SLICK

© by Lonnie J. Good
All Rights Reserved

     Once upon a time there was a fish that wanted to be a man.  The fishes name was Slick, because he was very slick.

     Slick had a very nice home in a very nice brook.  There was always something to do, because the water was forever making new channels to swim down, with lots of thins to see.  But Slick would look upon the bank and see men walking and he would wonder what it would be like to be a man walking.

     Slick became so preoccupied with dreaming of being a man walking that he stopped following all the new channels that the flowing brook was making and he no longer would chase the skippers as they ran across the top of the water.  Slick no longer waited, with anticipation, for the sun to come up so he could go exploring.  Slick just sat around and thought about being a man walking.

     One day turned into another day, the sun came up and the sun went down, time after time, day after day.  The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and the months turned into years and Slick was getting older.       Slick didn’t move around much anymore, he had found a place where the water didn’t run too fast so he would not have to continually fight the current.  When Slick was younger, he didn’t mind fighting the current because that kept him strong.  And Slick was getting a little bit thin too; because he only ate those old bugs that were getting thin and slow.  Slick didn’t get to excited about chasing flies anymore, but when Slick was still happy being a fish, he had loved chasing flies, jumping high out of the water, catching them in his mouth and diving back down into the rippling brook…oh, at one time, Slick loved being a fish.  Slick didn’t think about those days much anymore, he was too busy wondering what it would be like to be a man walking. 

     One very hot afternoon Slick was taking a nap in the shade of a tall fir tree that was standing next to the brook.  Slick fell into a deep sleep and he had a dream.  In the dream Slick found himself swimming in the big river in the sky (that is where all the fishes go when they float away).  There was something exciting happening.  There were thousands and thousands of other fish and they were all swimming upriver very, very, fast, something was going on.  Slick was trying hard to keep up but he couldn’t, he was out of shape from just lying around and wondering what it would be like to be a man walking.  Finally, Slick got someone to slow down long enough to tell him what all of the excitement was about.

Slick asked the other fish, “What’s all the excitement about and where is everybody going?”  The other fish looked at Slick with a puzzled look and said, “Don’t you know?”  Slick said, “Know what?” The other fish said, “This is the day that we all get our legs to walk with–well not all–only those who are strong enough to swim up the great river, through the rapids and over the falls.”  Slick was just sick, for he knew that he was not going to make it.  And now he thought, “If only I would have been content and happy being a fish and if only I would have continued to chase flies and if I would have swam in the current, I would be strong enough to swim the big river and get legs.  He was very sad.

All at once he heard a very loud splash.  “What was that, where am I?” Slick realized that he had been dreaming and the loud splash that woke him from his lazy afternoon nap was his nephew, who had just flew two feet out of the water and then came diving back down into the water right next to Slick.

Slick’s nephew was named Slim, because he was so slim.  Slim said, “Come on Uncle Slick, there’s a bunch of mosquitoes flying up the brook.”  Slick didn’t even think, he mustered up all the energy that he had, he spotted one of those mosquitoes and out of the water he flew.  He caught it in his mouth and then dove back down into the rippling brook.  He stopped for just a minute and thought, “It’s good to be a fish.”  Slick and Slim swam of together, chasing mosquitoes, jumping high out of the water and catching them in their mouths and diving back down into the water.