CHAPTER FOUR: GONE FISHING
Stuart rowed his boat into the lake at Central Park. He was going fishing. He had his lifejacket on, for, naturally, his parents wouldn't let him go out without it. He, of course, wasn't going for big fish. They'd just pull him in and drag him around, and, even worse, some of the bigger ones might try and eat him. He was sure he could handle minnows, however. At least there was no catch limit on minnows, as there were so many of them in the lake, and they were cheap to restock. Still, he could only fit one or two of them in his boat. So he could fish often, bring fish home (Snowbell liked them most especially, as they were allowed with the vet's prescribed diet and not part of the proscribed one. Plus, he himself liked fish. George and Elanor didn't care for it. Little Martha liked it, though, of course, all the bones had to be removed first, as she was too young to do it herself, and might choke. Fredrick really liked it.
He threw his line into the water and waited for something to happen. Fishing was a bit like waiting for paint to dry, but at least it was more exciting in that he might get some action, and, even better, food. Soon, he felt a tug on the line. Unfortunately, it wasn't a minnow, but a larger fish. And, being at risk of being pulled down into the water, he had no choice but to let go of the pole. He'd lost ten already, so far. Thankfully, they were easy to replace.
"Good thing I brought a backup." he said to himself, as he put bait on this pole and cast the line into the water. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that the fish were biting anymore. So, he waited there for three hours before finally he had luck again. He reeled in a minnow, the fish fighting hard (at least hard for a mouse to deal with.) But Stuart quickly killed it with a large pin and put the body in the boat. Soon, he'd caught another minnow and done the same to it. As he was about to cast his line in again, he saw something moving at him out of the corner of his eye. Thankfully, he realized what it was in time and had time to react. He dove right into the water, hastily undoing his lifejacket (Lifejackets were meant to preserve lives, and they couldn't do that if they made him a floating target for a predator!). He went under and stayed under for 30 seconds. When he resurfaced, gasping for air, he found that, thankfully, the eagle had gone, no doubt thinking that he'd drowned. He grabbed the lifejacket and made his way back to the boat. He decided he'd have enough of fishing for that day. And he really needed to get dry clothes too. At least he'd had two fish, which was about all he could fit in the boat anyway. Thankfully, the eagle hadn't stolen them while he'd been underwater. Elanor and Fredrick wouldn't be happy that he was wet, but he knew they'd be glad that he was still alive. And he and Snowbell would be having fish for dinner.