What you feel while reading this beautifully understated story by James Sherrett is something akin to what the crayfish in the story feels when they are caught: “They were confused and caught by something they didn’t understand and couldn’t do anything about. They tried to get at what it was, but couldn’t. Their hooked claws, extended open and searching, were ready to pinch anything that came near.” Wade and his father go out fishing together. That’s really the extent of the plot right there. But I was riveted. There’s an undercurrent of danger to this story that, incredibly, remains below the surface. You know it’s there, but you can’t put your finger on it; even at the end it remains implicit. I kept waiting for some kind of crisis and at times it looked like one might occur. Wade snorkels over to some rocks to try to catch a fish in a net. He’s under the water for quite a while. His breath begins to run out. But then he just swims back to the surface and is fine. He doesn’t even catch the fish. Later, Wade does catch a fish in his net, and the rest of the story centres around Wade and his father trying to decide whether to keep the fish or to put it back in the water. What makes this story so compelling is it’s elusiveness. Sherrett maybe captures the essence of what he’s doing in his description of what Wade sees in the water below the boat. “Wade was looking down at the water, trying to see what he could. The water was clear but the current made it impossible to be sure about anything. Wade could only get a vague idea of the shape and colour of things in the fast flowing water.” This story seems crystal clear on the surface, but it’s impossible to be sure about just what is going on beneath the surface. Because even if the exact substance of the undercurrent isn’t apparent, Sherrett makes the reader feel it powerfully. (KS)
chapbook, 32 pages / publisher: Jesse James Press / main creator: James Sherrett / $4 / Box 24068 RPO Kenaston, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3N 2B1