‘Somewhere here,’ he answered, tracing the waterway from its confluence with the Mississippi to its exit into Lake Michigan, ‘is the only electric fence I am aware of in this part of the world. It is designed to keep carp out of the Great Lakes.’
‘Karp?’
‘With a ‘c’, not a ‘k’. Carp are fish, not people.’
‘Fish?’
‘Asian carp is an invasive species. It vacuums up plankton and starves native species like walleye and lake trout. The suckers were introduced in American rivers fifty years back to control algae, but they multiplied out of control like rabbits did in Australia, and migrated up the Mississippi. Man can sure screw up nature when he tries. I should have remembered, but it didn’t click until the boy mentioned ‘fence’ and ‘carp’ in the same sentence. He doesn’t need to worry: fish can’t come ashore, unless we haul ‘em up for dinner, and few people like carp: they’re bottom feeders, full of bones.’
‘You’re a genius!’ Wes was open –mouthed in admiration.
‘ I may only have Grade 8, but I got common sense.’
‘ Have you told Adam?’
‘No, I’ll let you do that. Imagination’s a great thing, but sometimes a person’s head is so far in the clouds that his feet don’t touch the ground.’
‘Well, you are right about that. Yours is the only explanation that makes sense. Thanks, Ti-Guy. That’s worth, what do you say, a beer or two on me?’
‘It sure beats a lawsuit, anyway.’ Ti-Guy grinned, folded his map, and winked at the younger man.
‘Gotta go and catch me some trout—that is, if the carp have left me any!’
