My dad was telling me about the time his distant cousin Jimi H. and distant cousin (from the other side of the fam) Janis J. went fishing together. According to him, it was one of those excellent mornings where Lake Waco was calm and there was no way they shouldn’t catch catfish...
For some weird
reason, a few hours into NOTHING, Jimi was staring at the water just mesmerized
when he finally said, “Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.”
Dad said he wasn’t
being deep; he was actually talking about catfishing.
“Knowledge” was
Jimi explaining for the tenth time why his super-secret dough bait should work.
“Wisdom” was the catfish
ignoring him completely.
Janis didn’t even
look up. She just flicked her tightline and said, “The more you live, the less
you die.”
Dad said she meant
keep your tightline in the water long enough and eventually something happens.
Or it doesn’t. Either way, you’re still alive and the catfish are still
laughing.
After a long
stretch of nothing, Jimi asked, “Janis, you think there’s catfishing in
heaven?”
Janis shrugged.
“No idea. But whichever one of us goes first must come back and let the other
know.”
A few weeks later,
Jimi died (Sep 1970).
Dad said one quiet
morning, a few weeks later, he and Janis were back on Lake Waco alone, because
that’s how these stories work, and she heard a whisper drift across the water:
“Janis… it’s me.
Jimi. I got some good news and not so good news”
She didn’t even
flinch. “So? They got catfishing up there?”
“Oh yeah,
tournaments every morning!” Jimi said. “Perfect weather. Clear water. Catfish
practically volunteering to jump in your boat.”
Janis nodded.
“What’s the bad news?”
Jimi sighed.
“You’re scheduled to fish in the tournament tomorrow morning…” (Oct 1970)
BONUS: Here's my grandson hitting a homerun! - (20+) Facebook
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