Bass Man...A story

Not far from here, behind an old barn, next to an old Oak Tree, there’s a mysterious round circle called Rue Pond.

Now pay attention, because you don’t want to miss this warning. Rumor has it that Rue Pond is haunted by an old man named Mr. Hucklebee. According to the locals, he’s part man, part fish and part lots of other things you’d never want to set your eyes on.

Supposedly Mr. Hucklebee doesn’t like kids much. He thinks they’re messy. And loud. And that they don’t listen to adults. And because he’s part fish, if he ever catches you fishing his pond, he’ll slip you on a hook just like a worm.

So for days and months and years, no boy ever dared set foot within pole’s length of Rue Pond. Until a boy named Danny Conway came to town. Now Danny had heard the rumors. But he’d also heard how big the fish were in Rue Pond. So after thinking about it back and forth and left and right, Danny finally decided that catching a fish as big as a house was worth the risk of running into this Mr. Huckleberry guy.

So, pole in one hand, can of worms in the other, Danny climbed the fence that bordered Rue pond. Before you know it, he had his line in the water and his feet propped up in front of him. With shade from the mighty Oak, and a gentle breeze blowing from the South, Danny was soon catching something besides Bass and Catfish. Something called zzzz’s. And it’s very tasty indeed.

Now don’t make the same mistake Danny made and get too comfortable. Because you’re about to meet someone you’ve been warned about. . .

As Danny drifted off, his bobber suddenly went down his pole bent over and the mightiest tug he’d ever felt, pulled him to his feet. Rod gripped as tightly as possible in his hands, it was then that Danny saw something weirder than the wieredest, and stranger than the strangest. What leapt from the water wasn’t a fish. It was Mr. Hucklebee. And he had Danny’s hook in his mouth.

If you know what a mermaid looks like, then you can picture Mr. Hucklebee. Except he wasn’t a she. And he wasn’t even remotely good looking. Or young. Or happy. In fact he looked downright mean. He had a long, grey mustache, that dissolved into a bass whisker- the kind that can sting you if you touch it. His bony fingers had webbing in between them like a frog. And the gills running down both sides of his face looked razor sharp. Oh, and as you might expect, he had a scaly flipper for legs- which he was currently using to swim straight at Danny.

At this point, you and you and you (including me) would turn to run. But Danny’s feet for some reason seemed to have stopped working. Stuck to the mud he was, like a magnet to metal. And just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder, Mr. Huckleberry turned into the following as he swam over to poor, dumb struck Danny:
1) A fire-breathing dragon (with a tail to swim)
2) Frankenstein (with a tail to swim)
3) A Lingot (a worm with big teeth and eyes. With a tail to swim.)
To Danny, it felt like an eternity for Mr. Hucklebee to reach him. But in reality, it only took about 3.2 seconds. And here’s the good part, (yes, there’s a good part.) As Mr. Hucklebee the Lingot with big teeth and eyes reached out to grab Danny, he awoke with a start. It was just a dream!

Instead of the Lingot, beside him sat an old man with a warm smile and a ham sandwich who must have crept over to him while he was sleeping. “Looks like you had yourself a nightmare,” he said. “How about something to eat? Always makes me feel better.”

Danny wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Who are you?”

“Mr. Hucklebee,” he said with a knowing smile. “You can’t always believe in rumors you know.” And as he handed Danny a ham sandwich, Danny could have sworn he spotted the glimmer of a scale from beneath his long sleeved shirt.