Big Fish Read Free Page B

sleep, the river soothing him with its smooth sounds. It’s here he came one day, and as he was drifting off into a dream woke to see a beautiful young woman bathing in the river. Her long hair shone like gold itself and curled to her bare shoulders. Her breasts were small and round. Cupping the cool water in her hands, she let it run down her face, her chest, and back into the river.
    Edward tried to remain calm. He kept telling himself , Don’t move. If you move an inch she’ll see you. He didn’t want to scare her. And, honestly, he had never glimpsed a woman in her natural state before, and wanted to study her a little longer before she left him.
    That’s when he saw the snake. Cottonmouth, had to be. Making a little break in the water as it glided toward her, its small reptilian head angling for flesh. Hard to believe a snake that size could kill you, but it could. A snake that size killed Calvin Bryant. It bit him on the ankle and seconds later he was dead. Calvin Bryant was two times bigger than her.
    So there was no real decision to be made. My father reli ed on instinct and dove head first into the river, hands outstretched, just as the cottonmouth was getting set to place his two small fangs into her small waist. She screamed, of course. A man coming at you, diving into the water—you bet she screamed. And he rose out of the water with th at snake writhing in his hands, mouth searching for something to lay into, and she screamed again. Finally he was able to wrap the snake up in his shirt. Didn’t believe in killing, my dad. He’d take it to a friend who collected snakes.
    Here’s the scene now, though: a young man and a young woman both standing waist deep in the Blue River with their shirts off, looking at each other. Sun breaking through in places, shining, glinting off the water. But these two mostly in shadow. One studying the other. All quiet except for the nature around them. Hard to talk now because what do you say? My name is Edward, what’s yours? You don’t say that. You say what she said, the moment she was able to speak.
    â€œYou saved my life.”
    And he had, hadn’t he? She was about to get bitten by a poisonous snake and he had saved her. Risked his own life to do it, too. Though neither of them mentioned that. Didn’t have to. They both knew it.
    â€œYou’re brave,” she said.
    â€œNo ma’am,” he said, though she couldn’t have been much older than he. “I just saw you, and I saw that snake, and I—I jumped.”
    â€œWhat’s your name?”
    â€œEdward,” he said.
    â€œOkay, Edward. From now on this is your place. We’ll call it . . . Edward’s Grove. The tree, this part of the river, this water, everything. And whenever you’re not feeling good or need something to happen, you come down here and just rest, and think about it.”
    â€œOkay,” he said, though he would have said okay to about anything then. Though way above water, his head was swimming. He felt as though he had left this world for a brief time. Hadn’t come back yet.
    She smiled.
    â€œNow you turn around,” she said, “and I’ll get dressed.”
    â€œOkay.”
    And he turned around, flushed with an almost intolerable good feeling. So good he could hardly stand it. As though he’d been made over, better, and all new.
    He didn’t know how long it might take a woman to dress, so he gave her a full five minutes. And when he turned around of course she was gone—vanished. Hadn’t heard her go but she was gone. He might have called after her—would’ve liked to—but he didn’t know what to call. Wished he’d asked now, first thing.
    The wind blew through the oak tree, and the water ran its course. And she was gone. And in his shirt no snake at all, but a stick. A small brown stick.
    It looked like a snake, though—it did. Especially when he threw it in