A Fathers Parting Gift (standard:non fiction, 1269 words)
Author: dcastle	Added: Dec 29 2004	Views/Reads: 3381/2117	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This story is about when my father died and what I believe to be his parting gift to my brother and I.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

reliable cast iron skillet. I have one that measures 22 inches in 
diameter. I can't cook much of a breakfast at home but it sure seems to 
turn out great when cooked in this skillet over the hot coals of a 
campfire. 

As I said before, this is a remote area and we seldom see people. We
have to use a weed eater to cut the grass and weeds in the campsite 
each time we setup camp. As far as I know, no one has ever used this 
campsite other than us. All my life I have wanted to catch at least one 
big catfish. My brother prefers to catch a lot of catfish instead of a 
big one. 

My father died on Feb 8, 1995. He is buried in a cemetery just three
miles from the river. We decided to take our trip to the river five 
months later in late July. This time of the year is normally very hot. 
When we got there a rare cold front came through that kept the 
temperatures in the low 70s for the three days we were there. The river 
was perfect, not to high and not to low. Someone had cut all the grass 
in our campsite and stacked a large amount of firewood.  I have no idea 
who could have done this. My dads' favorite bird was the bluebird. We 
saw at least twenty of them over the three days. No one has ever seen 
one before or after that trip. 

We visited my father's grave Saturday morning just before noon. We
returned to the campsite and my son in law said he would like to check 
the lines. I told him it was a waste of time because it was rare to 
catch a catfish during the day. He insisted, so off we went up the 
river while my brother went downstream to check his lines. My brother 
came back with close to 20 cats between two and 20 pounds.  It was high 
noon when my son in law and I got to the first trot line. Two hooks out 
from the bank was the biggest flathead any of us had ever caught. After 
a brief struggle we netted the fish you see in the photo. No one has 
caught a fish this big since then. It's been extremely hot on every 
trip since then and the grass and weeds are always several feet tall. 

I truly believe that this was my father's parting gift to all of us. 


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