After successfully getting the sprinkler system running properly down at the lake, I used a 5-gallon bucket (with water dipped from the lake) to water a few stray trees. I probably like buckets a bit more than I should. I use them for storage, for hauling things, and sometimes employ them as temporary tables and stands.
As I used the bucket to carry water down at the
lake, I thought about another bucket I had down there some fifteen or so years
ago. Upon arriving at the lakeshore one weekend, I found a couple teenage kids,
a boy and a girl, fishing off my dock. Beside them on the dock sat a bucket I
always had handy at the nearby pavilion. A couple perch flicked about in water
within the bucket as I approached the kids.
“Are you guys from one of the cabins next door?” I
asked.
“Yep,” responded the boy.
“Fish are biting a little?”
“Yep.”
“Well, if that’s the case, I don’t mind if you fish
from my dock. All I ask is that you leave my bucket here after you use it.”
After my chat with the kids, I mowed the lawn,
which was my entire reason for dropping down to the lake. As soon as I finished
mowing, I bid farewell to the kids. A few days later, on my next visit to the
lakeshore, I found myself without a bucket. The kids had failed me. I thought
about this as I watered yesterday. I must admit, I am not yet over the loss of
that bucket.
—Mitchell Hegman
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