Rhymes With Orange
Telling Stories
Savs I sloped off upstream and out of earshot of the mumbled stream of profanities that were being directed at me. I hung my head hung low and was feeling pretty shamefaced about the whole incident. Despite having apologised sincerely, profusely and repeatedly the Supermodel was having none of it. I explained, in some technical detail, the deficiencies resulting in my awkwardness with that style and length of rod but he simply shook his head and spat expletives that, rather disturbingly, attributed to the character of my mother certain unwholesome proclivities. I held my rod out to him and offered to sort the mess out but he just stood there on the bank shaking his head and growing increasingly incandescent with frustration. To be fair, I had left a rather ugly knot in his expensive and meticulously prepared leader. In fact, the last time that you might have seen such a knot was when that blind kid who, being too goodnatured to process sarcasm, came stone last in competition at an international Boy Scouts jamboree. To the Supermodel’s dubious credit he’s certainly quite something of a multitasker. As he worked his way deeper into the complex mess that he held in his fingers he continued upwards into my family tree, cursing each of my antecedents along the way. It was going to take something special for this storm to blow over, I could just sense it. If you judge a day by the inclination of your quarry to impale themselves on your imitation then the day was indeed a memorable one. The Artisan and I each hooked and landed several substantial browns in the time that it took the Supermodel to complete his labour and to catch up with us. A lesser man may have grown in annoyance as a result of our good fortune but he took it as a good omen and muscled himself upstream towards the sparkling head of a long pool. Netting enough quality fish in half an hour to eclipse the sort of return that would ordinarily be sufficient to constitute a “good day” restored his mood to its natural equilibrium.
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