Ink brush, white gouache

26 x 37 inches. Private Collection

"Dad he said we lost your rod. We got a quick strike and before we knew it the rod was in the water. We hunted around for it and fished with the oars but we didn´t get it so it´s lost.“

(From: "Johnny got his gun“, Kensington Publishing Corp.) 

While Johnny's outer shell lies motionless and deaf and dumb as if dead in a hospital, his memories drift back to his childhood. The last vacations he spent together with his father and a joint trip on a boat come to mind. Johnny recalls a fish already wriggling on his fishing rod, but unable to catch it. Eventually, the fish snatches bait along with his fishing line. Johnny's basic and always poor father, who will probably never again be able to afford such a good fishing rod, does not take him the slightest bit of blame for this, despite great disappointment.