The Fisherman's Revenge

When we lived at the "Farley Place", we had the best neighbors in the world.  Darrel and Bonnie Wages were (and are) the "salt of the earth" type of folks.  Their sons, David and Eric, were close to mine and Ralph's ages so it was perfect situation (or storm, depending on how you look at it).  One Friday night, Dave and Ralph were getting to go gallivanting around somewhere and refused to let the little brothers tag along.  Eric and I got mad, pouted and whined but to no avail.  We weren't going.

Mr. Wages (I still have trouble calling him Darrell when I see him) saw the great injustice we were suffering and decided to do something about it.  He offered to take Eric and I fishing.  That boosted our spirits and it didn't take long to load our fishing gear in Mr. Wages, "West Plains Cheese Factory", work truck and head out.  We drove down the Old Lanton Road and parked at the Evergreen Cemetery.  Mr. Bill Bratton owned a big pond just south of the cemetery fence.  So...since Mr. Bratton owned the West Plains Cheese Factory on Howell Avenue by the railroad tracks...and since Mr. Wages worked for him....we had permission to fish in "Bratton's Pond".

We fished until it was getting dark and I don't remember catching anything...until...I went to the southeast side of the pond.  There was an old wooden fence that went out in to the pond a little ways and I threw my lure right beside that fence.  The lure?  It was called a "Hellbender" and when it hit the water it certainly lived up to it's name!!  It was like someone had threw a big ole rock into the pond!...A big bass jumped on the Hellbender the moment it hit the water!  I was playing the fish for all I was worth, trying to keep it from getting hung up in the fence and hollering for Eric all at the same time!  I finally got it to the shallow water and Eric waded in and helped me get it to the bank.  It was a Whopper!  It was the biggest fish I had ever caught!  Mr. Wages had some scales and it weighed five and one/half pounds.  As you can imagine, the fishing was over for the night and I was in a hurry to get home!  We high-tailed it home and I strutted around like I was Bill Dance.  And don't think I didn't try to rub it in on Ralph and Dave!  I was hard to live with for a few days!

I thank God for people like Mr. Wages, that took time out of his busy schedule to help a couple of little boys make some fantastic memories.

1972-1973 I was around nine years old