班尼的鱼 A Fish for Benny

爸妈离婚后，我只能每两周见爸爸一面。但是我们每次出去玩，弟弟班尼都来搅和，我恨死了他……

"Rats!" I groaned. "Is he coming along?"

I stared disgustedly at my new stepbrother, Benny, sitting in the back seat of Dad's car. Benny is eight, short and thin with beady eyes and big ears. Now that Mom and Dad are divorced, I only see Dad every other weekend, and Benny is always horning in. He ruins everything.

The time we went hiking, he got a blister. The zoo made him sneeze. At the baseball game he got a peanut up his nose. If Dad had to remarry, I don't see why he picked Benny's mother. I mean, she's OK. It's just too bad that Benny was included in the deal.

Today Dad and I were going deep-sea fishing for the first time. Now it was spoiled.

"Joe," Dad said in his patient voice, "Benny's your brother—"

"Some brother!"

"We'll have a good time," Dad promised. "Better bring a jacket."

"What for?" I glanced at the steel-colored Florida sky. "It's hot today."

The fishing boat was a scabby old tub, but when you're only paying 15 dollars a person for three hours of fishing, you don't get the Queen Elizabeth II. There were several people on board, sitting on benches on each side of the deck. A few were in the cabin.

The captain's mate gave each of us a rod and reel and a bucket of bait before we cast off.

"We're making up a jackpot for whoever catches the biggest fish," the mate said. "If you guys want in on it, it will cost you a buck a piece."

Dad gave him three dollars. I figured paying for Benny was wasted money. He probably wouldn't even bait his hook.

I was right. The kid stared suspiciously into the bucket and made a face.

"This stuff stinks! What is it?"

"Dead fish," I told him.

"Do I have to touch it?"

"If you want to bait your hook, you do."

"Here, Benny," Dad said, "take my rod. The hook's baited and in the water. I'll use yours."

"OK!" said Benny. He gripped the handle of the rod as if his life depended on it.

A breeze had sprung up, and the waves were choppy. Some clouds slid over the sun. Nobody caught anything.

Then Benny said, "Something's jerking my line. What should I do?"

"Jerk back!" I told him. I reached for his rod. "I'll get it for you!"

"Let him do it, Joe," Dad said. "Pull, Benny, and hang on tight!"

Wouldn't you know it? Benny caught the first fish—ttle snapper—and he acted as if it were a prize marlin.

Meanwhile the sky had grown dark, and the breeze had turned into a stiff wind, The waves rose higher. Drops of rain slapped our faces, the temperature dropped, and thunder rumbled in the distance. The boat rocked like a runaway cradle.