I thought I was just going fishing with an old man I’d met by chance, but the letter I received months later revealed a secret that would leave me forever changed—and with a gift that would fulfill my wildest dreams.
Living in an old trailer wasn’t as bad as it sounds, or at least that’s what I told myself. It was just me and Mom. We’ve been on our own since Dad left when I was six. Honestly, I barely remember him, but Mom… well, she never says much about him. We don’t talk about it.
“Adam, can you grab the mail?” Mom would call out from the couch. Her legs were often propped up on a pillow, and she winced with every movement. She’d been in a car accident years ago, and her limp made standing or walking for long periods difficult. Still, she worked long shifts at the gas station just to keep us afloat.
“Sure, Mom,” I would reply grabbing my coat. I didn’t mind doing the little things to help. It made me feel like I was making a difference, even if it was just fetching mail or fixing dinner.
Most days after school, I would find something to do outside the trailer—anything to take my mind off things. But little did I know that at the age of 13, my life would change.
That day, I was tossing an old, deflated soccer ball at some bottles I’d set up like bowling pins. It wasn’t much, but it helped pass the time.
Then, out of nowhere, this shiny black SUV rolled up next to the trailer. The windows were tinted, and I stared at it for a second, wondering who on earth would come around here in something that fancy.
The door creaked open, and out stepped this old man, probably in his 70s or 80s, leaning on a cane but with a warm smile on his face. He waved.
“Hey there,” he said, slowly walking over. “Mind if I take a shot?” He pointed at the bottles I had lined up.
I blinked. “Uh, sure, I guess,” I said, not really sure what to make of him.
He chuckled. “Tell you what, let’s make it interesting. If I get a strike, I’ll ask you for a favor, and you can’t say no. But if I miss, I’ll hand you a hundred bucks. Deal?”
My eyes practically popped out of my head. A hundred bucks? I could almost hear the register in my brain ringing. “Deal,” I said quickly.
The man leaned down, picked up the deflated ball, and with a flick of his wrist, tossed it. The thing rolled straight into the bottles, knocking every last one down. I stood there, jaw dropped. No way.
The old man laughed, clearly pleased with himself. “Looks like I won,” he said. “Now, for that favor.”
I swallowed, curious. “What do you want me to do?”
“Come fishing with me tomorrow at the old pond,” he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Fishing?” I scratched my head. That was it? Seemed like a strange request, but definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. “Uh, okay, I guess. Let me just ask my mom.”
He smiled and nodded. “I’ll wait.”
I jogged back into the trailer, opening the door quietly. Mom was asleep on the couch, her chest rising and falling slowly. She’d had a long shift at the gas station the night before, and I didn’t want to wake her. I stood there for a moment, biting my lip.
“She won’t even know,” I muttered to myself. “I’ll be back before she notices.”
Decision made, I tiptoed back outside. “Alright, I’ll go,” I told the old man, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake.
“Great,” he said, smiling even wider. “We’ll meet tomorrow at dawn. Don’t be late.”
The next morning, the old man picked me up bright and early in his black SUV. We drove in silence at first, heading out of town. The place looked like no one had been there in years, the water was still, with tall grass growing around it. There wasn’t a single person in sight.
“Why here?” I asked, looking around as I grabbed the fishing rods he’d brought.
The old man smiled softly as he set up the gear. “This place… it means a lot to me,” he said, his voice quieter than usual.
We cast our lines into the water and sat side by side. We didn’t talk much for a while. But after about an hour, with no bites on the line, I couldn’t help but ask.
“So… why did you want to come here to fish?” I asked, curious.
The old man glanced at me, his smile tinged with sadness. “Years ago, I used to come here with my son. He was about your age then.” His voice softened even more.
“We were poor, just like you and your mother. Didn’t have much, but we always found time to come here. Funny thing is, we never caught a single fish, no matter how hard we tried.”
I looked at him. “Where’s your son now?”
He was quiet for a long moment, staring out at the water. I noticed his eyes filled with tears.
“He’s gone,” the old man finally said, his voice heavy. “He got sick. The doctors said he needed an urgent operation, but I didn’t have the money. I couldn’t save him.”
I felt my chest tighten. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, blinking back tears. “That’s when I promised myself I’d never be in that position again. I worked, I hustled, I built myself up so I’d never feel that helpless. But… I never had another child.”
I didn’t know what to say at first, but something inside me knew what he needed to hear. I stood up, walked over to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Your son’s watching you from heaven,” I said softly. “And one day, he’ll see you catch that fish. You just can’t give up.”
