Corner Booth

I wake up at 6AM at my parent's lake house. After a half hour of delaying I get up and head to the kitchen where a pot of coffee awaits me. After filling my cup I walk to the back deck and look down on the lake where two fishing poles were left in the water overnight. There's something walking up the line of one of the poles, it's large enough that I can see it from about 25 yards away, but I can't make out what it is. This intrigues me for a few seconds before I realize that if there is something walking up the line, it means the line is taught. Either the gold fish my father had baited the hook with last night had been doing steroids (maybe a vindictive masseuse had rubbed the roids on it's fins), or something much bigger has eaten said goldfish and taken off for the main part of the lake, outside of our cove. I grab my dad and we head down to see what's going on. Upon reaching the dock, I step put my coffee down and step onto the boat to find that whatever has taken our bait has also ran the reel completely out of line...we're lucky it didn't take the pole with it. I pick up the pole, start reeling, and quickly discover that the line is snagged on a tree at the bottom of the lake. After about 10 minutes of struggling we troll over to the tree and pull it up out of the water, freeing the line. I start reeling again and fear that the line may be snagged somewhere else, but soon find that it's not snagged, it's just that on the other end is the biggest damn fish I've ever caught in my life. After 10 more minutes of struggling I pull the once proud beast on board and we head back to the dock. 28 lbs. of shovelhead cat fish lay at our feet, exhausted and beautiful. Pictures and congratulations from my mother and brother ensue, then we let "Little Nokie" (as we had dubbed him), back into the water. I look down into my coffee cup, it's cold and has bugs floating in it. Too happy to care, I dump the cup and head back inside to refresh my cup and get ready for a morning of fishing.

The rest of the morning is a bust. My dad catches one small ring-perch and I get skunked...se la vie. We return to the house, my mom and I run to get lunch, and after eating I take a nap on the couch...falling asleep to Sara Michelle Gellar's stellar performance in "Simply Irresistable."

I wake up around 4, gather my things and say goodbye to the fam. They're staying another night, and I'm heading home to hit the bars with the boys. I take my mom's car and drive to their house to exchange it for mine. On the way home I make plans. I get back to my apartment, take a shower and head up to BW3's to meet Rex, Blair, Currin, and Kate. Little did I know that the day that had been so wonderful up to this point was about to take a horrible, horrible turn for the worst...(to be continued).