Earl's Fate

Rain pounded the windshield as Earl was trying to tune in the ball game. It was early April and he desperately wanted to hear the events of opening day at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies had done so well going all the way to the World Series the year before and Earl new that the team would be hot again this year. Springtime in the Rocky Mountains can be rewardingly deceptive and taunting at times. As he made his way through a canyon up towards the river he couldn’t help but imagine how great the fishing would be. He wanted to stop at one of his favorite fly shops in Edwards but waiting another minute to get on the river would seem like an eternity since he had waited all winter for this moment. He also needed some food and a few cold beers wouldn’t be too bad either he thought and as the rain kept coming, despite the smug Denver weatherman’s forecast he thought it wise to buy some time in hopes of the weather letting up. He decided to take the frontage road to get into town and would size up the river that followed seamlessly along the road as if the two had evolved together. This way he could check the clarity and the flow of the river and make some other assessments before heading to the fly shop to get some last minute weapons for his arsenal of flies that would surely render him the successful fly fisherman he was sure to become within the afternoon. As he approached one of his favorite pullouts along the Eagle River he felt his truck pulling very awkwardly to the left and before he was off the pavement the dread of his fate had already filled his anxious heart with disappointment. A flat tire. And these tires only had a few thousand miles on them since he had to buy new shoes for his rig just before winter so the snow wouldn’t get the best of him. But now it was clear that this was in fact, a flat tire and the clarity of the source was as translucent as the water in the river. He had been in a parking lot earlier in Denver where there was construction going on and he must have picked up a nail or a screw. The thought of losing time on the river cut into him and although it wasn’t an event of any sort of magnitude, it was a snag in the day and would effectively disrupt his mojo.

He got out of the truck and before sizing up the immediate project, he took a moment to find some balance in the situation by walking to the edge of the river to day dream about the first spring day of fishing. The rain had let up and thankfully since he was going to have to get onto the ground to change the front left tire. As he was trying to find some levity in the moment he found himself getting more and more anxious and with a spring in his step, he leaped toward the truck with great enthusiasm to fix the flat tire so he could get on his way. As he was setting up his jack he noticed under the truck a piece of paper that looked like a lottery ticket. As he picked it up he noticed that it was in deed a lottery ticket with a phone number scribbled on the back of it. He was about to crumple it up to put it in his pocket to throw away later when the thought occurred to him that he might take a peek at the date on the ticket. Last week’s lottery, he quickly noted and this was a Powerball ticket that involved multiple states and just that morning on the same news channel where the smug weatherman had wrongly predicted the weather once again, there was quick story about how nobody had won the Powerball lottery in weeks so the purse was up to eight-six million. “Oh man, what I wouldn’t do to win that kind of money”, Earl mumbled to himself. But he wasn’t the kind of guy to sink money into these things and he rarely let himself drift off about such silly hearted long shots that only brought disappointment and dissolution to those who hoped to win the life changing amounts of money. Still, he couldn’t help but think that when he picked up beer later, he would have the clerk run the ticket just in case. Amazingly, despite all the rain that day, the tick was still legible, even the phone number on the back. He wondered what the phone number could be and how somebody could discard the ticket, not to mention that it had been littered, and right along the riverside. This kind of trash was nothing new to things he had seen along roadside rivers all over the state. How could people be so reckless and apathetic about the environment they were so fortunate to be so close to and how could they denigrate the beauty of its entirety? This always perplexed Earl and he would find himself occasionally having some sort of thoughts about retribution with the offenders and especially the smokers who so carelessly flicked their butts without any regard for the ramifications. He recalled the time he found and old bird feeder in the Crystal River way up in the mountains in the shadows of 6 fourteen thousand foot peaks. How, he wondered at the time, could a bird feeder end up in the middle of the river? He never did find out or have any ideas as to how such a random item could be so displaced but it was still hanging up outside his house and thousands of birds throughout the years had enjoyed it as Earl rarely let it run empty. The treasure of the river that he had plundered had become a staple in his daily routine and he always thought about how serendipitous the discovery had been, despite the fact that it was actually a piece of garbage in the river.
Now Earl realized that he had drifted off in light hearted reminiscence as he had been putting the spare tire on his truck and before he knew it he was done with the repair and ready to move along. He decided that rather than spend the time going to town for food and some extra flies, he would stay in his predestined spot and make due with his knowledge and existing flies. The food he could always go without since he lost sight of time and anything else earthly or human when he was fishing. It was as if he were in a time warp and the only thing that mattered was the next cast and now all the anticipation from the winter and the events of the day were going to come to fruition as he made the decision to simplify his day and jump right in the river where fate had led him. Besides, the rain had let up and he was feeling pretty good about remedying his flat tire. Just maybe, this would prove to be a good fishing hole and there wasn’t another person anywhere in sight. Maybe he would check the lottery ticket later after dark. Part of his day would now include some thought about being independently wealthy and having nothing but spare time to fish all the rivers he had ever dreamed of throughout the years. What if, just what if his fate which at the time had seemed so miserable, would turn his life upside down? He didn’t really think of it that way as he headed into the river and began to cast upstream.