Outdoors

I grew up where the vehicles were covered in dust. You couldn't hear the cars on the interstate and the stars weren't voided out by the big glowing lights. I spent majority of my childhood here. For me being outside was an escape. You could hear the birds singing and smell the freshly cut grass from the lawn.
On summer break you could never find me inside the house, not because my family didn't get along but, because I could do so many other things outdoors. There were days when my mother would have to call for me in the late evenings just to get me inside.
My kid sister and I had many adventures at our secret place. We fought a turtle for my fishing pole and rode make believe horses along the bank. The green moss along the edge was the dragonflies home and the occassional baby frog. The water was a brown, not like the ocean clear and blue but, it was different and mine.
Early mornings my sister and I would look in dark, damp, and cool places to find the funniest of things, worms. We would find enough, put them in a coffee can full of dirt and fishing poles in hand and take off. We would look around the bank and look for the perfect spot. I would cast a line and wait. The sun would reflect off the water like dancing diamonds, almost a trance.
One day my red and white bobber started bouncing, I almost lost my breath. I kept watching and then it went under the water. I jerked and pulled with all my might and I had something on the end, I could feel it moving. I put up a fight for a long time, then it happened the huge fish jumped out of the water, at least at the time I thought was big. I kept pulling and reeling and then it made it to the bank. I picked it up and the colors were like I had never seen silver, green, and brown. It was perfect, but I put the fish back in the water, hoping I could catch him another day.
This place was my second home during the summer months. It is something that I will always remember, the time I fought the giant fish and lived the to tell the tale.