– continued from last week’s episode –

They had not spoken in a fortnight. Sally had become temperamental and appeared to be distancing herself from a relationship in which she accused her betrothed fishing partner of spending more time on the lake than with her.

Flathers knew in his heart this could not be further from the truth… He would knowingly swim naked along a mud-caked-bottom of a lake, loaded with pinching crayfish, if it meant proving his feelings for Sally. Worse case scenario he might exit the water with an oversized blood sucking leech attached to you-know-what.

Just recently he passed on an offer to go to northern Manitoba for a trout bite, that just happened to coincide with a caribou migration. Instead, he found himself seated alongside a fashion model runway in Gumlog, Georgia (also a known destination in which elephants migrate to die).

Uncomfortably, he watched as buyers and anglers alike ogled and drooled while Sally peacocked the latest in fishing fashion. Was he jealous? Does a walleye hit a gold jig tipped with a shiner minnow! Absolutely!

Like many in the business… Sally was a consummate professional who also thirsted dangerously for bright lights.  This gave way to serious doubt for Flathers as to whom they could honestly trust in the industry.  They lived the fast-paced lifestyle of a Cinderella (Flathers was more so the Cinderella) couple surrounded by masses of media. Sooner or later a fuse was likely to be lit.

“Hello Rusty,” she murmured with a slight hint of drunkenness. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Sally, listen!” he stammered. “I’m out on the lake and something horrendous has happened. I need your help!”

She quickly sobered…

– To be continued –