BleuCat got deathly silent as he watch Tommy intently. Tommy concentrated so hard, he could hear is heart pounding in ears.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. If he could reel this bass in, Daddy would have him mounted. He could remember from last year how excited they were when they saw him just before the line broke.

His mouth was so big Tommy could have put both hands in there and still had room. Now, if he could just pull hard enough to get him out of the water and onto the bank, he thought he could tackle the bass and hold him down long enough to get the hook out. Maybe he would put him in the cooler first, then get the hook out later.

Tommy didn’t want to risk the big bass flopping his way back into the water. Before drawing back, Tommy ran over and pulled the cooler to the edge of the pond. All the bream he’d caught that day were still swimming around, unhappy, but still alive. He tipped the cooler and dumped them.

He would need the entire space of the cooler for the bass.