. She had not caught anything nor had she really had any bites. She handed her pole off to her Daddy and went and climbed in her Aunt Mimmi’s lap to “help” her fish and eat an apple.
Now, the next part is a fish story of epic proportions as relayed to me by my husband. I can verify that it is true because of all the witnesses. With that said, get ready for a laugh.
Mom and I had an appointment back in town so we gathered our chairs and I handed my pole off to Aaron to disassemble and we left. Kiera’s pole was lying beside Aaron’s chair. He had dropped the minnow and hook in the water waiting for Kiera to come back. As he turned to put my pole up and grab his pole, he heard a THUMP quickly followed by a SPLASH.
As he turned, he noticed that Kiera’s pole was no longer lying on the pier. Before he could glance out at the water, his suspicions were confirmed when he heard his Dad say, “There goes Kiera’s pole!”
Aaron quickly looked out to the water only to see Kiera’s pink pole about five feet from the pier diving under the water like a submarine headed for battle.
The next sound he heard was an ear-piercing cry as Kiera realized her Barbie pole was gone. “MY POLE!” She cried. “My Barbie pole!!!” She ran to her Daddy’s side and cried huge crocodile tears at the loss of her beloved, pink Barbie pole.
Aaron watched as it sank under the water and pulled Kiera into a hug. He began the task of trying to console our tired and now traumatized child over the loss of her fishing pole. “Baby, we will go buy another one. I promise.”
Honestly, I am glad I wasn’t there for that part. I would have been packing us up and heading to Wal-Mart to go buy a new Barbie fishing pole.
A few minutes passed as Aaron continued to console Kiera. Her cries had settled and were replaced with a few tiny whimpers.
Suddenly, Aaron’s sister, Amy, said, “What is that?” She pointed out roughly 25 feet past her bobber in the water, calling everyone’s attention to a colorful movement just below the water’s surface.
As they watched, it appeared again about ten feet from the edge of the pier. “Is that…? It’s Kiera’s pole!” Amy yelled.
That is when everyone started working together. All the fishing lines were removed from that area. Aaron’s Dad reeled his line in and managed to brush it across Kiera’s line to bring it in closer. Then Aaron cast his heavy lure over her line, snagging it and bringing up the pole. Amy leaned over the pier’s edge and quickly grabbed the pink Barbie pole. She handed it off to Kiera who proceeded to reel in her first catch. The fishing pole thief was a good ten inches long.
Aaron sent a picture to me of her posing with her fish. Actually, she is holding her treasured Barbie pole while her cousin Michael holds the fish up for her. He has a huge smile while Kiera is looking at the fish with a little bit of disgruntled annoyance on her face. After taking a couple of pictures, they released him back into the water to steal someone else’s pole.
Aaron and I took Kiera fishing again this last weekend. She informed us that she only wanted to catch little fish.
Thank heavens for a happy ending and a fish willing to return a pink Barbie pole back to its rightful owner.
