Alice’s wait for Christmas had never been so fevered. After her father died, she had written to Santa with just one wish: to see Dad again, just once.
On Christmas morning she dashed downstairs, but instead of a smiling Dad she found only an oblong parcel with her name on it. It turned out to be a fishing rod. Alice and Dad had often gone fishing, but her heart fell.
Still, she took the rod out to the lake in the spring and in Dad’s favourite spot she cast the line in the water. Soon she pulled up a big, slippery perch. It twisted as she slid out the hook, and in its bright scales Alice saw a familiar face flash for half a heartbeat. She started so violently that the fish writhed away and fell back into the water.
As Alice stared after it, doubting herself, the fish leapt up again in front of her. Now she could hear her father’s voice quite clearly: “Help! Let me out!” Then the perch swam off into the depths.
