Starve

 
He's about nine, curly hair and brown skin, and I saw him climbing out of the creek with two small, pale fish on a line.

Wow!

It wasn't hard, he said, confident. I put the line in and they swam right to it.

Cicadas suffocated us in the heat. Man. What are you gonna do with them?

I don't know.

I had the impression he wished he had a better answer. But I thought, No, I get it. Perfect answer to a stupid question. Fishing was something to do. The fish are beside the point.