Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Fish Soup

Now, Hannah and her Nillo had a cabin at the lake,
Where their grandkids would come and visit them and Hannah might just make,
Them something good to eat and Nillo would take them in his boat,
And maybe they’d go fishing and watch their bobbers float.
If they caught some fish then maybe grandma would make some stew,
A delicious Kalla Mojakka that was better than anything they knew.

Now Nillo had a neighbor, who went by the name of Ed,
Who had a new fangled way of cleaning fish, or so he said.
One day when Nillo’s grandson came over for a spell
He sent him off to see Ed and learn this new method so he could tell,
Nillo if it worked or not, (it was supposed to get rid of bones).
He probably could just have called, but they didn’t have a phone.
So the boy he scampered off and went to see old Ed,
Who taught him how to fillet a fish, no guts, no bones, no head,
Just lovely pieces of fresh meat all ready for the pot,
The boy could not wait to show his gramps, “This is great!” he thought.
He scampered back over to the dock and pulled up the stringer of fish,
That they had caught that morning and it seemed to grant his wish.
The boy took them to the fish house where he commenced to clean
And lay the fillets on the board and in the trough of trash guts green,
And not a bone in all the meat, then grandpa came to see,
What the boy was up to and he saw the boy smile with glee.
The old man looked down at the fish and gently shook his head,
The boy could not decide if it was happiness or dread.
So he put the look out of his head and quickly ran outside,
To play until he was called in and take his time and bide,
Till supper time arrived and that kalla mojakka stew.
His grandma called him in and said “I made it special just for you”
The boy all unsuspecting went and plopped down in his chair,
With thoughts of boneless fish stew in his head he waited there.
And when they all three sat there and stew was all served up,
They said their prayers and reached for spoons to gobble up their sup.
The boy raised his spoon up to his lips; he closed his mouth to chew,
Then yelped and quickly spat it up, what else was he to do?
A big old fish bone rested there upon the dinner cloth,
One of the bones his gramps had gone and “rescued” from the garbage trough.

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