A Fishing Trip

March 21, 1985.

8:00PM

TODAY WAS ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE!!!!

Dad finally got the time to take me fishing!

We set out really early, even Mom wasn't awake yet. Dad made sandwiches. I packed all the fishing gear and stuff. We drove for about 4 hours till we were really far from the city. Then after an exit, we drove through the pothole filled country road. We stopped near a field and dad said we had to hike. So, we hiked for 2 hours till we finally reached our spot, a vast, beautiful lake that stretched further than the eye could see, surrounded by hills and mangroves and contained about every kind of freshwater fish species. Dad kept this small boat tied to the pier, which we used whenever we came here. I'm not trying to boast, but though it took longer than usual, today's was the best catch that we ever had!

We returned home with our bounty and were excited to see the look on Mom's face, instead, she was all teary, her face full of worry. We sat her down, gave her a glass of water and when we thought she had calmed down, I showed her the pictures we took during the trip. But she caught me by the shoulders and shouted, "Sammy, please! Listen to me. Don't make this any harder on yourself!" I still don't know what she's talking about. I think she's losing her mind. Dad's really worried. But he's been very busy with his work lately and hardly comes home. And when he does, Mom doesn't want to talk to him. It's been like this for a while now, a year and a half to be exact. Mom's always very sad and moody, even when me and Dad try to cheer her up. People keep visiting our house when Dad's away.

I hope everything's okay between my Mom and Dad. And. And I really hope people stop saying that my Dad's dead. I hope that they stop telling me to let go.

A.N.   There were page long descriptions of their fishing trips in the diary and stuck to one of the pages was an old faded photograph dated March 21 ,1985, of Sammy holding a giant fish in one hand and the other hand wrapping around thin air.