When I was a teenager, back in the Cretaceous, I read a book on writing that had an interesting insight.
I've tried finding it, without any luck. So I'm hoping one of you smart folks has read it recently enough to give me the title and author.

Anyway, here's what I remember:

The author illustrated a point by describing a short story he'd published, I believe the story was called, "Thief."

The author's summary of the story was this:

A boy goes fishing. He lands a trout. The boy is distracted for a moment, and when he turns back to the trout, he finds that
a hawk has landed on it. The boy is angry. The hawk shrieks at the boy. The boy sees something undefinable in the hawk's eyes, and
let's it fly away with the fish to feed its chicks. The boy walks home. His father asks him if he caught anything, and the boy says, "No."

This story summary was followed by the author's point. The point was that to try and tease a 'theme' out
of the story was doomed to failure. No academics would find it useful to analyze. But for reader's the
story was simple, yet memorable because it illustrated some 'mystery.'
Not mystery as in whodonit, but rather some confluence of events and situation which seems to point at some deeper reality.

Anyway, can anyone tell me what writing book this is from?

Writing fiction: an introduction to the craft
By Garry Disher