Stranger at the River

Someone stood by the river,
I was glad I wasn’t going to be the only one,
I was to come with my grandfather,
But he had been unwell and we were running out of supplies.

I greeted the man,
He only nodded in response,
I gazed at him but he seemed oblivious to my scrutiny,
He was busy with his net,
A cold wave of unease washed through me
as I turned my eyes away from him,
I pondered what had caused that feeling.

My grandfather had warned me to be wary of strangers at the river,
He mentioned that mystery often surrounds this place,
He said some persons had mysteriously disappeared
after being affable to strangers,
He said that dawn and twilight were particularly dangerous times,
I kept this advice in mind as I left home.

As I pushed my boat to the river,
Suddenly the man offered me his net,
I shook my head,
His hand was still stretched toward me with an insistent gaze,
I looked into his eyes and saw a glimmer of kindness,
I shivered as I took the net,
I silently prayed that the Divine guide me,
I nodded in appreciation,
The man smiled,
“How did he know I needed a good net?” I thought,
My grandfather had told me to mend the net
before leaving home but I hadn’t woken up early to do that.

I thrust my boat further into the river and paddled to the centre,
I looked towards the direction of the man,
He waved at me,
I cast the net into the water
and noticed a continuous ripple on the surface,
I tried to pull out the net and noticed it was heavy,
I summoned the power of the elements,
A lesson my grandfather had taught me,
The catch was sudden and massive,
I glanced towards the direction where the stranger had been,
He was no longer there,
“He wasn’t a wicked ghost after all,” I thought with a smile,