Speckle Trout By Ron Rash

Speckle Trout is a short story by Ron Rash with about a teenage man who thinks he knows everything there is to know. Lanny is attempting to earn money to afford a truck however, he is going about this task all wrong. He ends up saying and doing things that will get him in more trouble than he has been in before. In the beginning of the story Lanny stumbles across this pot farm while out fishing for trout. Assuming no one saw him enter that part of the woods he figures he can cut some down and sell it for a significant amount of cash. He winds up doing this not once, not twice, but three times. After the third time, Leonard the one who has been purchasing the marijuana, gives him this warning, “I don’t think you better try to do that. Whoever’s pot that is will be harvesting in the next few days. You best not be anywhere near when they’re doing it either” (Rash 186). Even after Leonard

If Lanny had been able to steer clear of the pot garden he had been stealing from he would have never ended up in the situation that he found himself later in. Throughout the story there are multiple hints that point out a type of undesirable work ethic that resides within Lanny. He goes on to talk about he has been hunting for money, “After he’d been fired from the Pay-Lo, he’d about given up hope on earning enough money for his own truck, but now things had changed” (Rash 184). There had been separate occasions where he had shown up late to work, among other things that ultimately resulted in his termination from his job. Had he been a much more tame employ he would have never been fired which would have led him to being able to save up money to purchase his truck. He tried taking too many