19. Nothing Bad Happened

Two days later, on an unseasonably warm December Sunday, I decided to sneak in one more fishing trip. 

Two boulders, each larger than a king size bed, jutted into a river I had fished many times.  Stepping onto the first boulder, I didn’t see moss had grown up the sloping side of the second.

In all my fishing trips I had only fallen in once, tipping a rented canoe.  I had walked the banks of the river many times, never so much as stumbled on a rock.  Putting my iPhone and key fobs into a plastic bag hadn’t occurred to me. I never slipped, so why worry?  

I hopped onto the second rock and immediately began sliding off. Crawling out of the cold water, I cursed myself for not taking better care of my stuff.  

I thought of someone who’d driven home from a holiday party with his kids in the car.  He hadn’t been worried because over the years, he’d driven home a little drunk from a lot of parties. He had said nothing bad had happened, so why worry?  Something very bad happened.

‘Nothing happens until something really bad happens,’ I said to myself.

Today I will remember nothing bad happens until something bad happens.

Sober Not Somber © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: Sober Not Somber is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)