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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Gone Fishing (02/01/07)
Barefoot, tired and footsore, twelve year old Timothy limped through the door and fell exhausted into the one and only chair in the room.

"What happened, Son? You look awful!" his mother greeted him. "Were you robbed or..."

"Please, Mama," Timothy interrupted, wearily holding up his hand to stop the barrage of questions; "you won't believe," he gasped, "just a drink of water, Mama, and I'll explain...just give me a minute."

Tim's mother hurried to the kitchen, returning with a cask of water, then sat down on the floor at the bruised and battered feet of her young son.

Gulping down a big swig of water, Timothy began to pour out the trials of his exasperating and unbelievable day.

"Mama, you won't believe it.

"First, it took me about an hour to get to Capernaum. Once there, I immediately went to Doc Plagos place to get the salve medicine for Suzie, but there was a "Gone Fishing" sign on Doc's door; so I decided to go to the mercantile store, get the food supplies, then stop back by Doc's place on the way back home.

"Well, I get to the mercantile store, and lo and behold, it too is closed with a big "Gone Fishing" sign on it's door. Unbelievable, Mama! Old man Thuse NEVER goes fishing! He doesn't even leave his store, afraid he might miss a coin or two. Anyways, by then I'm tired and hungry, so I stop by Aunt Beth's hoping to get something to eat and drink.

"And Mama, you won't believe this, but on Aunt Beth's door is a sign..."

"Not a 'Gone Fishing' sign?"

"Yep."

"That can't be true, Tim, Aunt Beth's scared to death of water."

"No lie, Mama! Wait 'til I tell you. So I walk down to the Lake of Galilee...or is it a Sea? Whatever, it's another long trek; but I just gotta find out what's going on with all this sudden interest in fishing, right?

"Well, the lake is jam packed with people! Row boats galore, people on the shore, in the lake, shoving and pushing for space with nets, poles and fishing stuff. It was a madhouse!"

Tim takes another swig of water from the cask.

"Go on, go on." his mother urges.

"Well, suddenly I get a glimpse of Aunt Beth with a fishing net, standing knee deep in the water a few yards out from the beach, so I try to wiggle my way through the crowd. Instead, I fall down in the mud, lose my sandals, and then get knocked down again, so I give up.

"I'm tired, hungry, thirsty, and I've lost my only pair of shoes - so I head for home. That's when I get clued into what all the fuss is about.

"A kid trudging home on the Bethsaida road told me the whole story. It seems that yesterday a big fisherman by the name of Simon Peter caught a fish with a silver coin in it's mouth.

"Well, the news spread like wild fire, and the rumor was that the fish in the Sea of Galilee have silver imbedded in their mouths!"

Timothy's mother shook her head in disbelief. "No wonder everybody's gone fishing crazy. Such fools, such greed! Come on, Son, let me bind up your bruised feet and get you some supper; you've had a long, hard day."

"I'm alright, Mama, I'll wait and eat supper with Papa, he'll be home soon."

"I have a feeling that your Father will be late."

Suddenly, mother and son's eyes meet, then simultaniously and in perfect unison they both groan, "Oh no, he's gone fishing"... which is immediately followed by a big bear hug and the eruption of side-splitting, raucous laughter.


________________________________________________________
Full and Complete True Story of the Silver Mouthed Fish:
Matt 17: 24-27 (Any and all versions)
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This article has been read 1526 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Mariane Holbrook
02/08/07
What an utterly delightful account of a wonderful story!
I marvel at the way your imagination works to create such great dialog. Being a lifelong though not terribly successful fisherman, I got caught up in this and could see myself putting down my iron in the kitchen and dashing to join those at the water's edge. Marilyn dear, you have a wonderful gift of storytelling. I hope you save all these gems and put them in book form. What a great collection this would be. Please save me the first autographed copy. This is a gem of an article. Beaucoup kudos!
Dolores Stohler 
02/09/07
Ho, ho! Never saw the humor in this before 'til you wrote it up. You're right! It must have caused quite a stir and I can just see all those people fishing on the banks, trying to catch a fish with a coin in it's mouth. Great insight!
Connie Van Berkel
02/10/07
Your imagination truly comes through in this piece. I read through it several times to grasp it all.
Kathie Thomas
02/10/07
I'll never see this bible story in the same light again. Thank you - well done.
Dennis Fletcher
02/10/07
Wonderful story, well written, I definately need to reread the scripture.
Christine Dunn
02/10/07
Well done. The dialogue was perfect.
Jan Ackerson
02/10/07
This is delightful, Marilyn--I don't think you write much fiction, but you should definitely visit it more often. You gave Timothy a wonderfully authentic voice, and created a great Biblical fiction story.

A few things: watch out for "it's/its", and there were a few spots where you switched tenses. Very easy fixes, not detracting from the charm of this story.

Very creative, and a unique approach to the topic.
william price
02/10/07
Great story Marilyn! Great minds think alike. I had started a story with a family arriving in a town where everybody had "Gone Fishin" signs on their door. I'm glad I didn't finish it because it would never have compared to this. Excellent. One of your best. God bless.
Betty Castleberry
02/10/07
This is an easy, entertaining read. You told a familiar story with a very fresh approach. The dialogue is right on. Well done.
Sheri Gordon
02/11/07
Very fun to read. This is one of those Bible stories I don't remember too often, but I surely won't forget it now.
Shari Armstrong 
02/12/07
This was just great! We actually just read this scripture in Sunday school today. Frank leaned over and said, "There's your fishing story. You should have written it from the fish's point of view."
Leslie Lamb
02/12/07
I concur with what everyone else said. Well done.
cindy yarger
02/12/07
Well done. I could picture this happening. Fun idea.
Daniel Owino Ogweno
02/12/07
This was a delightful read. Very humorous. But it was not just a 'wild' imagination. I see a reality for a lesson behind the humour: Whenever Jesus gives Peter a 'silver mouthed fish' from the sea of Galilee (for a special function), we all rush there, expecting to get exactly what Peter got. What about that for building of doctrines around isolated 'special' experiences? Thanks for the lesson.
Jacquelyn Horne
02/13/07
Everyone has said so much, but I got a laugh out of the fact that they both had Papa's number. Cute.
Edy T Johnson
02/16/07
This account is just too clever, Friend! What a delightful read. I admire your creativity---I never would have thought this one up, but it makes sense what could have happened had the news spread through town.