Royalbroil, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper along the Wisconsin River and other waterways on the brink of summer to plead for active acknowledgment that since the human species came crawling out of the sea, there is really only one way for it to return permanently to the indifferent water: that way is called tragedy.
Even now, as a search goes on for the youthful victim of a “freak” accident on the Wisconsin, the keeper warns his river-oriented clan members of their vulnerability to “freak” accidents and casual moments of inattention. While most of them swim like otter, so, apparently, did the young man who disappeared while helping to rescue another boater.
It being the purview of elderly members to carry the clan worry bucket, the keeper does so without apology, and tries to dump its contents over the heads of the rest of the crew: YOU ARE NOT FISH!
