It started at 4:30 AM. That's the time that Rex decided to wake up and go fishing on the pier. I think the only appropriate place to be at 4:30 AM is in BED, so I stayed there and slept. Rex and his dad had a great time fishing for a few hours by themselves, and when I finally woke up I decided to go visit them and see how the fishing was going. They were doing great! They'd caught a bunch of fish, and they were giving them all to this guy fishing next to them named Jed (the guy's name wasn't actually Jed, I'm pretty sure...but he was a very stereotypical southern fisher-dude who was about my age, spoke with a thick southern accent, and worked at the local Food Lion when he wasn't fishing. I mentally named him Jed).
Jed had a giant cooler of fish, and Rex and his dad were doing their part to fill that cooler along with him. I asked Rex if he'd caught any puffer fish. It is the ocean, after all, and I think puffer fish are awesome. Unfortunately, he hadn't caught any. I sat and watched them fish for a while. Rex's dad caught another mullet. A guy further down the pier caught a small shark. Suddenly, the tip of Rex's rod moved. Rex handed me the rod and said, "There's a fish on! Reel it in!" I grabbed the rod and started reeling. "I hope it's a puffer fish!" I said. Rex laughed at me and told me to keep reeling.
GUESS WHAT KIND OF FISH I CAUGHT?!
You're right! It was a puffer fish! Rex could hardly believe it (and I couldn't either). What luck! A real live puffer fish! It was really cute. Right as I pulled the fish over the edge and onto the pier, it bit the line and flopped down onto the deck. "How do I pick it up?!" I asked, slightly panicked. "It's going to spike me!" Luckily, Jed had a glove to pick it up.
"Can you eat those?" Rex's dad asked Jed.
"Sure," he replied. "Them puffer fish be good eatin'"
"No way!" I cut in. "I don't want you to eat him! He's adorable! I caught him...can't I throw him back?"
There was the minor detail that no, I couldn't actually throw him back...I couldn't even touch him because I didn't have a puffer fish glove. The poor puffer fish looked at me with his bright green eyes like, "Please...I don't want to be a lunch..." He was starting to poof up in fear.
"It's your fish," said Jed. "I'll throw 'im back if you want."
"Don't be a baby," said Rex's mom. "Just let him eat the fish."
"He gave us lots of shrimp to use for bait," said Rex's dad. "We wouldn't have caught all of these fish without him."
But they'd already given Jed dozens of fish. And I don't have trouble killing bass or perch or the yummy fish that we catch in Michigan. But the puffer fish? This cutie lovable puffer fish? Look at how adorable these fish are:
Basically, I chickened out and couldn't do it. "I want to throw it back," I said definitively. "It's too cute." Everyone rolled their eyes except for the fish and Jed, who was actually really nice. He held it over the edge and said, "Want to say goodbye?" Thanks, Jed. You understand me. I said bye to the little puffer fish and watched him flop back into the water and swim away. So maybe I'm a wimp, but I bet that fish appreciates it. There's enough ugliness in the world already, people. Let's not start killing off the cute.
THAT FISH IS AWESOME!!! I like Jed. He seems cool. Ps. Most pufferfish have a chemical in them that make them taste disgusting and make humans really sick. 3rd grade animal project for the win ;)
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