Squirrelly Cheeks went fishing

A pretty much true story.

"What the hell." Squirelly said to himself, "There's nothing else to do." So he called up Jim and got out the John boat. The sun was hot, the beer was cold. They both got burned and drunk and sleepy. The lake was quiet when Jim hooked the fish. Later he said he must have fought for it an hour but really, he was just having a hard time standing up. You know how time slows down when you are dizzy? When he saw its scales flash in the sun he just knew he'd finally hooked the one that would make him famous in the bait shop. A picture of him, Jim and his great big fish would make the bulletin board by tonight, if he got his wish. Squirrelly got inspired and cast out far to his left but his thumb missed the button and Squirrelly hooked Jim on the back swing. The cooler tumbled over the side and the tackle box went in, too. Then all the worms and the food and the beer and Squirrelly's wife's Polaroid went in. Jim fell in too. And he lost the fish.

Squirrelly pulled Jim back into the boat with a sheepish grin on his face. They both used the paddles to rescue the floating beer cans and the poles. Squirrelly let Jim have the beer and that kept the cussing down a little. Later when Jim pulled into Squirrelly's back drive and watched him get his remaining gear out of the truck, he muttered to himself that it was only a carp, but it was the biggest damn carp he'd ever seen. He could still remember the flash of the scales. Later that night Jim's wife said the truck smelled of wet dog and what the hell did he do that day. Jim said he'd leave the windows down. "It's gonna be hot on the lake tomorrow," he said. "It'll air out while me and Squirrelly are fishing."