Daddy's Fishing Trick

One summer evening when I was about fourteen, my Dad and I went fishing on a river close to our home town. It was a very popular fishing spot, and surprisingly there was no one else there that night. 

It had just begun to get dark. All was quiet, and Dad and I were enjoying the sounds of the summer night. I noticed that Dad had begun to look over at me quite a bit, but he said nothing. Trying to stay quiet, I didn't ask why. We sat a while longer, and He kept looking at me, and he began to grin. I knew my Dad well enough to know he was up to something, but I had no idea what. 

All of a sudden there was a loud, screeching sound right behind me, so loud that it hurt my ears and frightened me beyond belief. The next thing I knew I was up to my knees in the edge of the river, soaking wet from the splash, my hair dripping. My Dad could hardly stand up to help me out of the water because he was laughing so hard. He had watched a tiny screech owl walk up behind me, not realizing that this very still statue sitting on the ground was a real person. It must have finally realized I was there, made an alarmed and frightful scream, and ran for the brush. 

After I was out of the water, and the truth was known that I was not going to be eaten by some huge animal, I had a good laugh about it, but it took a long time for me to stop shaking and calm down. It took a long time, months...years, for my Dad to stop laughing about it. It didn't seem to bother him that this was one of those few times we went home empty handed.