Snapshots: Young Man River

"aunt sophie? do you know any more river stories?" lily asked while putting a new worm on her hook.

sophie dupree took a sip of cold water from her thermos and watched her niece cast a line out into the green water. lily wasn't really her niece, but she loved her like a daughter. the day that her husband, mack, brought the troubled girl home had been both the saddest and happiest day of her life. she was sitting on the front porch drinking iced tea when mack had pulled his big rig into the yard of their house outside new orleans. she smiled and waved when he climbed out of the cab, then frowned when he walked around to the passenger side. when he emerged a minute later carrying a small white girl in his strong black arms, she gasped.

"mack dupree! who is that? what happened?"

the girl stirred in his arms, looked around drowsily, and held on tightly to mack when she saw sophie running toward them. "uncle mack, where are we?"

"shhh, child. everything is okay. this is my home, and this is my wife sophie."

sophie watched the fear fade from the girl with mack's explanation. then, to her amazement, the girl jumped down and threw her arms around sophie's neck, crying her little heart out. sophie held her tight, listening to mack tell the story. when she asked for more details, the girl--lily as she was calling herself--became terrified and cried that she couldn't tell couldn't ever ever tell please don't make her tell please please she can never tell the bad man is still out there and will find her please don't make her tell!

they didn't make her tell. instead, they took her in and raised her as their own. since sophie herself was half-white, they claimed she was an orphaned cousin. mack's sister was a county clerk and helped with the paperwork. sophie had never known that she could love anybody as much as she loved that skinny little girl.

"child, that river has more stories than louisiana has flies," sophie told her as she swatted another one away from her face. "one time, there was a little girl like yourself fishing in the river, singing a song she learned in church. she had the prettiest voice you ever heard, and the river loved to hear her sing. he began to send all the fish in his water down to where she fished. that way, she would always catch fish and keep coming back to the river, and he would continue to hear her sing."

"that's so sweet!" lily exclaimed.

sophie shook her head. "no, child. it was selfish, selfish to send all the fish in the water to one person when so many other people relied on the river to put food on their tables and fill their bellies."

"oh, i didn't think of that," lily said. "did people go hungry?"

"oh yes, child. it was awful. and when the river's father--the sky--heard about it, he was furious!"

"what did he do?"

"why, he called up a storm and made a powerful twister come down that lifted her and her family up and blew them all the way to texas!"

"texas? where the oil wells are? that texas?"

sophie laughed. "yes, child, that texas. but they didn't wind up all the way out there where the oil wells are. they landed right down on galveston beach! she didn't have to fish in the river anymore 'cause the gulf of mexico had all the fish they needed. the river never heard her sing again."

"that's sad. but, did all those people still go hungry?"

"no, child. the river learned his lesson and never shirked his responsibilities again. now everybody gets their fair share of fish. if they keep an eye on their bobber," she added with a nod toward the water.

lily yelped as the rod jumped in her hand and the bobber went down into the water. she jerked upward on the rod, laughing excitedly as it bent. "i've got one, aunt sophie. i've got one!"

sophie grabbed the net and watched lily pull the rod back behind her. she finally pulled a large, grey catfish out of the water and sophie swiftly caught it in the net. "you surely did get one. a big one!"

lily watched sophie pry the hook free and drop the fish into the bucket. "thank you, mr. river, for providing our supper tonight!" she blew the river a kiss.

sophie laughed. "you're a good girl, lily belle dupree!"