It was a scorching summer day in East Texas, I reckoned the sun had an intention to follow me around all day. I was out of school for the summer, and Granny decided that she wanted to go out for a fish. She told me to tag along because she knew how much I loved to fish in the summers. As if I would say no, it may have been scorching hot outside, but I’d fish in any weather.
“Miss May has a big ‘ol back yard with a pond, she says that she doesn’t mind if we come over to fish,” Granny said. “Put on your shoes, we’re about to head out.”
We bounded her burgundy 1996 Volkswagen and hit the road. This was the first time that Granny had driven in months. Sometimes she would get so sick that she couldn’t fend for herself. It was good to see her in good spirits and health today. I can tell that when Granny was younger, she was very active and loved to do things that people would consider risky. I was a lot like her.
“Now, you know that you don’t know how to swim, right? So, you need to stay away from the edge. Alright?“ Granny said to me as she took her eyes off the road for a second to look at me.
“Yes ma’am,” I replied.
Granny had always taught us to say, “Yes Ma’am”, “No Ma’am”, and “Yes Sir”, “No Sir”. She always made it clear that we say “excuse me” when walking past or in front of someone. Manners and morals were one of several things that Granny was always serious about.
We passed many open fields with livestock, barns, hay, and tree farms. It was my dream to buy my own land one day. I lived in the city and most of the time I just wanted to be away. Neighborhoods were creepy to me, and the houses were awfully close. I felt like I had no privacy living in the city, I liked peace. I didn’t like to be around too many folks.
We finally approached Miss May’s house, it was a great big white house. It almost looked like a castle. We got out of the car, grabbed the fishing rods, and began to walk towards the pond.
“Where is Miss May?” I asked Granny.
“In Wisconsin with her daughter, she has cancer,” Granny said.
“Oh, that means she will die soon huh?” I asked with a curious look.
“No baby, cancer doesn’t mean you’re gonna die. Didn’t I teach you about having faith in God? He can heal anything and anybody,” Granny said. “He took cancer right on out of me.”
Granny always had a strong faith in God. She never missed a Sunday at church, and if I and my sister weren’t there, we would get in trouble. It was a tradition for her, and every Sunday she would cook a whole family dinner, even if she was exhausted.
We started to put our bate on the poles, we had a bowl full of worms. I already knew how to prep it because I had been fishing with her and my uncle before. I remember that day, we caught about ten fish altogether. When we got home, we scaled, gutted, cleaned the fish, and a feast followed.
I threw my fishing string into the water and began the adventure. By the time I had done that, Granny had already caught about two fish, they were in the bucket getting ready to suffocate. She was a pro, and I wanted to be able to prep my rod and catch fish that quickly. I finally got a tug; I began to reel it in the best I could. It was so heavy that I thought multiple we caught on. I reeled harder and harder, I finally got it to the surface only to find out it was just a big glob of seaweed, I think. Either way, it wasn’t the fish that I was hoping for. I took the seaweed off the hook, prepped it with another worm, and threw the line back in the pond. I was determined.
Behind me I heard some light brushes in the grass, I thought it was just a squirrel, so I paid it no mind. The sound started to get closer and closer though, so I turned back around to make sure the coast was clear. On the right side of me, I saw a gigantic white Labrador Retriever running towards me. As the dog was approaching, I began to unconsciously scoot back in defense. The dog was coming so fast that I didn’t think about my reaction, I took a few more steps back and Granny yelled “Aubrey!” She grabbed my arm and threw me onto the grass area.
“You almost fell in that pond, and there wouldn’t have been anything that I could have done about it if you succeeded,” Granny said to me with a serious face and her hands on her hips.
I was appalled at her being able to pull me like that, her arms had gotten weaker from having to do dialysis 3 times a week. Her arms had all kinds of holes and bandages on them, that’s where they would perform the dialysis.
“Granny, how were you able to do that? Are your arms ok?” I asked her with a concerned look.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” Granny said. “I let the Lord use me when he needs to. That was God that saved you from falling, he just needed an earthly body to get the job done.”
