CONFLUENCE A STEAM RISING, DEW FALLING, LITTLE WHITE STREAKS OF CLOUDS Words: Cameron Scott Down near the hot springs where old men splash like overgrown babies and women stretch silently in the shade, in the pool fed by the creek, the one you kept jumping into last night when you would get too hot, the pool that would steal your breath, the pool you would jump back out of for the steam of a thousand needles, leaving today, you notice a brook trout. And then another brook trout, and then, lined up over the copper-toned bottom like sticks, another and another. One under the shade of the bridge, suspended in sunlight, white-tipped fins, marbled back, looking at you, not caring. And looking at brook trout with you, tight curly hair spilling out over her shoulders, nuzzled into her sweater-dress onesie, is Madelyn. Madelyn who brings sun-dried pesto and apple butter and ginger kimchi and smoked Chinook and sprouted cinnamon raisin bread wherever she goes. Madelyn of the lemon basil goat cheese. Madelyn of the pistachios and dried cherries. Madelyn of the IPA. Madelyn of the Malbec. Madelyn of the down comforter. Madelyn you could drown in. Madelyn who wants you to teach her how to fish. Resting against the railing looking at the brook trout, Madelyn touches you as if she were sunshine, she touches you as if you were a friend who had sent an elephant on her birthday, and her fingers were the only way to acknowledge something from someplace so distant. Her fingers like the trunks of a forest of aspen and sky in between the slats. Her fingers remind you that, among dusty gravel roads and tomorrow’s guided trip, you promised. And so you lean into Madelyn and lean over the bridge and watch the brook trout that watch you, not caring, and Madelyn who watches you, smiling, and her fingers like fish, flip-flop on your skin, and your skin like an electrician, rewires your brain, and this, this is what fishing is like, to adhere to a single word: Madelyn. ABOVE Nothing is better than teaching children the art of flyfishing, exploring the mountains and sharing secret streams. Tristan Johnston displays the beauty of a Colorado high-country brook trout. Photo: Derek Johnston 034 THE FLYFISH JOURNAL
The Flyfish Journal Volume Eight, Issue Four: Page 34
