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Fishing
Twilight and Tomato
As the Connecticut dusk rolled over Skiff Mountain down toward Kent’s lovely Housatonic River, I sat with my old friend Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. The old man and I sat on the grand veranda of the Golden Flacon Inn, reminiscing the high points of our glorious day spent fishing. “I still can’t believe it, Robert,” he exclaimed, “how did you manage to hook twice the number of trout that I did today?” “What can I say, Sam,” I answered in jest. “I guess I’m just better at reeling them in-“ We shared a good laugh at the camaraderie the day had brought, but I stopped quite abruptly when I noticed the most devastatingly attractive woman I’d ever laid eyes on- one helluva hot tomato to be sure- and aptly, wearing a vermillion colored dress. As the evening blue enveloped this ripe young thing, I couldn’t help but notice that the combination of the twilight and the tomato was truly stunning. “I say Robert,” said Clemens, “I do believe that beautiful woman recognizes me- she’s looking right this way.” However, as she approached us, it proved Old Sam was not the focus of her compelling gaze after all. “Excuse me sir,” this delectable damsel addressed me, the words cascading elegantly off her tongue, ��but wherever did you get that beautiful blue shirt- why, it’s the color of evening- of this very twilight. I must get one for my father.” Could she have given a more appropriate compliment? Asked a more apt question? And I knew, fom that very moment, this Lady was at once as bold as a tomato and as demure as the twilight- two colors that legends are made of. Was it possible that this divine creature would become my Lady Redd?
As the Connecticut dusk rolled over Skiff Mountain down toward Kent’s lovely Housatonic River, I sat with my old friend Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. The old man and I sat on the grand veranda of the Golden Flacon Inn, reminiscing the high points of our glorious day spent fishing. “I still can’t believe it, Robert,” he exclaimed, “how did you manage to hook twice the number of trout that I did today?” “What can I say, Sam,” I answered in jest. “I guess I’m just better at reeling them in-“ We shared a good laugh at the camaraderie the day had brought, but I stopped quite abruptly when I noticed the most devastatingly attractive woman I’d ever laid eyes on- one helluva hot tomato to be sure- and aptly, wearing a vermillion colored dress. As the evening blue enveloped this ripe young thing, I couldn’t help but notice that the combination of the twilight and the tomato was truly stunning. “I say Robert,” said Clemens, “I do believe that beautiful woman recognizes me- she’s looking right this way.” However, as she approached us, it proved Old Sam was not the focus of her compelling gaze after all. “Excuse me sir,” this delectable damsel addressed me, the words cascading elegantly off her tongue, ��but wherever did you get that beautiful blue shirt- why, it’s the color of evening- of this very twilight. I must get one for my father.” Could she have given a more appropriate compliment? Asked a more apt question? And I knew, fom that very moment, this Lady was at once as bold as a tomato and as demure as the twilight- two colors that legends are made of. Was it possible that this divine creature would become my Lady Redd?
Salmon and White
Michigan, 1921. The Big Two-Hearted River is deep and cold and Hemingway and I are trying our best to stay still and focused. The sky is white and the salmon are pink and ready to be caught and I want to catch them and so does he. They do not particularly want to be caught. “Anything?” I ask Ernest and wade in a little farther. “Not yet.” It was then I felt a tug on my own line and I pulled but the pink fish was strong so I pulled harder and harder until finally it gave way and I caught it. After the battle it lay flopping in the grass trying to die and then it died. Holding it up and examining it I noticed: “the pink salmon is beautiful against the white sky,” and Hemingway thought so too. Two colors as sleek and clean as the ever so popular minimalist style.