Chapter 20 Version 2
1967
“When we got to Hawaii, we had to use invasion money” said
Stanley as he sat by his pool in the heat of a Saturday summer evening.
“What is invasion money?” asked John.
“Well, the Japs might invade Hawaii at any time so the US
government took all the paper money and stamped it with Hawaii on the front and
the back so it would be worthless if the enemy got ahold of it. I still have
some. Want to see it?”
“Sure” replied John who started collecting coins and stamps
around 1959 when he noticed they changed the back of the penny from a couple of
stalks of wheat to the Lincoln Memorial. Someone said if you look real hard you
could see Lincoln sitting in his chair.
Stanley went inside and came out a few minutes later with an
envelope. He opened the envelope to show a five dollar bill and a few one
dollar bills with the word Hawaii stamped on the front twice in small letters
and the outline of the word in large letters stamped on the back. They were
silver certificates but they had brown serial numbers and seal instead of the
familiar blue. They were from 1935 so they also lacked the words “In God We
Trust” on the back above the word “One”. The first money to have “In God We
Trust” was a two cent piece from 1864 during the Civil War to show that God was
on the side of the Union. One dollar bills began to show the motto in 1957
after “In God We Trust” was made the official motto of the United States in
1956 to show our tie to God versus Godless communism during the Cold War. In
colonial times, the motto used but never officially adopted was “E Pluribus
Unum” which John translated from his high school Latin class as “From Many One”
showing that from the many diverse states there was one country. “Under God”
was also added to the Pledge of Allegiance on Flag Day in 1954. John recited
the pledge every school morning in homeroom without the phrase “under God” and
refused to bow his head to pray to the consternation of the homeroom teacher
who John stared down. John didn’t mind prayer but he was not going to be forced
to pray. He would be spiritual in a time and manner of his own choosing. He had
stopped going to CCD class because the lay teacher after consulting the priest
declined to include a discussion on the nature of God and besides, the CCD
class conflicted with seeing “The Monkeys” on TV.
“Do you want one of these?” asked Stanley and John readily
accepted the gift of a one dollar Hawaii note. “Money” was John’s second word
after “Moon” and he learned the word from Stanley.
Then Stanley made an unusual offer.
“If you want to come fishing tomorrow for big trout in the
Quabbin, Ed and I leave at 4am. Bring what you want to eat and drink for lunch
and we will be back for supper.”
“We know how to catch
the big ones now. Jack got us some stainless steel line from the wire mill and
we use deep sea poles. You have to troll at just he right speed with a five
pound sinker to get to the bottom. Then you bounce the sinker off the bottom
and it drives them big trout crazy and they” at this point Stanley lunged at
John’s arm making a biting grip between his fingers and his thumb while
continuing to talk “GRAB_AT_IT” while raising his voice to get the maximum
effect which was enough to cause John to jump about six inches off of his chair.
After laughing at John’s reaction, Stanley reeled himself in. Raising one
finger and talking lower than usual Stanley continued “but you have to find the
ledges where it gets deep because that’s where the big trout hang out.”
John regained his composure. He fished for bluegills in Nashawannuck
Pond, perch in the Oxbow, and catfish in the Connecticut River. “How big are
these trout?”
“Four to five pounds and 36” to 42” long” Stanley offered
up.
John could not imagine a trout that big never mind catching
one. “I will be there.”
John packed a ham sandwich with American cheese on Wonder
Bread, an apple, a cold cream soda, some ring dings and potato chips before
going to bed and put a paperback copy of John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” in his
windbreaker’s pocket. His father Joe saw John reading the book about the first
atomic bomb dropped on Japan but never made any comment on it.
It was still dark when they pulled inside the bait shop.
“Got any good size bait?” The proprietor showed Stanley and his brother-in-law
two 10” fish, their dark upper backs barely visible in the water filled tub. In
the net they looked like “keepers” to John. They purchased a few smaller
minnows and then it was off to gate 8. The seventeen foot wooden Old Town boat
slid off the trailer and into Boston’s water supply out in Western
Massachusetts. Because of the size of the reservoir and the distance from where
it was going to be consumed, low powered gas engines for fishing were allowed
on the reservoir. There were no water skiers. The wooden Old Town boat putted
out toward a predetermined spot that Stanley and Ed had determined from
topographical maps would be good fishing spots where there would be ledges with
large drop offs.
“Come up and steer the boat while I prepare my bait” Stanley
called to John. “See where that big tree is on the other side of the reservoir?
Just keep the boat on course toward that tree.”
Stanley knelt down and grabbed one of the big bait fish from
the galvanized metal bucket. He took out the largest hook that John had ever
seen. With the bait fish in one hand and the hook in the other hand, Stanley
proceeded to insert the hook through the mouth of the fish and up through the
top of the head pulling some extra line through. He then sewed the hook down
the back of the fish until the hook was at the tail. The hook was attached to the largest clear
filament line John had ever seen.
“If you put the hook through the gills like most fishermen
do, the bait won’t swim true. The big trout will notice that there is something
wrong and they won’t hit on your bait.” Stanley attached the filament leader to
an enormous swivel that was already attached to the stainless steel line and
pulled out a five lb weight he attached at the swivel. He swung the bait fish
out into the water along side of the boat. It swam straight and true. But then
Stanley pulled the bait out of the water.
“Look over here” Stanley instructed pointing toward the
water, “trees”. John looked and a few yards from the surface of the crystal
clear water was a forest of stumps. Then a rock wall appeared and the stumps
disappeared.
“During the depression the state took four towns by eminent
domain – they took the land and made everybody move out. The buildings were
moved or burned and all the trees where the water was going were cut down. With
the drought going on now the water is down about 100 feet from full and you can
see this stuff on the bottom in some places. The fishing gets better because
there is less place for the fish. If you troll through the forest, you are going
to get snagged and maybe lose you line or your pole if you’re not careful. Here
is your pole. You fish off the back.” Stanley handed John a light fishing rod
with a night crawler on a “normal” size hook. The large baits were down on the
bottom now with Ed’s off on one side and Stanley’s on the other. John pulled
out his book and didn’t really care if he caught anything. He was here for the
ride.
After a few minutes of trolling, Stanley’s rig quivered in
its holder. He picked up the rod and felt the line with one finger. The rod
bent and instantly Stanley pulled the tip of the rod toward the front of the
boat.
“I got him” said Stanley “reel in the lines and shut off the
motor”. Ed had already shut off the motor and was busy reeling in his line.
John was reeling in too. The fish would make moves as it was being pulled up to
entangle the lines. Stanley brought the tip of his pole up and reeled in as he
dropped it down to create slack. If normal tackle were used, this could take
hours to exhaust the fish without putting so much strain on the line that it
snaps. With the steel line this was not a problem. Brute force lifted the fish
toward the boat.
It was a ballet of two fishermen who would exchange roles
depending upon who hooked the prey. This time Stanley was the lead and Ed was
the supporting cast. John’s role was to stay out of the way. Ed grabbed the net
and watched where the fish forced the dance. This time the fish danced under
the boat from one side to the other never giving Ed a chance to net him until
Stanley worked the fish far enough out and Ed had him in the net. A yard of
trout. Brown trout.
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