A Fish Tale

What better way of making the world a better place than offering a stranger a doughnut?

Yesterday I went fishing. Hadn’t had a rod and reel in my hand for ten years and it felt great. There’s a pier at the northern tip of West Seattle, about 3 miles from our house, that faces downtown Seattle, a world away.

I got to the pier at about 10 a.m. but the tide had already peaked, so it wasn’t an ideal time to fish. As I arrived, one man was leaving. He said that two salmon had been caught that morning. That got me excited. There were about a couple of Hispanic guys fishing, a couple Caucasians, and next to me, a Chinese man. I passed all of them and went to the far end of the pier because, not having cast for so many years, I didn’t want to accidentally hook someone in the face.

After about a half hour of uneventful fishing, I picked up my Thermos of coffee, at which point a guy a couple of guys down spoke to me for the first time. He said, “Help yourself to a doughnut.”

“Doughnut?” I asked.

He pointed to a cardboard box on one of the benches. “Yeah, we have a policy. Someone catches a fish, the next day they have to bring in a box of doughnuts for the community. You’re here, so you’re part of the community.”

Now, I don’t know if this guy was Republican or Democrat, but what difference did that make? What better way of making the world a better place than offering a stranger a doughnut?

We got to talking, which, considering that no one was catching fish, we had plenty of time for. Basically, we talked about fishing. Big surprise. It seems these guys show up to fish just about every day, rain or shine. I introduced myself. The Chinese man next to me said his name was Chin, and he pointed to his chin just to make sure I understood his accent.

“Live around here?” I asked my new friends.

They laughed. “We spend more time here on the dock than in our homes,” Chin said.

After a while, Chin started packing up his gear.

“Coming back tomorrow?” I asked.

“Later today, when the tide comes back in,” he said. “I’ve been here since five o’clock.”

One by one, each of the fishermen packed up and left. I kept practicing my casting for another half hour before following suit. I didn’t have a damn bite the whole morning, but it was one of the best fishing days I ever had.

(And I did help myself to a doughnut on my way off the dock.)