He smiled at me, tears still in his eyes. “Thank you, Adam. You remind me so much of him.”
Just then, the float on one of our rods dipped suddenly into the water.
“Hey, the float!” I yelled.
The old man’s eyes widened, and we both grabbed the rod at the same time, pulling hard. But as we yanked, we both lost our balance, tumbling into the pond with a loud splash. I gasped as the cold water hit me, and the old man surfaced beside me, laughing like he hadn’t in years.
“Well, this is one way to catch a fish!” he cackled, struggling to hold onto the rod while I helped pull him up.
We finally managed to drag the rod back to shore, and to our surprise, attached to the end was the biggest fish I’d ever seen. The old man jumped to his feet, soaking wet but grinning like a kid.
“We did it!” he shouted, throwing his hands up in triumph. “We actually caught one!”
I couldn’t help but laugh, watching him dance around like he’d just won the lottery. We were soaked to the bone, but in that moment, it didn’t matter.
Later, he drove me back to the trailer. As we pulled up, he turned to me, his face soft and filled with gratitude.
“Thank you, Adam,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Today meant more to me than you’ll ever know.”
I smiled back. “Thanks for taking me fishing. It was fun.”
He reached out and patted my shoulder, a tear sliding down his cheek. “Take care, son. And don’t give up on those dreams.”
With that, he drove off, leaving me standing there with a strange warmth in my chest.
The next day, there was a knock on our trailer door. I opened it to see a man in a suit standing there, holding a package.
“Adam?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s me,” I said, eyeing the man suspiciously.
“I’m Mr. Johnson, Mr. Thompson’s assistant. He asked me to deliver this to you,” he said, handing over the package.
I opened it right there on the spot and inside was more money than I’d ever seen in my life. My jaw dropped. “W-what is this for?”
Mr. Johnson smiled kindly. “It’s for you and your mother. Enough to move into a proper house, and for her medical care—rehabilitation, so she can walk without pain. There’s also a provision for private tutors to help you prepare for college. Your education, including one of the best colleges in the country, will be fully covered.”
I couldn’t believe it. My head spun as I tried to process what he was saying. “But… why?”
“Mr. Thompson was very moved by you, Adam. He sees a lot of his own son in you. This is his way of saying thank you.”
Tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded, overwhelmed by the kindness of a man who had once been a stranger but had now changed our lives forever.
Several months passed since that fishing trip. One afternoon, I came home to find a letter on the table, addressed to me. I recognized the handwriting instantly. My hands shook as I opened it.
“If you’re reading this,” the letter began, “then I’m already watching you from heaven with my son.”
I stopped, swallowing hard, and read on.
“The day after we went fishing, I had heart surgery. I didn’t survive, but that’s okay. Meeting you gave me more peace than I ever thought possible. You reminded me of my son and showed me there’s still joy in life, even after loss.
I’ve left you everything you need to succeed. Remember what you told me that day by the pond? You’ll catch that fish too—just don’t give up, right?”
I wiped a tear from my cheek, staring at the words. I could almost hear his voice again, and see him smiling next to me by the water.
Fifteen years later, I stood on the porch of the house I built for Mom, watching her laugh with my kids in the yard.
“You never gave up, Adam,” she said, catching my eye with a smile. “He’d be proud.”
“I think about him a lot,” I admitted, my voice soft. “I hope I’ve made him proud.”
“You have,” she said gently. “He gave you everything, and look at you now.”
I smiled, glancing at my own home next door. “It wasn’t just the money, Mom. It was the reminder to never give up. I’ll carry that with me forever.”
She squeezed my hand. “And he’s watching. I know it.”
A History of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s Playful Feud — As the Wolverine Actor Turns 56 Today!
The’ Deadpool & Wolverine’ costars and musketeers have kept up their funny faux feud over the times
Hugh Jackman turns 56 moment, and what better way to celebrate than to take a walk down memory lane and examine the history of his” feud” with pal Ryan Reynolds?
Way before they teamed up to make Deadpool & Wolverine, Jackman revealed the onsets of their frequently-hysterical dynamic in a 2020 interview with The Daily Beast.
” It’s gone back so long now God, this is a classic sign where your feud has gone too long, where you do not indeed know why or how it started,” he said.
More lately, when they saw one another on the set of Deadpool & Wolverine, “ You came over and you went,’ Steve!'” Jackman recalled in a PEOPLE cover story, in which he and Reynolds, 47, interview one another about their 17- time fellowship. Added Reynolds playfully, “ Greg? No, don’t tell me.”
