The Big Snapper Read Free

must have been close to forty years ago. I remember because it was shortly after your grandmother and I were married, but before your dad was born. I’d just finished building this cabin. I’d cut and planed every one of these cedar planks myself.
    â€œWe’d just moved in. I’d left your grandmother to putter around, arranging the furniture while I did a little fishing. A heavy mist had settled in some days before and made it difficult to see. I cut the engine about a mile out and began drifting. I thought I’d do a little trolling. The fog was thick but the water was calm and sounds carried a long way. In the distance, I heard asea otter call for its mate. And closer at hand, I heard a humpback breathe.
    â€œI’d already pulled in two good-sized flounders when I felt another fish tug on my line. I had a strong hunch it was that snapper. I could just tell by the way he grabbed hold of the lure then proceeded to steal my line. When he’d taken it all, he began dragging me along with him.”
    â€œLike the time he pulled you to Alcatraz?”
    â€œMuch like that. But this time, it was slower. And then, just like that, he stopped. I squinted into the fog and realized we were still in the bay. I wondered what had made him quit.”
    â€œHad you seen him yet?”
    â€œNope. It was still just a hunch that it was the snapper. But then—woosh!—there I was sitting fifty feet in the air in my skiff! That darn snapper had placed me right over the humpback’s blowhole. And there he was, in the waves below, laughing through the mist.”
    â€œYou were sitting on top of the whale’s spout?”
    â€œWell, yes, for a matter of a few seconds. But then that whale took a notion to dive. And it was sooner than the snapper must have thought, because he was now in the path ofmy falling boat. I’ll tell you, that snapper’s grin disappeared real quick. His eyes widened when he saw the boat coming at him and he did a couple of backstrokes before he turned to dive. Still, he wasn’t quick enough. My boat hit the water. At the same time, the prop took a chunk of his dorsal fin. A small orange piece flew off. It was snatched from the air, gobbled up by a passing gull.”
    â€œWhat about you—were you hurt?”
    â€œMe? Oh, no. I had friends who owed me a favor. The ones I leave the octopus on the rocks for when we’re cleaning out the skiff at night. Half a dozen bald eagles spotted me pedaling in the air at the moment the whale dove. They swooped in to pluck me up like I was a sheet ready to be hung on the line. They carried me across the sound, and before I knew it, they’d deposited me on shore and taken off again into the sky. I turned just in time to see my basket and tackle drop back into my skiff.”
    â€œWow,” says Eddie.
    â€œYour grandmother came out of the cabin at that moment. She plunked her hands on her hips and looked at me in a disapproving way. ‘What are you doing standing here,’ she asked, ‘whenI can see your boat out there in the water?’ She picked an eagle feather from my hair.
    â€œWell, I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t have any of it. ‘Stuff and nonsense! You expect me to believe your stories of giant snappers and friendly eagles?’ She then accused me of being careless and letting my boat get away on its own.”
    Eddie is laughing loudly at Granddad’s imitation of Grandma. Granddad chuckles along with him so that neither of them hears the sound of the bedroom door opening.
    â€œWhat on earth is going on in here?!”
    Startled, they both turn.
    Mom stands in the doorway. She looks enormous in her puffy bathrobe and a mass of giant curlers parked on her head. Her forehead creases in a frown. “Will you two settle down? I hope you don’t plan on carrying on like this when we have houseguests. Nobody will get a wink of sleep!”

Chapter 3

    The Northorpes