The Women at the Pier

There are two women on the pier, fishing. They are both wearing big floppy hats, the kind with the scarf around the brim that ties under the chin. Big floppy hats! Really big! The women are wearing very bright and colorful flowered blouses, the kind of colors that make me need to put my sunglasses on! They have clam diggers on, or pedal pushers, or Capri’s; what you call them depends on which year you were born in. I sure did smile when I saw that both women were wearing hibachi sandals; those sandals from back in the late sixties – the ones that made so much noise when you walked in them!

I watched the woman as they got out of the car, loading their arms up with fishing gear. They were chatting away. I could actually feel their closeness, best friends. I imagined that these two women have a long history together. I sensed that the two women had shared many of life’s experiences together (new babies, weddings, funerals, daily struggles and daily successes).

As they walked toward the pier, they laughed a lot, which made me smile at them, again.

One of the women just reeled in a fish. The other is almost screeching something that appears to be congratulations!

The fish, not too thrilled about being away from the water, is flopping around on the pier, which has caused the two women to giggle. The breeze carries the laughter to the table I sit at, writing.

I watch as the woman who caught the fish removes it from the line, and tosses it back into the water. She throws her fishing line back into the calm, waiting water, as she turns to her friend and says, “That was a really nice one”!

The laughter slows, and then dies out. The woman stands at the railing of the pier. In silence she waits for another fish to bite, so she can reel it in and giggle with her friend as it flops around on the pier. I imagine she will, then, pick up the fish and return it to the water, and maybe she will say. “That was a really nice one”!

I go back to my writing, and I find myself wondering…..should I call my best friend and ask her if she wants to go fishing? We would look terrific in floppy hats!