Slow

For two days the Lattam boys stirred up some controversy. At the park down the street, a philanthropist paid to dig up a fishpond. He offered an extravagant budget, and the contractor, apparently a man not to waste money, ended up bulldozing a quarter of the park, sinking what seemed to the neighborhood to be a lake. Dream sketches of docks around a quiet pool were shattered; he brought in a whole lot of water.

That was all last autumn. After the silt settled and cold disappeared, the rest of the donated funds were spent on fish—mostly char. They put about five hundred in the water, evidenced by receipts, and the Lattam boys. Twins, they didn’t let the trout rest for even a week; they skipped school to sleep through the days, and for two nights caught every one of those fish, leaving rotting piles near the flood drains and picnic tables. A few people got up in arms: the fishpond was for everyone to enjoy. Apart from the smell, though, most others didn’t seem to mind, even thought it was funny that two kids could so quickly catch all the fish. The boys got detention for truancy.