Born of Oak and Silver (The Caradoc Chronicles) (3 page)

Bram regarded me, his knobby hand thoughtfully brushing the length of his white beard. I could tell he was truly considering all the points of my finely crafted argument.

When I almost couldn’t stand the silence a moment longer, Bram finally voiced his conclusions. “I don’t know about putting a fish in a bowl on your mother’s table, she probably wouldn’t like that one bit.” His eyes twinkled up at me, and I grinned at the idea.

“
But, you are pretty convincing, Daine. So, how about I make you a deal? If we can talk to your parents about you going to school, then I will take you fishing.”

Bram used one of his gnarled index fingers to beckon me closer. I knelt down beside him in the tall grass, the
tall oak trees above shading us from the sun. As I bent my head close to his, he looked carefully around to make sure no one was near to overhear us. Whispering in an equally conspiring tone, he spoke next to my ear, “I know of a place where this really huge monster of a fish has been hanging out.” His eyes were large and bright as he drew away to look directly into mine. “William Thiery will never catch anything like this fish in his entire life,” he unnecessarily elaborated.

I leaned back, my eyes gleaming with promise and visions of glory.

“So, what do you think?” Bram inquired. “Do you think we can go and ask your parents about school?”

I was too caught up on the idea of catching his massive fish
, that was no doubt at least as big as I was, that I could only manage an enormous grin and a wild nod of my head.

That evening Bram presented his
plan of my receiving an education to my parents over dinner. However, Bram’s idea of school was not exactly what I’d had in mind as I’d mulled over the suggestion that afternoon. I’d assumed going to school meant frequenting a structure of sorts that was widely recognized to be a school, with other children, and with a teacher whom I did not yet know. As Bram expounded his idea to my parents, my conclusion that school might not be as bad as I originally thought it would be, vanished.

Bram informed my parents that he wanted to be my p
rivate tutor. If permitted, he would teach me to read and write in French, Latin, Greek, and English; complete complex mathematical equations; and even proficiently perform scientific experiments.

At first my parents were disbelieving that the old man genuinely desired to do such a thing. But, as Bram sincerely continued to tell them of his plans for me if they agreed, I could see the approval becoming ever more
evident in their eyes with every word he spoke.

And so it was, with little to no convincing needed, my parents readily agreed to Bram’s proposition. He was to be my teacher, and I his only student.

In two weeks, the day after my fifth birthday, Bram would come to collect me from our home. And then everyday thereafter, I was to gain my formal education day by slow and difficult day in the confines of his home, until the evening when he’d finally return me home in time for supper.

As I lay in bed that night, I was secretly outraged that my parents had not even asked me what I wanted. They didn’t even know
that the only reason I’d agreed was because Bram promised to take me fishing. Why couldn’t I just be a boy and fish whenever I wanted to?!

The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that
after my parents saw the giant of a fish Bram was going to help me to catch, they were going to forget all about this whole school mess and decide that I should take up fishing permanently. With that in mind, I lulled myself to sleep on thoughts of a magnificent battle between boy and fish. In the end—I bruised but still standing—stood victorious. And the fish that was no smaller than one of
Maman
’s cows, my unprecedented prize of triumph.

Bram arrive
d at our house early the next morning. I was just beginning my chores when he’d arrived. Upon entering the house, he informed my mother that he needed me immediately, and that my tasks would have to wait until I returned.

Seeing the pole in the old man’s hand, my mother gave him her quirked eyebrow
, and with a smile, began to interrogate him. “Really, must you have him now? He’s only just begun his chores, and I do not think that I can part with him until he is done.” She loved to tease him by adding a haughty lift to her already upturned nose.

“Oh yes
, Madame Dalton,” he bowed his head low, “it is absolutely imperative, and will be a matter of life and death if he does not come with me now.” Speaking so that only she could hear, he jovially added, while looking at her with his head still bowed, “At least, for him it is.”

My mother and friend stood silently while t
hey exchanged knowing glances with one another. I looked on hopefully, and prayed to the gods of fishing that Bram could somehow convince my mother to let me go with him now.

“I don’t know,
Monsieur Macardle,” she feigned a serious tone that I could not then tell was forged, “Daine has not finished his chores, and how will I ever teach him responsibility if you are always taking him away? I think it would be best if he were to stay until he has finished.”

Hearing that, my hopes deflated entirely. If Bram couldn’t convince my mother, then surely no one could. I looked down at the floor that I had been trying to sweep, and despite my best efforts, my bottom lip stuck
out and began to quiver.

My despair was such that I almost didn’t hear m
y mother when she spoke to Bram. I looked up at them from under the mass of hair that had fallen forward to cover my disappointment. It was her hazel eyes, so full of love and amusement, that drew me in.

“Ah, my
good sir will not always be this way. You’d best take him now, Bram, before I’m able to reconsider. And,” she added for good measure, speaking loudly and excitedly, “make sure he catches me a
really
big fish!”

My face broke into the largest smile it could manage. I dropped my broom and ran out
of the door, pausing only for a moment to turn and shout, “C’mon, Bram!”

The old man laughed as he quickly left the house in order to happily herd me to a pond that was on the edge of his property.

The pond was large, and over it hung the boughs of many leafy trees. The water rippled as fish mouthed the surface, eating their breakfast of various insects.

“Okay Daine,” Bram whispered, “I want you to whisper from now on. Do you see that little eddy over there where the stream flows into the pond?”

I nodded my head.

