LAST EDITED ON 01-05-04 AT 02:28 PM (EST)Little Johnny and Annemarie were the best of friends. Where you found one, you would almost surely find the other. They walked to school and back home together every day. They did homework together. They spent almost all of their weekends together. They even got in trouble together. Out of all these things, their most favorite thing to do together was to spend the day down at the fishin' hole.
This was no ordinary fishin' hole though, this was their secret fishin' hole that no one else knew about, or so they liked to believe. They even made a sign out of an old piece of wood they found in Johnny's garage that said "J & A private fishin' hole" and nailed it to the dead tree that leaned out over the water.
Despite being more of an old, overgrown drainage reservoir out in the middle of a small forest than an actual lake or pond, Little Johnny and Annemarie both insisted it was loaded with fish, even though they had never actually managed to catch one.
"Johnny, why do you insist on going back to that place? You know you're just wasting your time." His mother would ask, knowing full well what his response would be.
"Me and Annemarie are gonna catch you some dinner, momma!!" He said proudly.
"Well I hope you plan to skin it and clean it too, because I sure as heck won't be touching anything that comes out of there."
"Yessum." Johnny answered solemnly as he and Annemarie headed out the back door.
It was a pleasantly cool Autumn afternoon, partly cloudy, but no sign of rain. A constant, gentle breeze out of the North swirled through the trees and added a bit of a chill at times. As soon as the fishin' hole came into view a big smile came across Annemarie's face while shouting "race ya", and took off towards the water, leaving Little Johnny in her dust. By the time Johnny got to the fishin' hole, Annemarie had already baited her hook and was ready to start fishing.
"What took ya' so long, slowpoke?" She asked jokingly.
"You cheated and you know it!"
"Sooo!" She replied, giggling.
Annemarie waited for Little Johnny to catch his breath and bait his hook then walked over to her usual spot and cast her bait out into the water. Johnny did the same. The first two hours were pretty much how they always were; more talking than fishing. They would talk about school, life, and random everyday topics, not really paying much attention to their corks. Every once in a while they'd move to a different spot hoping for better luck.
Johnny blamed their lack of success on the fact that they didn't have a boat. He just knew that if they could get out closer to center that they'd hit the jackpot. Annemarie was certain it was the icky worms they always used. She thought they should be using gummi bears, but anytime she remembered to bring a few with her, they were always long gone before they started fishing.
The next few hours were pretty much the same, only a little less talking and really not much fishing at all. The sun was dipping lower and lower in the sky and the shadows from the trees grew long. The breeze had died down a bit, but with cloudy skies, it began to get slightly chilly.
"Annemarie, c'mere, quick!" Johnny said excitedly.
Annemarie looked up briefly to see where Johnny was then tossed her pole to the ground and ran over to see what all the excitement was about. She didn't think it was a fish, because Johnny was looking at something on the ground instead of in the water. Once she got a little closer, she could see it clearly wasn't a fish.
"What is it, Johnny?" Asked Annemarie, sounding kind of disappointed.
"A sillypede, I think! I just remember seeing something like that in our science book and I think that's what it was called. Pretty cool, huh!?" He exclaimed.
"You mean a centipede?" She asked.
"That's what I said, a cennypede!!" He replied, sure of himself.
Annemarie just smiled and nodded her head. "It's starting to get late, let's go home Johnny." She said.
"Yeah, okay, let's go." He agreed.
They walked home slowly, telling stories and swapping jokes and contemplating life as usual. When they got to Annemarie's street, Johnny stopped her and said "race ya to your house!" They both smiled and took off running. Little Johnny knew he could beat her so he ran backwards. He still won anyway because Annemarie was too tired to actually try.
"Hey, you cheated!" She said jokingly.
"Sooo!" He kidded back.
They both laughed. The two friends shared a hug, told each other goodnight, and agreed that they would do the same thing tomorrow. Annemarie watched Johnny walk down the street until she could no longer see him. She then quietly closed the front door and went upstairs to wash up for dinner.
Little Johnny and Annemarie were the best of friends.
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