Every material in
ever color you imagine sits at my fingertips. It’s a world of hackle, feathers,
animal hair, dubbing, hooks, thread, and tools, and it may not have been every
18 year old girl’s dream, but it was mine. I am Charlie, or at least that’s what
I go by, but my real name is Charlotte. Charlotte has become a sour reminder of
being the weak and lone girl in my family, that’s why I prefer Charlie. I am
glad I am the lone girl actually, my mom wasn’t that great of a role model. She
ran off when I was pretty young. I almost don’t remember her. She isn’t of much
importance to me, since my brothers or I were not to her. On the contrary to my
mothers behavior, my dad is a hard working-man, who has taken care of my
brothers and me, arguably, better than anyone with two parents. My dad and
brothers have shaped who I am. I wouldn’t know where the heck I was without
them. With their help I haven’t just become Charlie: one of the boys, I have
become known as Charlie who is better than the boys.
Like
I said earlier, the place where I have everything at my fingertips is where I
have developed who I am. My family likes to call that place middle earth, or as
others may refer to it, the basement. In middle earth there are 4 desks that my
four brothers and I share, along with my dad. Most weekends you can find that
my brothers and I will have disagreements over which desk to have, or who gets
to use the best vice to tie a fly. It’s really survival of the fittest down
there. A couple days ago my dad had to come down and break up a fight between
my brothers over who got to use certain peacock quill for their prince nymph.
Things got ugly pretty quickly when my older brother called seniority. Other
than the occasional disgruntlements over desks and supplies, once we start
working, middle earth is silent. Although its silence makes it the perfect
place for schoolwork, homework is forbidden from middle earth. My brothers and
I made the no homework pact to keep middle earth sacred. We don’t want the
fishing vibe to take a sour hit from school. My brothers struggle with tying
overall, though. I think it’s because they have a little less patience, much
bigger hands than I, and they can rely on me to tie a fly that won’t fall apart
and is guaranteed to catch fish. Middle earth is my favorite place to be, it
gives me a quiet place to shine at one of the aspects of fishing I can do best,
besides catching bigger fish than my brothers and dad some days. Each desk has
acquired its own materials to tie flies for fly-fishing. Every spool of every
color of thread you can imagine. There is something special about creating a
creature of your own, knowing exactly how everything would work, and then being
able to use it successfully. It’s just my happy place to be with my family and
to do what we love.
Sitting
at my kitchen table, distracted, staring at my physics homework, I can’t help
but to begin daydreaming about being on the river. These days I am just ready
to finish school. It’s hard to see an end. Most days I don’t understand why I
sit and learn pointless information. If schools could target what kids were
good at, like fly fishing, I would be set for life. “That would be the dream, ”
I thought. Then, my dad abruptly swung our back door open into the kitchen.
With his first step in, he made the room rumble with his boots. Behind my dad
came my two oldest brothers, Matthew and Luke. Matthew and Luke are never quiet
when they enter a room. Luke immediately trotted over to the kitchen table and grabbed
me around the neck and said “Hey there little sis”. As I tried to swat him
away, Matthew pinched Luke in the arm and said, “Once you actually catch a fish
bigger than your little sis, I don’t
think you have a right to call her little.” My dad leaning over the kitchen
sink rinsing a mug quickly turned around and chuckled adding, “On your own fly
no less”. A sour look appeared on Luke’s face as he released me from his grip.
I could only smirk and look back down to the physics homework I was pretending
to do. Things in the house settled down again while Luke went to middle earth
and Matthew escaped to his room. My dad was usually occupied with keeping the
house orderly. My dad would always say that he found it soothing to clean the
house, that’s when he sounded like a “Mr. Mom” so to say.
