guddle
[ guhd-l ]
Scot.
verb (used with object), gud·dled, gud·dling.
to
catch
(fish)
by
groping
with
the
hands,
as
under
rocks
or
along
a
riverbank.
verb (used without object), gud·dled, gud·dling.
to
grope
for
fish
under
stones,
along
a
riverbank,
etc.
noun
Informal
. a
muddled
affair;
mix-up;
confusion.
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Tommy
felt around the cold water. His fingers
probed under rocks and through the loose dirt and silt. He would occasionally feel the wriggling body
of the small fish hiding in the water, but they darted away before he could
grab any of them. He let out a frustrated
cry at his latest failure. His siblings
looked up from their own attempts at catching fish. None of them said anything though, neither of
them had yet to catch anything either.
“I can’t
do it.” Tommy cried.
“Yeah,
can’t do it.” The youngest sibling, Christy, whined in the same tone as her big
brother.
“They
all swim away too fast.” The oldest of the three, Lewis, said with a pout and
crossed arms.
“Well
now, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?” The voice was deep and powerful, and
belonged to their Uncle Paul.
The man
waded into the river near his niece and nephews. He rolled up his pant legs and squatted into
the water, lowering his hands into the cold, shallow stream. The three children gathered near their uncle
and watched his every movement. None of
them could see what he was doing, only that he came up a few minutes later with
a small fish in his hands.
“There,
see? It’s easy once you know how.” Uncle
Paul said.
“How’d
you do that?” Lewis asked. His eyes were
wide and his voice colored by amazement.
“There’s
a bit of a trick to it, certainly.” Uncle Paul said as he released the
fish. “Now then, do you three know why
you can’t catch any?”
“Because
they’re too fast.” Tommy said. “They
swim away before we can grab ‘em.”
“And
they’re all slippery.” Christy added.
“Right.”
Uncle Paul said with a nod. “So, do you
know how to catch something like that?”
“We have
to be faster than them, right?” Lewis asked.
Uncle
Paul shook his head. “Nope. That’ll get you nowhere here. Now, for most things, yeah, being faster will
usually be enough to catch something.
But not fish. No, not fish. You’ll probably never be faster than a fish
in a river. If you get it into something
small that’s one thing, but out here?
So, you know what you have to do?”
“What?”
Christy asked.
“You
have to be slow.” Uncle Paul said. “You
have to be really slow and patient and still.
Here, watch again, really carefully.”
The
three siblings gathered around and watched their uncle’s hands as he lowered
them into the water. And then he did not
move. The scattered fish began swimming
around, ignoring the man completely. One
swam between Uncle Paul’s hands. His
hands slowly closed around the fish until it was caught. The children looked on in amazement.
“How’d
you do that?” Tommy asked.
“Well,
it’s because of how fish work. See, fish
are quick things, but they’re not too smart.
They only know that a thing that moves is dangerous. But something that doesn’t move? To a fish, especially small ones like this,
that’s just another rock or tree branch.
While you’re moving around, they’ll do anything to steer clear. But once you stop moving, they forget, and
won’t care about you at all, which means that a few will swim right up to you without
a care in the world. That’s when you
grab it. But slowly, so it doesn’t
notice right away. Now, try again.”
The
children slowly and carefully chose spots in the shallow water and reached
down. Uncle Paul left the water to dry
off and watched them try. They would
eventually succeed, he was sure of that.
All they needed was a little patience.
****************************************************
This word sounds like it should be the name of a fish, doesn't it? It just feels fish-like to me, you know?
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