The Excellent Way #3
Boone thought he slept better after chasing fish. Others call it fishing…Boone chased fish.
Whether he woke refreshed the next morning because he had gone fishing the evening before he could not prove. Possibly he simply enjoyed fishing. He did. Perhaps the reduction in stress and the peace of time on the water caused his feeling of health and well-being. That’s it, Boone thought to himself.
He did not let that line of thinking continue.
He found those thoughts too much about himself. He had decided a long time before that he would do what he could to keep selfishness and ego out of the way he thought and acted. He did realize that fishing did more for him than just provide the thrill of catching fish.
Opening his eyes, the next morning also brought the fresh mouth-watering aroma of pancakes. Grandpa liked to make Saturday morning pancakes. Boone smiled as he thought about it. Pancakes on Saturday morning were one of grandpa’s rituals. Ritual meant do the same thing every Saturday: pancakes. It was fine with Boone. He liked pancakes. If there was sausage even better. Sometimes grandpa made bacon. It depended upon what grandma suggested. She was the keeper of the cupboard.
When Boone arrived in the kitchen, he found he was the last one.
His brother and cousin were already at the table. Noah had a good size stack smothered in syrup and Weston, his younger cousin, was just watching the butter melt. There was the usual greeting. You might think of it as insult. It wasn’t. It was brother love…it sounded insulting. Boone liked it.
“Everyone! It’s sleepy Boone… we thought you had gone into hibernation.” Noah teased. Weston chuckled. He could not talk to Boone like that. Grandpa broke up the chatter with his own comment.
“Boys, how about an air rifle contest this morning at the neighbor’s farm? Grandpa did not wait for an answer he just went on. “We can shoot into the pile of dirt piled up along the farm shed. I’ve got two air rifles and Weston brought his. That way, each of you can have a gun. We’ll take our targets from the recycling bin in the garage.”
For a moment there were no comments.
All three boys were fully concentrated on pancakes-either eating them, which meant mouth full or preparing them to eat, which meant concentration. There was no place for talk with serious food to be eaten. Grandpa saw this and waited. Boone, the boy of few words, actually spoke first.
“Let’s go right after breakfast grandpa!”
The other two never said any word aloud. Their nodding heads showed they agreed. Besides, they knew grandpa would not approve their talking with food in their mouths…neither would grandma.
Within an hour the pancake feasters had helped their grandmother load the dishwasher. They even remembered to brush their teeth-and no one reminded them. Grandpa didn’t. He was too busy getting BBs and air rifles in cases. Grandma noticed. She kept silent. However, each boy got a loving hand on their shoulders as they went out the door to join grandpa who was now anxiously waiting in the pickup. The first adventure of the day began.
After Boone had buckled his seat-belt, he started thinking. Boone usually did his thinking before he opened his mouth. He had already learned this was a good idea. It had kept him from embarrassment in the past. What first came to mind was air rifles. He was old enough to have shot an air rifle-many times in fact. Right now, shooting air rifles seemed to him like a bad idea. Afterwards, he was thankful he had kept his mouth shut. His second thought was about the afternoon. No one, including grandpa, had said anything about the afternoon. Boone knew the air rifles were the morning plan. What was the afternoon plan?
You can guess what Boone thought.
He thought it. This time he said it. “Grandpa, what are we doing this afternoon?” He asked. Then he spoke the next thought aloud. “Just curious. We’ll be done with the air rifles before lunch. Then what?” Boone thought grandpa was a mind reader. His answer was exactly what Boone wanted to hear.
“I thought we’d take the boat and all of us would go fishing.” He answered.
The other two were quiet. They’d been talking about shooting air rifles. Not Boone. The first word to come from his mouth after grandpa’s answer was: “Excellent!” Grandpa just nodded.