The Acorn

[holleybob]

I grew up in the Memphis Tn. area and my weekend entertainment almost always revolved around fishing. My father would drive me and usually a friend out to an area lake in the predawn hours and drop us off. We would be picked up at dusk by another parent usually volunteered by the friend that went along with me. For $2.50 we could rent a flat bottom boat for the day. Randy Mitchell had a Minn Kota 35 and my father had purchased a 73 Johnson 9.9. Randy and I made a great pair. A cooler packed with a couple Cokes, a block of cheese, and some crackers and we were good to go for the day.

One Saturday Randy and I fished a lake on the Tennessee, Mississippi border called North Lake. North lake was a shallow, timber filled lake known for it’s gar, moccasins and largemouth bass. The timber was about half cypress and half flooded hardwood trees that had long since died. Most of the dead timber was standing but a good many of them had fallen over.

We fished mainly buzzbaits in the morning and when the day turned hot we would tie on a Mann’s jelly worm in either black or purple.

By 11 am we had done pretty well with a good many short fish and a couple keepers each. Randy had one on a buzzbait that went about 4 lbs. We decided to tie up to a cypress tree and eat lunch. It was about that time that I noticed a small diameter tree that had lost it’s grip with the shoreline and fallen with the tree top and most of the trunk submerged in the murky water. It’s not the tree that caught my eye but an acorn that was on the trees trunk. The acorn was sitting on that tree trunk an inch or so from where the trunk entered the water. It lay there as if placed there in a perfect upright position resting on it’s cap. I didn’t say anything to Randy as he was really into his cheese and crackers at the time. He had the front of the boat and his back was turned toward the shore.

Well there I am just staring at this acorn perched perfectly atop the tree trunk when movement catches my eye just behind the root wad of the fallen tree. A squirrel has apparently seen the same acorn as me and he was as hungry as the two boys in the boat. The squirrel carefully edges his way onto the trunk and starts toward the acorn. As he gets closer to the acorn and thus further from the shore he seems to get real edgy and uncomfortable looking behind him more often than a squirrel would normally do. He’s definitely out of his comfort zone.

I take another swig off my Coke and take in the scene. Randy is making a mess of the crackers but I hardly notice. The squirrel still moving closer to his prize suddenly seems less edgy and takes the last few steps to the acorn resting inches from the depths of North Lake.

Just as he arrives at the acorn he sets on his haunches and grabs the acorn with his front paws. Just then I hear a WHOOSH and see a truly monstrous bass overcome the squirrel, acorn and all. Randy whirls around to see what the heck is going on spilling his Coke without notice. I sat there with my mouth wide open not quite believing what I just saw. No one said a word. Both of us sat there in bewilderment just staring at the log as the lake went quiet.

Several minutes later and a few “what the ??”s later the lake began to take on a different feel. Actually with each passing minute it seemed to take on and ever growing eerie feel to it. It was quiet. Too quiet. There was an impending feel to it as though we were in the eye of a storm and were awaiting the next round. It was truly surreal. Just then another huge WHOOSH by the tree and I truly cannot believe my eyes…. Again! There on that tree trunk inches from the water, the exact same spot where a squirrel drew his last breath sat an acorn placed in a perfect upright position resting on it’s cap.

[Nighthawk]

I told that story in an article I wrote for a local paper years ago. It's an oldie but goodie.

[ness]

I liked it nighthawk. Well done.

[kmacc]

That's a great story, I will pass that on to my nephews and grandson.