Zander and I of course loved to go fishing down at Big Creek, but we didn't always fish there. Sometimes on a hot summer afternoon we'd all go down and swim there, and I tell you, there was a swimming hole down there which was the envy of all the neighbors, and it was right on our property.
One Saturday afternoon we got all our family plus a bunch of our friends and we all went down there to go swimming and have a picnic. My dad carried some cooking stuff down there, because we liked to do it right, and us kids carried some baskets of food. We all went down there like a caravan, with my mom yacking away with the neighbor ladies the whole walk. Zander of course came along, and he was running out ahead of us because he knew this would be a great fun time.
Well, us kids were having a big old time splashing around and swimming in the water while my dad got a fire going in the middle of the flat spot we had parked ourselves at. He was fixing to cook up some chicken right there on the spot, and when it got going it was smelling real good.
Us kids got to throwing sticks out into the water, and Zander was having the best old time swimming out there and fetching them. He loved to play in the water, even more than us kids did it seemed. My brother found this really queer-looking stick over in the bushes and held it up saying, "Zander, catch the fish, catch the fish!" He kept saying that as he threw it almost to the other side near a couple of fallen trees that were in the water, and Zander took off after that stick like he was shot out of a cannon. I tell you, that dog was fast, even in the water.
He swam out there like a swarm of bees was after him, but couldn't find the stick. He even got out on the shore on the other side and looked all over the place. Then he dove back into the water again right between them two fallen trees and went nosing around in there.
Right then the chicken got ready, and us kids all ran back over to where my dad was cooking to get some. Boy, it was good, and I ate two pieces before I even stopped to think about it. Everybody was having a good time, laughing and joking, my mom over there with the ladies while my dad and a couple of the other dads were talking about a new tractor he wanted to buy that he'd been looking at in town.
We also had bisquits and fruit and other stuff, and we like to dig right into the feast, forgetting all about Zander at the moment, when the biggest ruccous you ever heard suddenly erupted over between them two fallen trees. Zander was in there splashing around like whale with whiskers. We couldn't tell what the heck was going on, and we tried calling him, but he wouldn't listen. He jumped clean out of the water, then dove back down like he was fighting a bear or something. We couldn't figure it out, and my dad and one of the other men were fixing to go over there after him, when suddenly it all became quiet.
Well, we didn't hear a sound for what seemed like a long time, but I knew it wasn't that long. It just seems like it when something like that happens. But we was all worried about Zander.
Then Zander's head popped up on this side of them trees, and he was swimming toward us like a paddle boat on fire. He had something big in his mouth, but we couldn't tell what it was. When he finally got to us and came out of the water, he had the biggest trout you ever saw clamped in his teeth, near as big as a salmon, and he was barely hanging onto it because it was still flopping! He proudly plopped it down right in front of us, just like he was saying, "Look what I caught!"
Well, we all stood there with our mouths hanging open, then my dad said, "Well, it looks like we got us some more supper!" All us kids went "yay!" as he picked it up and took it over by the fire to clean it and cook it, and I tell you, that was the best-tasting trout I ever did eat. Naturally, Zander got some, and he loved it. Boy, I loved that dog!
