Category Archives: 01. Sam and the Dragon
Junior Varsity
By the time Sam Dorah got to high school, he was known to have a particular talent for defending against the pass in pick-up games, so he was invited to tryout for the junior varsity football team. Though he was not as well-schooled in the game as most of the other players, his penchant for [...]
After the Flood
Soon after the flood, Sam returned to school, and noticed that Peter was not there. After several days, he walked to Peter’s house, and noticed that it had been vacated. He opened the gate to the backyard and saw that the flood also washed out Peter’s pond. Sam walked up to a window. He hesitated, [...]
Pineapple Express
Soundtrack: Bob Dylan, High Water (for Charlie Patton) The fire burned down from heaven upon the vast, white wastes. When stone burns, it is like burning iron: it becomes a red and yellow liquid. So it was with the white wastes. They liquefied in the sun, but their lava was blue; a deep, absorbent blue. [...]
The Evangel of Koi
Two red-orange and black koi swam in the small, clear pool. Clover burst from the water line, up the artifically naturalistic banks like a miniature rain forest. The boys dreamed. Their dreams opened in the warm light of the Spring afternoon. The sun warmed the doors of their eyes, and the future was born. How [...]
Dragnet
Angling is a special kind of hunt. It is, like most forms of fishing, a form of trapping. Angling is unique, though, for a couple of reasons. First, the trap is in contact with the angler’s body when it’s sprung; and second, the trap is sprung with little or no warning to the angler. I [...]
The Catch
“Look—”, started Mehrzad, freeing a hand to point forward into the water. “Yeah …”, Peter replied, keeping both hands on the net. They saw flashes of blood-orange in the murky water before them. Mehrzad stumbled in the muck of the ditch bottom as they hastily pressed toward the opposite net. They dragged one net between [...]
The Water Lantern
Sam approached Peter at recess with the eternal question, “Did you catch something?” Peter replied with a slanted nod. Sam continued,”I think I might need some fertilizer for my garden. Do you think I could fish on your canal?” “It’s not my canal. .. Sure.” “Great. I’ve been saving up for a fishing pole. … [...]
Fishing for Fertilizer
After that first walk along the ditch, Sam would sometimes take that way home. He might not if he had to pee. He often had too, since he didn’t like using the school restrooms, there was so much teasing and bullying there. One afternoon he encountered a boy he knew from school, sitting on the [...]
Fish In Irrigating Ditches
THE CARP BECAME A NUISANCE TO THE CALIFORNIA FARMERS. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 17.—Samuel Page, who owns a farm east of Hanford, states that the introduction of carp into the streams of the valley has fastened one of the worst curses on the irrigated section that the farmers have to contend with. Kings Rivers and the [...]
Hidden Valley
There’s a very special place in Slough City called Hidden Valley. It’s not far from the elementary school that Sam attended. He’d heard of it a number of times before he ever saw it. He imagined that it must be in a deep, narrow ravine, easy to miss because of the overwhelming flatness of the [...]