Craig's Catfish Family Visits Him On Shore For A Short Dry Conversation

My catfish family came onto shore Friday for a short dry conversation.

This was their idea. I had planned to enter the water again after lunch, but the family sent two younger members to the bank at 12:07 p.m. and remained there until I understood the visit was being reversed.

I put down three towels, set my notebook in the shade, and sat on the mud beside the lowest part of the bank.

The family does not like chairs.

Arrival

The first relative to come fully onto shore was my cousin Merrill, who is medium-large by family standards and very formal about transitions. Merrill moved out of the water, rested his body on a wet towel, and opened his mouth once.

I understood this as a greeting.

Three others followed. They stayed partly in the shallows, which was sensible. A shore visit is not a land commitment.

I had prepared a list of updates: travel, work, whether I had been eating enough, and why I had waited so long between visits. I did not read the list aloud because it seemed too much like minutes.

Instead, I started with the apology.

"I should have come sooner," I said.

Merrill moved one whisker.

This counted as acknowledgment.

Family Topics

The conversation lasted 11 minutes. Most of it concerned water level, my failure to visit in February, and whether I had become too comfortable with shoes.

I explained that February had been complicated by work and that shoes are still situational.

My aunt surfaced near the log at minute four. She did not come onto shore, but she watched the conversation like someone who had already heard my reasons and was not hostile to them.

At minute six, Merrill moved closer to my knee and rested there. The gesture had the weight of a relative deciding not to make you ask twice.

I put one hand on the towel beside him.

That was as close as the visit needed to get.

Moisture Limit

At minute nine, Merrill needed water again. I suggested we conclude before the shore visit became unsafe.

No one objected.

The family returned to the water in the order they arrived, except for one younger cousin who circled the towel twice before leaving. I believe he was checking whether land had improved since last time.

It had not.

After they left, I folded the towels and wrote down the main findings.

One: the family will come to shore if they believe I have spent too much time making the visit about my convenience.

Two: a family can reverse the visit if the person on shore keeps making absence convenient.

Three: I should visit before February becomes a topic again.

I will.