As we celebrate the actor who perfected the part of Wolverine to a tee, then’s a timeline of the ongoing feud and badinage between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds.
1. Scarlett Johansson might have had an unwitting hand in starting it.
Jackman told The Daily Beast it was Scarlett Johansson who might have started the feud, though he admitted to having trouble flashing back the origins at first.
The actor explained how he started teasing Reynolds over his recent( at the time) marriage to Johansson, 39. The two were married from 2008 to 2011 before Reynolds wed now- woman
Blake Lively in 2012.
“ I used to ream him because I was veritably close musketeers with Scarlett, and Scarlett had just married Ryan, so when he came on set I was like, ‘ Hey, you more be on your stylish behavior then, confidante, because I’m watching,’ and we started roasting each other that way, and also it all escalated with the Deadpool thing and him calling me out, and trying to manipulate me through social media to do what he wanted, ” Jackman explained.
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He putatively made their feud public in 2015 when he posted a videotape on his Instagram of Reynolds impersonating him — Australian accentuation and all — in his Deadpool makeup.
2. The feud originally substantially concentrated on Reynolds’ desire to make a Deadpool/ Wolverine film.
Since that time, Jackman and Reynolds, who met on the set of 2009’sX-Men Origins Wolverine, have continued their public trolling and set up ways to poke fun at one other on social media.
In January 2017, Reynolds made it clear he wanted to make a mashup movie featuring his Deadpool character with Jackman’s Wolverine.
Unfortunately for the Free Guy actor, Jackman hung up his Wolverine claws just months latterly in March with the release of Logan, his putatively final incursion as the ridiculous- book mutant. But that didn’t stop Reynolds, whose Deadpool & Wolverine dreams are now coming true.
“ I’ve no idea if I can change his mind, ” Reynolds told Variety of Jackman at the time. “ It’s the followership I would simply exploit that relationship to get Hugh back for another bone. ”
He echoed his statements to Entertainment Weekly latterly, saying, “ What we’re gonna have to do is move Hugh. However, I’m going to need to do what I can to get my internet musketeers back on board to help rally another cause down the line, If anything. ”
As Jackman told Variety, “ I’m scrupling. I could completely see how that’s the perfect fit. But the timing may be wrong. ”
3. Their capers have gauged times and included Christmases, birthdays and live performances.
Jackman and Reynolds have combed each other during the leaves and on each other’s birthdays.
Playing up on their hypercritically negative relationship in April 2018, Jackman tried to record a birthday communication for a addict on Twitter, only to be intruded by Reynolds’ Deadpool. As the actor started to record his well- wishes, Reynolds began singing in the background.
“ When you’re trying to record a sincere birthday communication. but are intruded by the least topmost showman, ” Jackman wrote on Twitter.
detracted by the song, he condemned the camera over to show Reynolds lying on a hostel bed in his full Deadpool costume, begirding “ hereafter” from Annie.
“ Don’t give him too important attention, ” Jackman said in the clip.
For Reynolds’ 42nd birthday, the brace had another ridiculous exchange on social media. Given the nature of their relationship, Jackman naturally celebrated his friend’s big day by trolling him.
“ Because I’m told that I AM THE NICEST joe and you’re NOT.@VancityReynolds I’ll let you clinch me. Just this formerly. On your birthday, ” he wrote alongside a picture of the brace embracing each other.
Reynolds snappily responded with a false claim. “ This man is a monster, ” he wrote. “ He’s not indeed from Australia. He’s from Milwaukee. ”
4. The brace putatively called a armistice.
In February 2019, Reynolds and Jackman announced on their respective social- media accounts that their friendly feud had officially come to an end.
As a way to mend their “ broken relationship, ” the two actors revealed their plans to make ads for each other’s companies — Reynolds’ Aviation Gin, Jackman’s Laughing Man Coffee — and, of course, each expected to out- do the other.
“ Official truce with@realhughjackman! ” Reynolds wrote alongside a black- and- white snapshot of the pair smiling as they shook hands. “ As a gesture of goodwill, I’m gonna make a beautiful ad for his company, Laughing Man Coffee. Can’t wait! ”
Jackman shared the same photo, captioning it, “ Official truce! I’m going to make the most amazing ad for Aviation Gin. And, look forward to seeing what@vancityreynolds comes up with in return. ”
Reynolds laterre-posted the same photo on his Instagram Stories from another user but it was edited to include a grenade in their hands, a pin from the explosive weapon in Reynolds’ mouth, and Jackman’s Wolverine claw behind his back in the mirror.
