Spider's Night on the Boom

Spider's Night on the Boomagain. But this time, he was holding onto the boom, his
(An excerpt from the book Spider’s Night onlegs pointed downstream. Wow! It looked like he'd
the Boom)by Gary E. Andersonhooked into the giant catfish we called "Old Granddad!"
I've never been what you'd call a wild child. When IStrangely, he didn't seem too happy about it.
was in grade school, the most negative thing teachersI ran over to help.
used to write on my report cards was "can't keep"Play him!" I yelled, "Move you leg up and down to take
hands off other students."up the slack!"
In high school, I deliberately skipped class once, but the"Are you crazy? Help me outta here!" Spider shouted.
next day, the teacher only said, "That's OK. YouAfter a few minutes, Digger and I found that by tilting
must've had a good reason," and when I tried skippingSpider's huge torso at various angles, we could play
classes in college, no one even noticed.Old Granddad fairly well. It was quite a fight, but pretty
My idea of a rousing Friday night was for Spidernoisy, what with Spider filling the air with sputtering and
McGee, Digger Sanby and me to grab our poles andcussing. And it got worse when I accidentally stepped
head for a night's fishing on the log boom. One night,on Spider's fingers and he let go of the boom—taking
the three of us were sitting side by side in the dark,off downstream.
drinking cocoa and talking about life, when I suddenlyI had to think fast. I took my pole and cast in Spider's
felt a tug on my line. I jerked back to set the hook, anddirection. As luck would have it, I snagged the big guy's
my pole hit Spider squarely across the face.pant leg on the first cast. Spider let out a yelp when I
As he reached up, his hat flew off—right into the river.yanked back to set the hook, but the hook stuck.
It must have been one of his favorite hats, because aSpider did a set of ungainly splits in the water, with me
second later, Spider was in the water himself. I waspulling on one leg and a 40-pound catfish pulling on the
now faced with a classic dilemma. My buddy was inother. I was impressed with the big guy's agility, but it
the water—but I had a fish on the line.didn't seem like the right time to bring it up at the
Without hesitation, I shouted, "Hey, Digger! Help the guy,moment.
will ya? I got a fish on here!"After about 30 minutes, we heard a giant pop, and
When we'd hauled Spider back onto the boom, hisSpider's legs suddenly sprang back into something
drenched red hair and beard made him look like a largeresembling a normal position. But Digger and I both
waterlogged orangutan—and an angry orangutan.gasped, because Old Granddad had gotten away!
Seems he'd also dropped his pole in the water whenAlthough we were totally disappointed, Spider didn't
he decided to go for a swim. I didn't see how he couldeven seem to notice.
blame me for his carelessness, but he didn’tWe finally managed to reel Spider back onto the
seem to be in the mood to discuss it.boom—no mean feat, considering I was only using
By the time he'd finally stopped whimpering, I'd landed10-pound test. His pant leg was shredded, and it seems
my fish. In true “make do” fashion, Spider tried tothat he'd lost a boot when Old Granddad made his
salvage the night by pulling a bunch of line out of hisescape. But our friend was safe, but the funny was,
tackle box and tying the whole setup to his ankle.Spider never even bothered to thank me for saving his
After he'd cast out his makeshift setup, everythinglife.
was quiet for awhile, until I heard a distinct "OOOF!"Oh, well, some guys are like that, I guess—ungrateful.
I looked to my left and saw Spider going into the river© 2004. Gary E. Anderson. All rights reserved.