Fishing
A Day without Fishing
A short story by Warren Caster

In a living room was a married couple. Two different people, yet the same. They had been married for over 40 years. They had baggage that has been accumulating for these 40 years, but they could not even imagine what life would be without each other. They were still very much in love although sometimes gruff with each other. In the living room the man dressed up in clothes that one would wear fishing. There were no stains, nothing torn and was neat. His name is Paul and was sitting down reading a newspaper. The woman was dressed very fancy and modest. Her name was Grace and was in front of a mirror making sure every hair was in place and her clothes were perfect.

“Paul, I am so glad that you decided to come to Church with me today” said Grace. “I am tired of being like a widow there. You know just being by myself making excuses for you. “

Paul retorted: “You don’t have to make excuses for me. Just tell them I don’t like church. The women are in competition for who dresses up the finest and if one don’t meet their expectations they get in a corner and talk about her. The guys overdo it at church. They all come over to me as if they want to know me but in town ignore me. They just want me to buy their life insurance or invest in their latest scheme. I don’t want anything to do with them. I just want to go fishing.”

“Fishing!” Paul thought “There was an activity he really enjoyed. Just to put the line in the water and be able to get away from life’s problems. Going to church just added to his problems. And his fishing buddies are the cream of the crop. George, Rich and John were people he could trust with his life.”

As he was waiting he remembered the good times with his fishing buddies. The time when he was fishing with them and the fish was so big that the fishing line broke. He told them it must have been a record breaking fish, but his buddies said that it was only a log. They knew that it was a big fish. It was probably not record breaking. He also remembered when Rich’s daughter was ran over by a car. Each one of the fishing group stood by him to help him get past the crisis and also when his wife divorced him because she could not handle the death. Those were rough times. She goes to this church. I hope I don’t see her He said to himself.

“Are you ready to go” said his wife interrupting his daydream.

“Yes” He said gruffly.

He looked at her. She looked beautiful. He noticed that she was wearing a new dress. He knew the importance for her not to wear the same outfit more than once. She has a closet full of outfits for church. She is smart when it comes to sales. He got up and started for the car. He did not want to go to church. It felt like He was on a death march.

The church was around the corner. They wanted to walk and decided not to take the car. Grace was carrying a bag full of high-heeled shoes. She was wearing flats for the walk. As they walked they were talking about nothing significant but it did not matter. They were laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Right before entering the church property they stopped for a while so Grace could put on her high-heels.

The pastor was in front of the church shaking hands and welcoming the people.

As he shook the pastor’s hands, the pastor said to Paul “Welcome to our church. We don’t see you often.”

Paul quipped back “Good morning Reverend” and entered the church.
There was the self proclaimed welcoming committee. It was like they were in a line all set to torture him.

“Welcome Paul.” said one.
“I’ve seen you around town. ” quipped another.
“I didn’t think we would see you until the second coming.” said still another.
“I hope you will enjoy the service” said still another.

There seemed to be an endless supply of people all shaking his hand and welcoming him there each in their own way. Paul just wanted to scream and tell everyone to leave him alone. He was a very private person. He showed self control and went with Grace to sit down.

Grace saw what Paul had to endure and told him “Thank You for putting up with what you just went through. “

Paul said nothing but lightly grabbed on the her hand and squeezed it affectionately.

The minister went up to the front of the church and started the service.
“Let start the service with a prayer” said the minister. ” Thank you God for this time to be able to come to worship you. Thank you for the death of your most perfect son so that we can be close to you. Let us in this time to be able to walk away after the service a different person then when we walked in. Amen. Now open your Hymnal to Hymn no. 423 – Great is thy Faithfulness.”

Paul open up the Hymnal and started singing. He like the Pastor. He seemed sincere and want the best for his parishioners. It too bad the people around don’t seem to listen. Paul still doesn’t understand why somebody had to die so he would be better off.

The hymn ended. It was time for to pass around the collection plate. The church seemed to always want money whether or not through the collection plate, building fund, some missionary or something else. The church service continued on. He was getting extremely bored. His mind drifted off to fishing and his fishing buddies. He remembered the time when his shed blown over with a strong gust of wind. They all came over and built him a newer and stronger shed. It only cost him the price of material and 2 six-packs of beer. They had a great time. “Why many of the people here would look down shamefully if a project like this involved beer.” he thought.

The service continued as Paul was daydreaming. When he saw the people around him stand up, he would stand up. When he saw them sitting he would sit. Paul also remembered when his buddies and him went camping next to a lake. The fishing was great but his favorite time in the camping trip was sitting around the campfire telling stories.

He noticed in the service the sermon started. Here is the time to do some heavy drifting off. “The sermons never related to me” thought Paul. He continued daydreaming he started to hear words from the sermon.

“God loved us so much that he sent His Son to live a perfect life so that we although imperfect can be united with God” he heard the Pastor say. He had heard the same words at another time but they did not mean anything. Something was different this time. He stopped daydreaming and continued listening to the sermon.

At the end of the sermon there was a hymn sung and a quick prayer said. The words of the sermon kept going through his mind. Paul was quiet on his way home.

Grace asked him “Are you feeling alright”

Paul nodded to her and said “Yup.” He could not explain what was happening. If he did try he might be laughed at.

When the couple reached home, there was a message on the answering machine. It was a message from his buddy John’s wife. “Come to the hospital immediately. John has had a heart attack.” the answering machine said.

Paul panicked. “I need to go to the hospital now” Paul said urgently. Paul still had the good sense to have Grace drive even though her driving is so slow. He was shaking. “I hope I am there in time. If only I didn’t go to church I could have been there earlier.” he told Grace.

They entered the hospital and found what room John was from the reception desk. Expediently they went to the room as quickly as they could. When they got to the nursing station the nurse stopped them and asked if they were family for only family members can enter.

“I’m Paul Wentworth and I am as close to family as you can get.”

The nurse responded ” Oh he has been asking for you. Go on in. It’s to the right down the hall.”

Grace said “I’ll stay here. There is probably too many people there already.”

Paul didn’t hear. He quickly went in the room. He saw all his fishing buddies and George’s wife Francine. He looked on the bed and saw John looking scared.

George said in a hesitating voice “I had a heart attack. It appears most of my heart has stopped working and I’ll be lucky to last another day, if you call that luck.”

Paul looked at John and saw him looking like he hoped he would never see any of his fishing buddies looking helpless like this. At first he was in a loss for words. Then the words he needed to say come to him.

Paul said to his lifelong friend: “I don’t blame you for being scared. There is no shame in that. I need to tell you something that I heard today that I have heard before in my life and it affected me today. I didn’t know why. I know now why. There is a God who loved us so much that he sent His Son to live a perfect life so that we although imperfect can be united with God…”

Paul continued with what he had heard that morning. Looking at George there was a change in his expression. What was a scared look turned into a look of comfort. He developed a look of peace knowing what is going to happen will be alright.