What I Did On My Summer Vacation by Simon Willcox, Jr.

by Carla Spataro

What I Did On My Summer Vacation by Simon Willcox, Jr.

I like to fish. I fish a lot. All summer long I stand at the end of the dock and fish. Sometimes I sit on the dock and sometimes I used to go out in a boat with my older brother, John. John is usually nice to me but sometimes he is mean. John is in jail now, so he can't be mean to me. He is not in the same jail as my dad. I asked my mom why my brother and my dad were not in the same jail but she wouldn't tell me. She didn't cry but she looked like she wanted to. Mom works all the time now and after my brother went to jail I had to fish by myself. We have a freezer in our basement that is so full of fish that my mom says for me to stop all the fishing. She says she wishes I could catch some money off the dock. She says that if she has to eat one more perch or walleye or large mouth bass that she will scream. My mom works at a bank. On Saturdays I play baseball. I am an excellent fielder. I can catch anything. My mom says she wants me to catch a clue. Fishing is good and baseball is good because it is quiet and I can think about anything I want to. On the third Sunday of every month we visit my dad in jail. My mom always cries in the car and says we are never going back but we always do. We don't visit my brother except every once in a while. Mom says he's really bad and she hopes he rots. She always hugs me really hard when we get back from visiting John. She says I'm the only good one but I don't think that I am very good. I cheat when I fish. I use chum. Fish like to eat other fish. I guess that makes them cannibals. I don't care. Mom says to stop, that the freezer can't hold any more fish, that we will never eat it all, but I am bad too and I just keep on fishing.

About the Author

Carla Spataro is co-publisher and fiction editor of Philadelphia Stories. For over five years, PS has showcased fiction, poetry and art from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, serving as the region's venue for emerging and established artists alike. Spataro has become a fixture of the Delaware Valley's literary scene, promoting book fairs, reading series, writers' conferences and numerous other events like Push to Publish. First and foremost a fiction writer, Spataro is also the program director for the Rosemont Writers' Retreat, an adjunct professor at Rowan University, and the midwife of 322 Review.

322 Review publishes provocative emerging and established artists. Conceived and operated by former Rowan University graduate students of the Master of Arts in Writing Program, 322 Review is aggressively seeking the best fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and mixed media works of visual art.