The spoof shot was captioned by Reynolds, “ Look closely. ”
5. They reignited their feud just months later.
It appears the two just could n’t stay away. That August, Reynolds and Jackman reignited the feud when the latter injured his hand during his one- man tour The Man. The Music. The Show.
“ The first time I’ve played#wolverine and, actually bled. Clearly, it’s@vancityreynolds fault, ” Jackman wrote over an image of a scratch on his knuckle. The bit reportedly included jokes about Reynolds and Jackman playing Wolverine.
Reynolds commented, “ I just do n’t think you’ve been practicing enough. ”
In 2020, Jackman wished his now- ex, Deborra- lee Jackman, a happy 24th anniversary in a heartfelt social- media communication.
“ These 24 times have been the stylish of my life! And, as far as I can see, we keep getting better, ” the actor identified a fogy image of himself and Deborra- lee, 68. “ I love you Debs with every fiber of my soul. Happy anniversary.# 24 ″
Reynolds used the anniversary post as an occasion to continue his ridiculous feud with Jackman. “ Hang in there, Deb, ” he teased in the commentary section on Instagram.
6. The jokes have expanded to include footwear.
Back in October 2021, Reynolds marked Jackman’s 53rd birthday by trolling theX-Men actor with a TikTok videotape of his socks which were published with Jackman’s face on them.
” Look I do not tell you how to celebrate Hugh Jackman’s birthday. So do not tell me,” he wrote, adding in the caption,” Socks to be Hugh.”
Jackman reposted Reynolds’ TikTok on his Instagram runner and addressed it in a videotape of his own, in which he thanked musketeers and suckers for their birthday wishes.
” I know there is been a lot of dispatches about Ryan’s post — him wearing socks with my face on them and wondering where you can get them,” the actor added, joking,” You can not get them anywhere because he made them himself, he stitched them himself.”
Jackman continued,” I know, it’s just really sad. But anyway, I guess you could ask him, he might darn you a brace or give you the bones he is been wearing.”
7. The actors have given true props to one another but the jokes are no way far out.
Jackman said that” a lot of people come up to” him talking about Reynolds.
” And I say,’ Shut up, I am not interested,'” he added, to which Reynolds responded with a laugh,” That tracks.”
But in soberness, Jackman told Reynolds that he believes him speaking about his experience with anxiety,” takes courage,” and has” helped a lot of people.”
And for Reynolds, the key to their fellowship, in part, is that they” calculate on each other for the real kind of advice that you want.”
8. Their friendly feud might have to do with Sexiest Man Alive.
During a common appearance on The View to promote Deadpool & Wolverine, the former Sexiest Man Alive titleholders recreated their covers after panelist Sara Haines suggested their beef might involve” contending covers.”
” Do not bring it up. We have done a lot of remedy,” Jackman fitted . still, he added that when the brace catch up, they” assume the disguise.”
” What am I doing there?” Reynolds asked of his cover before trying to casually lean back.” That is not comfortable.”
When John Legend was blazoned as PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2019, Jackman complimented the songster with a silly Instagram videotape exhibiting his own cover to a dismissive Reynolds.
” 99 of the time, People Magazine gets it right,” Jackman wrote in the caption before playfully dissing Reynolds.” But a word of caution. There’s the 1. exhibition A.”
9. They indeed beef in promotional material outside of Deadpool & Wolverine.
When Jackman took to social media to advertise a series of 12 musicales, named” From New York, with Love,” Reynolds naturally had to join him after their lengthy press stint.
Sitting on the same settee Reynolds used to reveal Jackman’s return as Wolverine, The Greatest Showman star unveiled his Radio City Music Hall shows before asking Reynolds if he wanted to come.
The Deadpool actor asked if he’d be a part of Jackman’s show, to which the star jokingly replied,” Absolutely!” to the camera, as he quietly signaled else.
” This is my time,” he rumored.
Following a loud montage of Jackman explaining his show and Reynolds putatively offering suggestions, Reynolds concluded,” I am not going to be in it?”
” On stage, no. But in my heart, yeah,” Jackman answered, stipulating that he needs his friend in the followership —( maybe indeed further down) and not in the factual show.
” It’s going to be the most amazing tech trial you have ever, ever been to,” Jackman joked.
” I have won the fellowship lottery,” Reynolds said with an undecided laugh.
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