“Just to side of that is
where the fish I told you of has been lazing about. Now, if we walk quietly around that way, and set our line just between that eddy and the stream, I bet we’ll have him.”

We quietly walked around the pond. My little heart thumped with anticipation and excitement. We
stopped on the bank not far from the eddy and I watched, completely engrossed, as Bram deftly tied something to the hook that looked like a mayfly. “This is called a ‘fly’, Daine. You use it to hide your hook. The fish see something they think looks like breakfast, bite down, and much to their surprise find themselves with a hook instead. You ready?”

I again word
lessly nodded my head. My apple-round cheeks were beginning to hurt from smiling as big as I had been for so long.

“Alright then, here’s what we need to do,” Bram whispered again as he came around behind me with the pole in his hand. Carefully, he placed the pole in my hand and adjusted my grip
. When I had it, he placed his capable old hands over my own. “You need to cast the line into the water. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to do it. I’m going to help you.”

With a few quick flicks of
our wrists, he easily zipped the hook to exactly where he’d said it had needed to go.

I waited, eyeing the water with large
, excited hazel eyes. Watery plops could be heard from where the other fish continued to chomp the surface of the pond. Instinctively, I doubted Bram’s judgment. There were fish biting the water everywhere except for where we’d thrown our hook.

Bram continued to hold my hands
. Together, we began to slightly jerk the fishing rod a few times, causing the fly in the water to twitch too.

The seconds seemed hours to my all too excited mind. Still leaning over me, Bram began to speak something that was barely over a whisper. I felt a thrill reverberate through my entire body as his words began. Just as quickly as he started, he was just as soon finished, and the echoing feeling vanished.

Suddenly, the rod lurched down in my hands as a fish pulled and darted in a wild attempt to release itself from our line.

I let out a whoop of surp
rise and joy. “Bram, did we get it?!” I exclaimed, reveling in the feel of the bowing pole and the strength of the fish it held.

Affectionately the old man replied, “We caught something, but I don’t know if it’s him. Let’s bring it up and see.” 

Together we began to walk backward over the rocks and bramble. The line jerked recklessly as the fish fought to free itself. As we backed away, it was pulled out of the water and onto the muddy, pond’s edge. It flopped determinedly against the hard ground, its gills working desperately in an attempt to bring water into its lungs.

I stood there dumbfounded as I looked down on the biggest fish that I had ever seen.

Bram was right, it was a monster. It was so big, that it would have been impossible for me to bring it out of the water by myself.

Bram clapped me on the back, “Excellent job
, son!” and then he walked to the fish. Placing a hand under its white belly and another toward its tail, he lifted it up and brought it over to me so that I could see it face-to-face.

I was absolutely terrified. I’d never fished a day in my life before, but yet here I was staring at the biggest fish I’d ever seen, complete with two
matching rows of razor-sharp teeth moving up and down in its gasping mouth. I just knew its unblinking eyes were staring all of the hatred it could muster at me.

“Would you like to touch it, l
ad?” Bram asked me gently.

I think he knew that I was afraid.
But of course, I just stood there staring at my fish in stupefied wonderment. I barely managed to shake my head in a no.

Bram chortled and cheerfully laid the fish down on a bed of grass away from the pond. I followed him in silent a
we. “Daine, I’ll be right back. I need to go and get a basket from the house so we can carry that thing back for your mother.”

He wasn’t gone long,
but in his absence I finally managed to compose my flood of emotions into something I could actually express—fishing was fun!

“Bram!” I shouted as I saw him walking toward me with a large wicker basket in hand, “that was the greatest thing ever! And look at this fish! William Thiery is
going to piss himself when he hears about it!”

Bram laughed as he walked to me and crouched down to once again hold the fish in his hands.

“Did you see me, Bram!? I did it! I caught the biggest fish in the whole world!” I was dancing and jumping at this point, unable to contain an ounce of my overwhelming five-year old joy a single moment longer.

“Didyouseemehuh!Ican’tbelieveIcaughtafishonmyfirsttry!Dadisgoingtobesoproud!” I jumbled out in my excitement.

Bram, always calm, said nothing as I zipped around him in youthful bliss. He retained an ever charmed smile on his face as he watched me. I’d seen the same look on my parents’ faces, and guessed that that is what adults did when children were so happy they could scarcely breathe.

“Alright Daine, let’s get this cleaned up.” He withdrew a long and sharp knife from the sheath on his belt and crouched down as he cradled the fish over the water. “But, before we do anything, we need to thank the fish for giving himself to us.”

I nodded and solemnly bowed my head. With my face lowered, Bram began to again speak in a language that I didn’t know.

I eyed him from under the cover of my dark hair.
What on Earth is he saying?
I wondered as I watched him and listened. I felt what I can only describe as a warming, or a tingling, that grew and seemed to fill the world around us. The air suddenly felt alive. I looked around. Everything shimmered with life, colors, and depth that I had never seen before. My head came up, and I marveled at the scene around me.

When Bram was done with what I believe was his prayer, I could have sworn that
it almost felt as though the Earth sighed in sadness that his words were not continuing.

“Daine,” Bram’s voice now said in its usual timbre, “come close, I want to show you how this is done.”

I quickly crouched beside him in the mud and forgot everything I’d just seen in the experience of learning how to gut a fish.

*              *              *

My parents were rendered entirely speechless when they saw what lay on a bed of grass in a basket upon their table.

“I’ve never seen a fish like that come out of a pond,” my dad finally managed.

“Nor have I, Robert,” my mother added absently. Her eyes and mind were unable to truly tear themselves away from my fish.