Title: HUNTING MUSKIE: RITES OF PASSAGE – STORIES BY MICHAEL ROBERT DYET
Author: Michael Robert Dyet
Publisher: Blue Denim Press
Pages: 240
Genre: Literary Fiction/Short Story Collection
Author: Michael Robert Dyet
Publisher: Blue Denim Press
Pages: 240
Genre: Literary Fiction/Short Story Collection
Life becomes a search to find our way back home after unexpected
storms knock us off course. This collection of 16 stories reflects that
deep urge to return to where we feel at peace. The journey back becomes a
rite of passage.
The title story, “Hunting Muskie”, sets the tone – the hunt to find and subdue an unseen foe. Each of the other stories elaborates on this theme.
Hunter is haunted by the mistake that defined his life. A chance encounter sets Edward on a search for answers. An act of bullying committed decades ago brings a day of reckoning for Quentin. Will must pay the ransom of conscience. A shocking event causes Laurel to fall victim to a temptation she cannot rationalize. Huck shuts out the loss he cannot face until he can deny it no longer. Malcolm seeks atonement for a desperate act committed in the name of love.
The longer piece, Slipstream, ties together the connecting threads: the powerful forces that derail us, how we are driven to search for answers and the harsh truth that redemption often comes at a price.
The title story, “Hunting Muskie”, sets the tone – the hunt to find and subdue an unseen foe. Each of the other stories elaborates on this theme.
Hunter is haunted by the mistake that defined his life. A chance encounter sets Edward on a search for answers. An act of bullying committed decades ago brings a day of reckoning for Quentin. Will must pay the ransom of conscience. A shocking event causes Laurel to fall victim to a temptation she cannot rationalize. Huck shuts out the loss he cannot face until he can deny it no longer. Malcolm seeks atonement for a desperate act committed in the name of love.
The longer piece, Slipstream, ties together the connecting threads: the powerful forces that derail us, how we are driven to search for answers and the harsh truth that redemption often comes at a price.
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Excerpt from the title story “Hunting
Muskie”
“Go big or go home,” Norman declared, as he rigged
his eight inch Lil Ernie Deep Diver.
“You think it’s still
out there?”
“We’ll see.”
Norman had hooked
into a huge muskie in exactly this spot a few summers earlier. He had battled
it for ten minutes before it spat the lure and escaped.
Tom watched as Norman
cast his Lil Ernie far out along the rock ridge that ran below the surface. He
cast his own line on the other side of the boat as the look in Arianna’s eyes
flashed in his mind again.
“I’ve got cancer.”
Norman made the
announcement as he cast his line a second time.
“What?!”
“Kidney cancer. Renal
Cell Carcinoma, if you want to know the official name for it.”
“My God, Dad.” Tom
let his line go limp in the water. “When did you find out?”
“Does that really
matter?”
“Well ... they can
operate, right? You can live with one kidney. Lots of people do.”
“It’s already
metastasized. It’s in both kidneys.”
“Damn. When do you
start treatments? You’re going to need help. I could take a leave of absence.”
“Chemotherapy? I’ll
tell you the same thing I told the Oncologist. I’ll be damned if I’m going to
spend what time I have left feeling like hell warmed over.”
“But you can’t just
give up. You’ve gotta fight it.”
Norman cast again.
“The sixth island
from the head of the lake. An oval island, remarkable for its evergreens.”
“Yeah, I know.
Catherine Par Traill describing Black Island in one of her stories. I remember
everything you taught us. Are we going to talk about this or not?”
“Not.”
“Then why even tell
me?”
“Muskie take their
prey head first. One gulp and that’s all she wrote.”
“So we’re talking
about muskie behaviour now?”
“At my age, Thomas,
cancer is like a muskie. Once it has got its teeth into you, you’re not getting
away. Why would I even want to? Your mother is gone. Benjamin is gone. You live
2,000 thousand miles away. And I’m too old to keep coming up here. I may be
stubborn. But I know when it’s time to bow out gracefully.”
A wave of guilt
assaulted Tom. He had become too absorbed in his own life, and its fraying
edges, to see that his father’s life was unraveling to the end of its spool.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I
didn’t know it was so hard for you.”
“I’m not complaining.
If one of us had to go early, I’m glad it was your mother who went on ahead. I
would not have wanted her to be the one left behind. But Benjamin... A father
should not outlive his son. It just isn’t right.”
“Even still, I think
you should reconsider. There are–”
“Whoa!”
Norman reefed back
hard on his pole. It bent like a bow as line went screaming off the reel.
“Muskie?”
“Bet my life on it.
Nothing else runs that fast. There’s the head shake. Get your line in. We’re in
for a battle.”
“Do you think?” Tom
asked, reeling in as fast as he could.
“We’ll know soon
enough.”
Norman cranked hard
on his reel to make up ground. The muskie started another run, dead straight
for thirty feet. It broke the surface, erasing all doubt, in a majestic,
gravity-defying leap.
“My God, it’s huge! A
four footer, maybe.”
“Oh, you beautiful
thing! I’ll have you in this boat if it’s the last thing I do in this life.”
Norman glanced at Tom
with a grin on his face even as he winced at the effort.
“I’m glad you’re here
to see this, Thomas. This is how I want you to remember me. Not lying in a bed
waiting to die. Out here hunting muskie.”
Tom saw his father’s
life, and his own, in a new light. Muskie were the stuff of legend—the fish of
ten thousand casts. You could go your whole life without hooking one. But when
you did, and the hook was set deep, a muskie would always claim the dignity of
fighting to the end.
“Give her hell, Dad.
She won the first battle but this one is all yours.”
Folle Avoine. Steeped
in history, witness to the fall of one culture and the rise of another, too
wild to be bridged, too maternal to give up her dead. As good a place as any to
bow out gracefully, Tom decided, and, for that matter, to start anew.
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Michael Robert Dyet is the Metaphor Guy.
Novelist, short story writer, closet philosopher, chronicler of life’s
mysteries – all through the lens of metaphor. He is the author of Hunting
Muskie: Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet, Blue Denim
Press, October 2017.
Michael is also the author of Until The
Deep Water Stills: An Internet-Enhanced Novel – traditional print novel
(self-published) with a unique and ground-breaking online companion featuring
text, imagery and audio recordings. This novel was a double winner in the
Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Michael posts weekly in his blog: Metaphors
of Life Journal aka Things That Make Me Go Hmmm
E-mail: michael@mdyetmetaphor.com
Metaphors of Life Journal Blog: www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2
Novel Online Companion: www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog
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