Time has a habit of changing things: A melancholic fishing trip

 

Walking along the lakes rocky shore. The crisp air that kept you awake, the light breeze that would cool you and play a beautiful symphony as it washed over trees and across the lake. But it was the giant mountains that my mind always wanders to that let me know that I was home. Everything was as it was. Everything but the village. Henry was over there. He was there with the companies giant four-legged mining mech that was pumping the sky full of smoke.

 

I walked along the beach for about a half hour. I there wasn’t much of note that happened and I had no particular plan. In fact I wasn’t as mad at the mining as I thought I’d be. Maybe I’m resigned to it now, or that the machine only produced a gentle hum. I kept on walking l, enjoying the scenery from slightly different angles with each step until I came across a canoe. It was alone and full of fishing gear. Not an uncommon site when the village was still here but is a strange sight nowadays. Suddenly, a well built, shirtless man pops out of the water. I’m still not used to this kinda thing so I cover my eyes

“Dude!”

“Sorry!” A beat. “Wait, Tash?”

“Henry?”

“Well I’m uh… decent.”

I put down my hands. He had put on some trousers even though he hadn’t bothered to dry off.

“You should probably dry off.” He took a look on his rapidly darkening trousers.

“Yeah, um, give me a sec.” He ran off onto the woods with a towel and a shirt. I found a good rock to sit on and watched the mech do it’s work across the lake.  After a bit Henry ran back from the woods. He wore sturdy work clothes that where so well worn that they where infused with soot. An akward beat.

“Yeah I go to the lake after work to clean off and do a bit of fishing. You wanna come with? Ah, I know it sounds weird since haven’t talked in years and all, but-“

“Sure thing, Henry.” Henry preformed a running launch onto the canoe, sitting in the stern, Henry ruddered us away from the shallow shore and towards the center of the lake. As we canoed it was like no time had passed since when we went canoeing as kids. Our strokes immediately worked in sync and Henry had to issue no orders to keep the canoe going. We even found our fishing spot without talking. We threw down our anchor, cast our line, and fished. Fishing itself was rather fruitful, but even as one of us caught a fish, the other would simply open up the basket, close it once the fish was tossed in, and after the line was cast again, we returned to our tranquil normal. I stared at the sky’s reflection on the water and the ripples created by the fish and the wind. Over time I watched as the sun travelled across the sky and behind the mountains. Without words we knew our fishing time was up. We put the rods away, and listened to the gentle sounds of our paddling across the water. We beached our canoe and I helped Henry pack his fishing gear. Once it was all set up on his backpack, I turned around and started back down the beach.

“Tash!” I turned toward him again.

“I was an ass. I was a colossal ass back in the day, and… well I’m sorry. You took it like a champ back then and your taking it like a champ now.” A gust of wind blows by.

“I’m really thankful I ran into you so I could say that.” A beat. “Yeah. Sorry that’s all I got.”  I can’t help but smile and give him a pat on the shoulder.

“That’s all you need, man. I really appreciate it.” An explosion rocked the valley. I look across the lake and see a massive slides of rocks. Smoke from the gunpowder rises into the air. I look back at Henry. Time certainly has a way of changing things, huh.