5: Gone Fishin

Chapter 4: Gone Fishin

Moses threw his line out again. This morning he had decided to walk to lake st. clair to fish. He had made some bait out of a bit of bread that he had found while scavenging the food pile. That was where all the unwanted food from the Domes ended up. There wasn't much fish in the lake, although Moses's grandmother had told him that when she was a little girl; the lake was teaming with them. He found that difficult to believe, but he never knew Mamaw to tell an untruth. 

He could see the dome glimmering in the distance. A couple of times when he was younger, he had gone right up to it. He'd press his face against the glass-like surface and try to see the people inside. How different their lives must be than his. They didn't have to hunt or fish or scavenge for their food. When one of their shirts got a hole in it, they didn't bother mending it, they just threw it away.

 

Moses was pulled from his thoughts by a pull on his line and started reeling it in. The slippery, scaled creature wasn't giving up without a fight, though. Moses had to be careful not to pull too strongly, or else the line would snap. He kept struggling with the beast and after about three minutes, he finally managed to jerk it out of the water. 

Moses held up his prize to examine it. A rainbow trout, about 20 inches long. Not bad. He'd take it back home and fry it up for dinner tonight. His mouth watered at the thought of eating something other than mamaw's "stuff soup" for a change, and he was sure Aaron would be happy as well.

He strung his fish through his line and started back home, whistling an old tune he'd learned from Old Joseph. For a moment he thought he'd seen something rustling in the bush, but it was so gentle a movement that he knew it wasn't anything dangerous.

When he was about half-way back home he decided to stop by the crick and take a drink of water. He took out his homemade water purifier and filled it up; then sat down against a tree and waited for it to filter.

 It was such a pleasant day; the air was cool, the sun was shining, and a breeze was whistle'in through the trees. Moses closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the peace of God's creation.

Then, he sensed a movement by his side and opened his eyes just in time to see a wolf pup running away, Carrying his fish in its mouth. Moses scrambled to his feet and ran after the furry thief. 

" Hey, get back here! It took me four hours to catch that!"

Unfortunately, the wolf either didn't understand English or didn't have a good idea of how long four hours was. It continued darting away despite Moses's demands. Moses was running as fast as his legs would carry him, but he was beginning to lose his breath. He was just about to give up his chase when he saw the wolf fly upwards.This surprised him so much that he tripped over his own feet.

Moses spit out the leaf in his mouth, and looked up. The pup was dangling from a rope tied to a tree branch. It had stepped into a hunter's trap while running off with his dinner. Moses dusted himself off and walked over to pick up the fish that the wolf had dropped. 

"Serves you right." said Moses

the pup yipped at him, then started thrashing around in an effort to free itself. Moses took a good look at the she-wolf; as he could now see. Moses thought the pup awful young to be wanderin around on her own. She was thin, and small. Then again, maybe she was just a runt; in which case she  was blessed to still be alive. He looked at the rope holding her leg. Well, she wouldn't be alive for much longer. 

   

"Whoever set that trap will probably be thrilled to have a new wolf pelt for the coming winter, Especially one with pretty, red fur like this one has," thought Moses. 

The pup slowly ceased its struggle, the wolf's organs were now putting so much pressure on top its lungs that it was starting to suffocate. Moses realized that it would soon die an agonizing death. 

He knew that it was just a wolf. It probably wouldn't survive the next winter anyway, but it was one of God's creatures. He couldn't just leave it there. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his pocket knife. Slowly, he reached over and took a hold of the rope. In a few seconds, he had sawed through the rope and the wolf fell to the ground. 

After regaining its breath, it sprinted off into the brush.