Mr. and Mrs. Cooper Henley were enjoying a weekend fishing trip. Cooper would fish from the shore while the misses sat and knitted. The fisherman was always very good at outsmarting the fish as he stood just down current from a feeder stream.
The Saturday afternoon met the limit of his catch by 3:p.m. Judith sat in the warm spring sunshine with the idea of getting tanned sooner than the other ladies at work. Cooper sat about the camp and boasted of his rapid and big catches. At last and being bored just sitting there watching his wife tie knots he decided to take a swim.
Cooper looked around and not seeing a soul other than the misses he stripped of all his clothes for a skinny dip. As he ran for the water his wife laughed to see his weak muscles jiggle. A running splash and he hit the water like an elephant.
Doing his normal backstroke Cooper swam out into the clear lake. The springtime sun had not warmed the water too much but in spots it felt warmer. The creek where he fished seemed the most warm, which in his mind was odd since it was spring fed.
The sun's warmth and the odd warm water had him almost falling asleep. Suddenly his tensed backbone folded and with a plunk he went under the water. This woke the sleeping Cooper with a start, a yell, and several gulps of spring water.
Luck was with him as the depth there was shallow. A push up with his feet brought him sputtering to the surface. Laughter from his wife made him stop and try to regain his composure. Again he floated about as if nothing terrible or stupid had happened. Yet for some reason the water felt even more comfortable than before.
At last Judith called him in to clean his catch and she would make dinner. This is all Cooper needed and with a splashing run came out of the water in a hurry.
"Father I regret to state cut his daughters up for bate. We miss them when it's time to dine, but Father's fish taste simply fine!" said Cooper over his big fish dinner.
"Oh Cooper those old limmericks from your high school news paper are mean and not very funny. When one thinks of all the uglyness people show! The little consideration people have for children growing up, well...." said Judith.
After much discussion the two walked out of camp for a stroll down the service road they drove into the encampment. Lights from the normal fisherman's campground sparkled across the water. The evening was warm for this time of year and the two old lovers walked hand in hand.
His tummy full the light breeze and warm evening he would have thought he'd be more comfortable, but he wasn't. "Dear lets go back to camp I feel suddenly very cold!" Cooper said with a shiver.
Cooper began to feel stiff and soon made all sorts of stretching moves as they walked back up the road. "You must be coming down with a Flu bug I bet!" stated Judith as she saw Cooper shiver and then try to stretch an arm or leg.
Once back in camp Cooper rolled up into his sleeping bag and was off to sleep in an instant. Judith sat up watching the moon rise higher and the lovely sights over the water.
It was late when out of dead sleep Cooper awoke. Suddenly he had the oddest desire to take a swim. A gaze toward his wife saw her sleeping in the rear of the pickup as normal. The zipper of his mummy bag moved down very quietly till he was able to inch out of the bag. As he walked quickly toward the water he dropped one, then another and another of his clothing.
At last he slipped into the dark waters. Swimming seemed so effortless he worked his way far out into the middle of the lake. It was dawn and he continued to swim about now even more casual than when he first slipped into the waves. "Odd he thought was his sight of the camp where his fire burned and lit his white truck from the flicker.
A desire to talk to Judith started him swimming for shore. As the water shallowed he found it strange he could not get a good footing to stand up and step from the lake. A call to his wife for help came out as bubbles without a sound. This made Cooper angered and upset with himself for going swimming when feeling sick.
A kick from his legs pushed him up partway onto the beach. Suddenly he felt as if he was gasping for air, he couldn't breathe! A twist and turn sent him back into the warm waters. Now just as suddenly he could breathe. The water felt all so comfortable and his mindless swimming began again.
It was the sound of sirens which made Cooper look up. He oggled the camp to see his wife in tears and two Policemen standing nearby. He swam closer to shore as the sounds of the conversation were muddled and undecernable.
As he saw the Policemen helping her break camp and watched in horror as she drove down the service road, Cooper wondered! As the truck moved slowly behind a police car that didn't belong on such a poor road, Cooper swam in pace.
As the cars moved ever closer to the State campgrounds it was the calls and noise from the fisherman which made Cooper think. Bobbing about he looked at the groves of men pointing at of all things, him!
"I guess they saw me so it's time to talk with the wife." Cooper thought to himself. Yet he watched his pickup turn the corner and head toward the park entrance and home.
"She must think I drowned!" he suddenly realised.
A kick from his legs sent him flying into the air and with a splash he hit the water. Off he swam as the sounds of men screaming was covered by the warm lake waters. Swim he did and soon at the far end of the lake surfaced. The feeder creek had drawn him back to it's entrance into the lake. Cooper bobbed about looking with one eye and then the other as he pondered what to do next.
"I feel so strange and yet so normal! I like to swim and.....?" suddenly he had the reflection of a big fish in his left eye's sight. A kick and he flipped over and swam to the bottom of the lake. As then he looked up at the sunlight he had a terrible thought indeed.
"I'm at the bottom looking up and I breathe, swim, dive, jump. Oh Lord I'm a fish, a whopper fish just like those lake Salmon I ate yesterday!"