something to put the fish in, knowing I didn’t have anything big enough. Giving up on that I settled on gilling the
fish with a small bit of yellow nylon cord and slinging it over my shoulder. It seemed the way back took much
less time. Anna had much more pep in her walk, striding back towards camp with purpose. She never stopped
talking about reeling that fish in and what it was like and remembering the experience. All I could really think
about was having my arms around her—and our kiss.
Arriving back at the camp we were greeted with my dad and Mark sitting beach-side drinking some beers while
Julie was laying twenty or so feet away sunning herself. “Catch anything?!” Mark called when he saw us
approach. I swung the fish around off my shoulder, and I could see Anna just about to burst waiting for her
dad’s response. Our lake monster got a double take from both guys and Anna exploded into the deion of
how we caught it. She babbled excitedly, her face animated with delight.
The rule at our campsite was if you caught and kept a fish, you had to eat it. I helped Anna clean the large
aquatic creature and then showed her a simple way of cooking the thing. Basically fileting it and rubbing in
some spices before wrapping it in tin foil to bake beside the fire. The shadows had stretched long by then and
a burning red Sun dropped below the horizon. All of us had gathered around the fire to take our meals. Anna
and I sat beside each other and shared our fish while the rest cooked hot dogs over the hot embers.
My dad was an audiophile. He loved music. There isn’t a genre out there that he didn’t enjoy. His truck had
two 16-inch woofer boxes tucked behind the seats that he pulled out to rest atop the cab and blast music from.
We all enjoyed the music as we sat around the raging campfire. At one point Julie got up and began dancing
and singing along with one of the songs: Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”. She eventually got Anna up dancing and
singing with her and the two of them were teasing and cajoling all of the guys to get up and play with them.
Anna grabbed my hand, attempting to pull me to my feet “Come on!” She smiled in between singing the
verses. She was now dressed in a pair of short white cutoff shorts and another loosely fitting long sleeve shirt
that hung open exposing much of her smooth shoulder. This one had black and white horizontal stripes. Her
hair fell loosely past her shoulders.
“I can’t dance.” I laughed and shrugged her hand off.
“Oh, everyone can dance!” She said to me. “Like this!” She demonstrated a simple move, swinging her hips
from side to side with the music.
She reached for my hand again then put on an exaggerated pout when I denied her. “Really, I can’t move like
that.” I said apologetically
“Just try! Please?” I was taken aback. This whole trip seemed almost surreal. I had known this girl for a long
time, but now I felt as if I was seeing her for the first time. Her smile, the sparkle of her gray eyes, the way her
hair fell to frame her face, all of if filled me with a fleeting feeling I couldn’t place. The feelings tugged at me,