If you could be a child for one day....

Blog Prompt: If you could be child for one day, how old would you be and what would you do?

I would be six again, or seven, and go fishing with my Poppy at Miss Emmy's pond.

I'd go dig for worms in the hours before, and ride with him in his big green Ford to the baitshop to get crickets and minnows, just in case the worms weren't good enough.

We'd stop on the way home, in SOMEBODY'S corn field, and play some hide and seek. I'd scream when I saw a banana spider, then we'd steal a few ears and leave.

I'd wobble with the 6 foot tall high-tech fishing pole he'd bought 'just for me'---the glossy, dark green and black fishing pole that he suffered a tongue-lashing from my Mammy for, when she found out how much he paid for it (well, them....he had to have one too...).

Once we got there, I'd giggle when he cursed and proclaimed that he forgot the bait and left it at the house. I'd squeal when he came back with a snake wriggling in his hands, and cringe when I had to bait my own hook with a chunk of newly slain snake. (Yes, it works.)

I'd listen to his stories about when he was a little boy, and when Mammy burnt the schoolhouse down.

I'd throw my pole down, and just pull the line in with my hands, while he shouted encouragement in the background. (That pole was WAY too big for me, after all.)
Once I reeled the fish in, I'd be very, very proud, because I would have just caught THE BIGGEST fish EVER, no, it really IS, doesn't matter if it looks smaller that the other ones in the bucket. And I wouldn't have to take the fish off the hook, because they 'fin' you. And, well, finning hurts.

Then, in the twilight, I'd eat my fish dinner with my grandparents, maybe having some fried green tomatoes and corn on the cob with it. Afterwards, I'd sit with Mammy and break green beans, or shuck corn, (from our own corn field, which was probably missing a few ears because someone decided they wanted some on the way home from somewhere) for canning and blanching the next day.

Later in the night, a bad thunderstorm would blow in, and my grandparents would come over to our large farmhouse. Momma and Mammy would sit in the dining room, scared of the storm, and have coffee. Poppy and Daddy and I would be outside on the front porch swing, watching. I would fall asleep stretched out in their laps in a soft blanket.....and dream sweet dreams.