IT WAS A GORGEOUS DAY, sunny, but with just enough of a breeze to be comfortable. Perfect day for fishing, he’d thought more than once. He’d been out on the lake since dawn, and Abel had just about given up on catching anything good at all. He’d slowly maneuvered his old boat to all his best spots on the lake, and he’d had a couple of good bites but no real action on his fishing rod.
Saved my luckiest for last, though. Let’s see what I can catch there, he told himself, and steered his tiny vessel toward his favorite spot of them all.
Tucked into the cove, he turned off the boat’s motor, then rigged up his line and threw it over. After several minutes with no movement, he reeled in his line, then cast it out again.
At twenty minutes past four, Abel sighed heavily, picked up his pole, an
