OCR Text |
Show Rod and Reel By VIRGINIA E. STRONG . McClure Newspaper Syndicate. WNU Service. TOE HARKNESS and I met when " a traftic jam caused our cars to lock fenders. His apologetic grin and our exchange of cards be gan a warm friendship., My games were architecture and golf; Hark-ness' Hark-ness' steel and fishing. Recalling It now, I believe the first time I noticed the fish hooks, the barb of one caught In the eye of the other, was during a fall visit at the lodge when rainy weather kept us indoors. They were tacked over the big stone fireplace. When I found them In the city apartment my friends occupied while I built their Normandy chateau cha-teau the only hint of fishing in the room I was mildly piqued. But when I saw them hanging between French paintings on the walls of their new home, I was Instantly curious. I couldn't tell the Harknesses that Corot and Millet would hardly en-Joy en-Joy sharing honors with fish hooks but I did ask what special significance signifi-cance they had. "You see. Ken," Joe began, "long years ago, when Sally was young and beautiful " "He means, of course," Sally Interrupted, In-terrupted, "when I was young and gullible !" The male Harkness chuckled. "Well, anyway, she doesn't dispute the young part, Ken. She was young, you know !" He ducked the magazine she threw and continued. "Sal's dad and mine belonged to the same clubs. We were the only children of those widowers, so they took us around more than most parents do and Sally and I were thrown together to-gether quite a bit We followed the same golf tour- naments, watched -the same swim- I mlng events, polo, tennis oh everything ev-erything that went on. Well, McCrea, Sal's dad, and my old man had argued the golf championship of Valley club for over a decade. Neither Nei-ther one of them could win that extra game that would make the trophy his own." "It was like a Kentucky feud after they'd been fighting for twelve years," Sally broke in with a pensive smile. "The feeling between be-tween them was so strong that the board of directors decided the winner win-ner for the coming event which was to be the thirteenth tournament tourna-ment would get the cup once and for all. Each of them had won It six times, you sea" "Well," Joe sighed. "It's a funny thing, Ken. McCrea died In the spring of the following year and it almost seemed that my dad .couldn't stand the disappointment of not playing that final tournament, for he soon died, too!" Harkness seemed lost In his memories for a minute and Sally carried on. "Their deaths were quite a blow to both of us and for a long time we were like fish out of water. But youth has a way of forgetting nnhappiness and Joe and I well, we Just took up the battle where our fathers had left off." "Yeah." my host agreed. "We tried golf at first but we were both so rotten we soon gave It up. Then trap shooting became the fad and Sally and I carried even scores for a long time. Both of as had been doing a lot of fishing, meanwhile." "I think I never hated anybody quite as much as I did Joe Harkness," Hark-ness," Sally confided, "the year the gang at the club complained that our Inherited competition had degenerated de-generated to hot air." Sally smiled. And when Sally smiles yon Just naturally smile with her. "They said they were going to have a medal struck off with a picture of Ananias on it and present it to the winner." Harkness' face simply beamed as he went on with the story. "Anyway, "Any-way, Ken, for the first time in our lives we agree on something; we both objected to being called liars. So we settled on a fishing party then and there that would decide which of as was the better man. "We decided to cast on opposite sides of the same stream and went out the next day with fire in our eyes. We'd been at it for several hours with a couple of trout apiece, when I felt an awful tuz on mv line. I played It for a while, slowly slow-ly reeling In, convinced that I had a whopper 1 My rod bent and I was having the time of my life. Finally I gave a long, steady pull that should have landed him, when I heard a uh respectably large splash." Joe shook with laughter. "Sally, still hanging onto her rod, had been hauled In. Our books bad caught just as you see them now, Ken. And that's the way they've stayed 'cause it was during that excitement excite-ment that we realized our contest wasn't nearly as important as as other things." We were all grinning now. "Then nobody really won, did they?" I asked. "Well, you see. Ken," Joe replied, a twinkle in his eyes, "we've never quite settled that But since I actually had to pull Sally out of the stream, I'm Inclined to believe I caught the biggest fish." And since I've been 'hooked' now for over fifteen years," Sally countered with affectionate sarcasm, sar-casm, "I'm inclined to agree with him r |