Outside,
a car horn sounded and in marched my two younger brothers Christopher and
Andrew. Christopher is the youngest of my family. He is still at a point where
nobody in my family wants to give him a hard time because he is still the
little baby. Although I participate in the babying Christopher pact, I think it
might be going a bit far now that Christopher is in the 8th grade. Chris
went for the fridge and grabbed the milk. Andrew walked over to where I was
sitting at the kitchen table and slapped the newspaper in front of me. Before I
could push the article off and swat my brother away from my working space he
hissed at me to shush. “Dad, you might also want to come look at this,” Andrew
announced to the kitchen. Before I could say anything I read the headline: Local Girl: Unlikely Winner of Fly Tying
Competition. With that everything in the room went silent and I only
focused on the article. I read so quickly and so excitedly that I could only
read one line out loud to my dad. I read, “Charlotte Thatcher, or Charlie, is
considered to be one of the most skilled fly tiers we have ever seen, she
presents great skill in fishing and tying, which is why seems to be one of the
most valuable advocates to the sport.” I was one of the most valuable advocates
to the sport. Five minutes ago I was an average student in my physics class. It
was my time. It didn’t matter that I was a high school girl. That was not how I
was to be known now, I can simply be regarded as a fly fisherman.
Sitting
in middle earth, feeling beyond inspired, I started on a new creation. I was
interrupted by all four of my brothers. “Take a break all mighty fly fishing
advocate,” Luke retorted. Matthew only responded for me saying, “Lay off on the
sarcasm you lazy brute, you can’t even catch a fish on your own fly.” To any
other family this would be not very insulting but in our house, especially in
middle earth, it was. Luke slapped Matthew on the back of the head. Then
Christopher blurted out and asked what this all meant. “Like honestly Charlie,
what are you going to do?”, Andrew followed. What am I going to do? I have no
idea what I am doing. “Charlie, you have to go off fishing, fish all over the
world, tie flies all over the world, get out of this place and be the most
valuable advocate anyone has ever seen” Luke said passionately. Then Matthew
chimed in with a disagreeing tone, “Char, you have to finish school, you can be
an advocate after you finish school.” Fishing all over the world doesn’t sound
too shabby to me, but I want to be able to fish with my family, and help my dad
with my two youngest brothers while they were still in high school. Andrew
interrupted my thought saying, “Charlie, you really think you will leave us?” I
could only reply with, “no probably not any time soon, bud.”
Sitting
in bed looking into the darkness, I felt like I couldn’t sleep. My clock won’t stop moving. I just need my
eyes to close. With a huge alarming crack, Matthew stood in my room. “Get up.
Dad is sick. He needs to go to the hospital,” yelled Matthew. “What?” I asked.
“Get the hell up Charlie! This is serious! You’re driving” he replied. My shoes
would not slip on fast enough. I ran downstairs and ripped the door open.
Seeing my dad in the back of the car already I raced to the driver’s side. My
cold hands quivered as they opened the door and put the keys in the ignition. I
drove off.
“Help
my dad needs help,” my little brother Christopher yelled right as we all
entered the doors of the emergency room. Nurses were out next to me in seconds.
They were in panic mode. My entire family was in panic mode. The nurses pushed
me away and put my dad on a stretcher. Matthew walked up with my dad as the
doors to the emergency room open, but another nurse stepped out and pushed him
back to us. I needed to sit down. My eyes were heavy and my stomach keeps
turning. I couldn’t help but fade out. I pass out into darkness.
With
a shake, Luke helps me to regain consciousness. I saw the doctor standing and
waiting right in front of me. “I am going to be sick,” I was thinking. The
doctor spoke with a calm voice saying, “You’re father has gone into a state of
shock because cancer has been eating at his colon. The good news is there is a
way we think that we can help him and he can live, but the operation is extremely
expensive.” Matthew stood up and asked to speak to the doctor in private.
Watching him and the expressions I could tell the news wasn’t great for
Matthew. He came back over with tears welling in his eyes, barely is able to
get his words out. He said “Guys we need to go home, get some rest, and come
back when we can see dad.” We all get up and head for the door. I watch all my
brothers walk to the car and then Matthew and Luke tug on my arm and I am
pulled back to talk to them. “Charlie,” Luke begins. “You are the only one who
can help us save dad” Matthew said finishing Luke’s statement. “What?” I say
out of confusion. “Charlie, we need the
money from your fishing endorsements to get the surgery for dad,” Luke
answered. “We will help you get ready to
leave tomorrow to meet Orvis for your
pro deal”, Matthew said with tears. Luke continued, “It’s the only way
Charlie.”
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