Legacy

It was late afternoon on an early summer day when Fred and Ted who were avid fishing buddies decided to once again  go to their favorite old fishing hole.  It was a bit out of the way distance wise and down a dirt road through some woods for a mile or so to get there.  It was a fairly popular spot for locals.  So popular that at one time or another someone put in a dock at waters edge and even built an overhang to provide shade from the sun and shelter from the rain.  Fish bite good when it’s raining.

Now this particular fishing hole was at rivers edge with just a wee bit of land with a tree or two jutting out of the water some one hundred and twenty five feet out into the river.  The river as a whole in this area was probably two hundred and eighty feet wide.  It was a sub branch of the Ohio River.

There was a legend that back in the early 1900’s a flood changed the course of the river and a stately mansion that stood somewhere around where that bit of land jutted out from the water, was washed away.  Supposedly the only thing left of it was the swimming pool, which is the deep spot or the sweet spot as some would call it, which everyone tried to throw his hook in.  Guessing at its location of course.

On the way there Fred and Ted saw a gray and blue mini van pull away from the side of the road and go on its way.  As they got closer to that spot Ted said to Fred “I wonder what those guys were doing there, there nothing there.”   Fred said there probably is. Let’s look and see.  So they did. Ted wondered what Fred was looking for and then Fred spotted it.

Ted said “that’s a hole in the ground with a ladder”  Fred explained that he had heard that there were three such places in the general area that were left over from the days of Prohibition.  They were dug out mini house some with three rooms.  The flat roofs were about ten inches below grade, covered with copper sheets and tarred over.  Verywater proof.  Then covered with soil and planted with grass and weeds.  Generally any one going by would never know anything was even there.  But bootleggers would hole up in them and stash the liquor stocks there.

That’s interesting said Ted lets look. So down the ladder they went and opened a door.  Inside there was a kerosene lantern for light.  They lit it and m what a surprise.  The place was decent looking, plastered and painted walls even.  A bed a table and a few chairs.  Bed didn’t look like it had been used in twenty years and the place was dusty, except for places on the table where hand movement had removed some dust and footprints in the dusty floor.

Then Fred and Ted spotted a couple of suitcases and being nosy fellows, opened them and looked in.  Big shock, one was full of cocaine and the other full of mostly one hundred dollar bills, a few stack of twenties also.

Ted and Fred quickly surmised that this was a drug gang’s hidey hole and the smartest thing to do was touch nothing and get out of there, which they did.

They continued onto the fishing hole talking about what they had seen and hoping no one would find out they had been in there. They went down and sat on the dock, rigged up their poles and began fishing.  There were only a few unproductive nibbles, even though they had good luck there on previous visits.

They had been fishing for about an hour when that gray and blue mini van pulled up. Six big ugly tough looking gang banger types piled out.  Fred and Ted though oh no! they know we were there and they have found us.  That was not the case; those toughs each had a fishing pole in their hands.  However true to their nature they told Fred and Ted to scram, there wasn’t enough room for them to stay.

Needless to say Fred and Ted were only to glad to accommodate their polite request.  In fact Fred and Ted complied with great haste.  They could hear that drug dealing gang laughing themselves silly as they departed.

About two months went by, during which time drought conditions were lowering water levels considerable.  Fred and Ted having got over their fright said lets grab our poles and head back to that fishing hole.  If the water’s way down we might be able to see whether or not the legendary swimming pool actually exists.

So off they went.  On the way Ted had Fred stop so Ted could get the morning newspaper.  Ted’s home paper hadn’t been delivered yet because they had left very early.  As they were driving Ted opened to the second page and his eyeballs almost popped out.  He said pull over for a second and look at this.  Fred did, and he saw what Ted saw, namely a picture of that blue and grey van with the picture of those tough drug dealers along side of it.  The article went on to say that the police had caught them with a van load of drugs.  The judge had denied bail, and the speculation was they would get twenty years or more.

Fred and Ted looked at each other and it’s almost like they read each others mind; they went with great haste back to that dugout hidey hole on the way to the fishing hole.  Rushed in and sure enough the two suitcases were still there.  Fred and Ted did somewhat of a responsible thing, they poured kerosene on the cocaine and set fire to it to destroy it.  The cash somehow found its way out with them and mysteriously put itself in their car trunk.  They knew they at this point had nothing to fear from those drug dealers finding out anything.

As long as they were this close to the old fishing hole they happily continued on to see what they could see.  They saw plenty, indeed there was a swimming pool.  Its edges were only about six inches below river water level now and it was easy to spot.

They splashed on out to it and looked down into it.  Whoa! There were three huge catfish trapped.  One looked to be in the eighty pound category and the other two in the forty to fifty pound category.  Now we all know that snagging is illegal, but boys will be boys and temptation to get those fish was great.  It was a struggle because snagged fish are harder to land than regularly hooked fish.

But they managed to get both the smaller ones out.  Later they would weigh in at forty five pounds for one and fifty two pounds for the other.  The big brute of a catfish, they didn’t get him, he was just too much to handle, in fact he broke both their poles, and they weren’t cheap poles.

In any case Fred and Ted weren’t complaining much, they were happy with the total catch from both holes.