The two old friends sat in the dirt behind the truck overlooking a productive north/south stretch of the river. Mike pulled in a long deep breath; he focused on how it felt in his lungs and was happy that he had chosen to come home from Iraq by way of this river.
"This is good home water. It's hard fishing though." Said Chick.
Mike looked down at the emerald water and the tight well-structured run below the turnout. "That’s sort of the point...he said." “That makes it even better, or maybe easier to come back to."
Chick took a strong pull on the can of beer. "And then you got the Inn... They run it nice. Good traditions there….when are you going back?”
"To the Inn?" asked Mike, pulling his leg.
"No dumbass. Back to Iraq."
Mike paused, still looking out over the water. "December. They are sending me to Washington first. Apparently some Senators on the Armed Services Committee want to talk about why our operation worked. "
“You’re going before the Armed Services Committee?”
“Yep… and some meetings at the Pentagon.”
“Damn.” was all that Chick could muster. "Well again, it’s good to have you back, at least for a short while."
October 10, 2007
8pm
One of the traditions at the Inn is the nightly ringing of a bell, to call fisherman in off the river. At 8pm it signals the time for something to drink and eat, and marks, more often than not, the end of a long frustrating day of hunting steelhead. Mike was happy though with his performance and satisfied with the way he covered the water considering it had been a while since he swung a fly.
The dining room at the Inn is family style with the focal point of the room being a single 15ft slice of old growth timber that made up the head table. On most nights, the owner of the Inn sits at the head of the table and holds court. He presides over the nightly dinner ritual.
Mike walked up the 4 steps leading up to the dining room and through the window could see the Inn's owner already at his station talking with another man, Mike's father, Stan Dixon. The two men stopped talking and stood up as Mike entered the room.