Fish Words

As I dangled my hot feet into the icy chill of the river, I saw a fish, slick and shiny, jump from the current--at least I thought it was fish. I squinted my eyes and leaned forward. No it couldn't be.... it was a word. I strained to see the word.... f-a-m-e.... Fame? Another leaped above the surface of the fast-moving water. W-e-a-l-t-h.... Wealth! What we they trying to tell me? I had to find out.

I stood up from the shore and waded into the water. Fame and Wealth kept leaping before me. I reached for them but they were just out of my reach. I waded into the river until it was up to my waist. I strained to grab the words. I slipped my fingers around Fame but it wiggled out of my grasp. Wealth swam by and I lunged for it.

I slipped on the rocky bottom of the river and fell forward into the water. The current caught hold of me and held me down. The freezing water shocked me and I could not move for a moment. Just as things were beginning to get dark around me, I burst through the surface of the water, gasping for breath and spitting water from my mouth.

I felt a hand grab me under the arm and I was hauled to my feet and dragged to the shore. I fell to the sand and began to cough.

"What were you thinking?!" said my rescuer.

I looked up and saw that it was one of my Soul Food Cafe traveling companions.

"Don't you know that you can't catch Fame and Wealth! Only people who don't reach for them actually acquire them." My companion shook her head and walked away.

How true, how true.


Lori Gloyd (c) 2006