I Want the Fish to Live!

When we went to the Pumpkin Festival on Saturday,
they had a fishing pond.
When I heard fishing pond, I just pictured
the typical throw the string over the wall and pull back a candy or small prize.
But no.
It was a fishing pond
with fish.
Limit two.

The boys were so excited to give it a try.

Kacin caught the first fish

with Eric's help.

When they asked him what he wanted to do with it,

he said throw it back.
Then he wanted to try it again by himself.
A few minutes later,
Kyler caught his first fish.

When he was asked,
he chose to keep it.
The worker lady proceeded to whack the fish on the head
to ensure its death.
Kyler was quite fascinated at the whacking
and really wanted to touch the fish's eyeballs.
I was a little disturbed.

While Eric and Kyler were taking care of that fish,

Kacin caught a second one all by himself.

He was so proud and excited

and caught up in the moment

and the lady thought he wanted to keep it, too.
She gave it a whack.
And Kacin yelled NO!
Too late.
The fish received its whackings.
We carried it to the table to bag.
Kacin was very upset.
He started saying
"I didn't want the fish to be whacked,
but dad just said we're keeping it and I didn't even want to."
As we walked back around the pond to leave the area,
he proceeded to yell
"I want the fish to live!
I want the fish to live!"
We decided to give Kacin's fish a proper burial
in the backyard.

And then Kyler and Eric ate Ky's fish.