Early in July 1994, when Mary Anne and
I came back from our first fishing in Norway it was very hot and
humid in Tokyo, as usual at the end of the rainy season. During
two weeks in Norway we had been fishing in the bitter cold like
in winter. So sudden heat made me feel really tired and I also suffered
from jet lag. My joints hurt, too, which had not bothered me at
all there.
A few days later when I gradually got over the numbness of my fingers,
which had really got rough from cold water and a chilly north wind,
I received a letter from Mr. Raguse in Norway.
"It is a
miracle that in your first fishing you could get three good sized
salmon and also make films of them, while nobody else even saw one
in the river. Congratulations!" So began his letter. Reading
it reminded me clearly of what had happened there. I was quietly
satisfied with my achievement until I read the last line. I could
not take my eyes off it. He wrote that after we left back the water
stopped rising, then thousands of salmon came upstream, which made
the whole river full of vigour. In a moment my complacency disappeared
and all that came back to my mind was the silvery light of the surface
of high water on our last day and the gentle current of the Gaula
River I saw on the way back to the airport.
As I had expected, the salmon came upstream after that day. The
silvery light heralded that. If only the rain had stopped one day
earlier. But if so, I would have felt as if I were in heaven. If
so, could I have come back after only one day fishing? Such silly
things occurred to me and I could not concentrate on my work left
to do after my two weeks' absence.
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I told Mary Anne about the letter. She gradually recovered from
the fatigue of the journey. She had been so exhausted a week before
that she had said on the bank "I can't walk any more".
But her eyes sparkled with the news and said, "I know you want
to go there." "Yes, of course," said I but could
not decide when to start. I had made up my mind to visit there the
next year but I could not wait for such a long time. The salmon
season lasts until the end of August in Norway. Could I get there
in time that summer?
I gazed far away chatting with her when she said to me, "Well,
how many days do you need to finish the work in front of you?"
"Another couple of days, I think"
"Well, let's
start next week." said she, without any hesitation.
For a moment I did not believe my ears. Knowing how I felt, she
added, "How many times do you think you will be able to go
salmon fishing in your life? You can only go as many times as you
can count on your fingers. If you miss this chance, you will be
sorry that you are too old to go salmon fishing when you understand
it."
I must have been struck dumb for a while. After I came to myself,
I had a really busy time. First of all I asked Mr. Raguse if I could
get a beat. Fortunately I could. Then I finished all my work in
one day instead of three. (You can do it if you have a mind to do
it.) Finally I was in a hurry to tie new flies and prepare other
tackle.
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