Messages in a Bottle

Part 7

11:05 P.M., 3/19/1

Dear Anonymous,

Do you ever feel as if,

Your own mistakes are too big to correct?

My dad told me I was nothing more than my test.

A failure at best.

He says he was being nice –

Letting the fishing line put me back in the sea –

But next time I screw up,

He's going to reel me in,

And watch me flop around,

Till all my air is gone.

I told him about Christine,

To try and compensate for my failing grade.

"Probably because she's obviously smarter than you are,"

"I remember her grades would stay A's,"

"Without fluctuation or 'hiccups' as you call them."

I stayed quiet,

Because in the end,

The fisherman always catches the fish.