Chapter 20
Sea parrots wouldn’t try
for hooks. It was bad luck that
caught it and bad luck for those
who caught them.
Chapter 21
Talk about talk!
It was like a radio
on the end of a hook.
Chapter 22
Back in the old day
before animals could talk
it was easy to kill a fish.
Just hit it with a stick.
Chapter 23
Now you had to listen
to their sad life story
some of them could really
lay it on thick. Still, if he
let them all go, he wouldn’t eat.
It was a predicament.
Chapter 24
He contemplated cutting the line
letting the sea parrot go free.
But even that could bring trouble.
Word got around.
Chapter 25
A sea parrot could carry a grudge,
track you down in the shallows
bringing along some friends
to get you back. Being a fisherman
meant accepting certain risks.
Chapter 26
The sea parrot didn’t waste any time.
The man knew it wouldn’t.
The moment he got it aboard,
the fish wagged its fin, showing him
the hook pinned to it.
Chapter 27
“Do you have any idea how this feels!”
The man sighed. He didn’t want that fish.
Anyway, they weren’t good eating.
They were all mouth.
Chapter 28
Some people kept them for companions.
Maybe he could try selling it in town.
He had seen them in jars and pans
playing the water like calliopes.
Chapter 29
He didn’t want to start a conversation,
he lay the fish on the bench and
kept it flat and took hold of the hook.
to be continued...
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