The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant

W. D. Wetherell’s semi-autobiographical account of a youthful summertime crush illustrates how the painful yearnings of young love can veer disastrously and hilariously off course. The story pits a young teen’s twin dreams of romantic infatuation against recreational ambition to force the protagonist to make a bad decision that will echo through his later years. The story balances many elements and even genres, including a reflective description of youthful erotic infatuation, an evocation of the silent beauty of nature, a comical encounter with a fish, and a philosophical moral about failure that brings wisdom.

There is evidence in the story and in author W. D. Wetherell’s biography that its events take place in 1963, the year when Wetherell was 14. Sheila mentions wanting to get a hair style like Ann-Margret, whose 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie made her a newly glamorous Hollywood starlet. The Corvette mentioned in the story is likely a Stingray, one of the most desirable sports cars in the US; Corvettes were featured in the popular 1960s TV show Route 66.

The narrator’s twin summer goals involve the classic fishing boast—“The one that got away was this big!”—a regret that in this case applies literally to the large bass

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