I once saw the gold at the end of the rainbow!

I was probably 7, possibly eight. My dad loved to fish and had heard of a "great" fishing spot from a friend. So when he picked me up that Saturday, he got a bucket of fried chicken and we drove out to a flat, dry, desert-like area with a small stream running through it.

We ate our lunch in the car while a quick shower cooled the air a little, and by the time we had finished eating, the rain had stopped. Dad got out his fishing gear and started to drown worms while I played around and jumped on all the rocks.

Dad hollered at me for making too much noise and scaring the fish, so I wandered away. The rain had left a rainbow up the creek so I decided to follow it.

I walked for a while beside the stream, always following the rainbow until I got close enough to touch it! Amazed, I put my hand up into the rainbow and saw my hand through the colors. Then I followed the curve of the rainbow with my eyes down to where it ended at the bed of the stream, and saw, as if impaled by the rainbow, a huge golden trout lazily finning just enough to hold position.

I knew I was in the middle of a once in a lifetime experience. I slowly sat down beside the rainbow on the bank of the stream and watched the rainbow and the golden trout for the longest time, just glorying in the magical feeling.

Finally the rainbow started to fade, and only after all the colors were gone did the trout wake up, give a whole body shiver, and head upstream like a rocket. Then I got up, brushed off the seat of my pants, and start walking back downstream to my father.

When I got close enough, I heard him calling me. He had given up on fishing because nothing was biting, and was calling for me as he packed up the car.

I did NOT tell my father about my magical golden trout because I knew he would have to go back to try to catch it.

I have ever after wondered if the legends of gold at the end of a rainbow came about perhaps because something in the physics of gold and of rainbows causes the color of gold to act as an "anchor" for rainbows.