They Eyes of a Fish

*** continued from previous post ***


It's now apparent that the skipper is winding the engines out to ramming speed. We may skip the dock altogether and just run this baby right up on shore, Omaha-Beach style. To no one's surprise but ours he throws the engines in reverse at the last minute and we cruise at a civilized speed to the dock.

Now, I don't know if you've ever had this experience, but once in a while in life you will stumble across a situation where, earlier in the day you admired someone, then, through no fault of their own the situation changes and you pity them. That was us in a nutshell. As we disembarked none of our previous friends would look at us. If they did, it was to sneak a quick glance in our direction. But I knew what they were thinking. It was the same thing I would have been thinking had the situation been reversed. "Sucks to be you Chester!"

Yes. Yes it does. Thank you for noticing.

We wait our turn and I roll on the throttle and pull up the now rain-soaked steel ramp. I don't know if you have experienced the delight of a half-blind, (my glasses and visor were still fogged up), fish-tailing ride on a motorcycle up a steel ramp in the rain with maniac Canadians inches from the back of your bike, but it's not as much fun as it sounds. Then, just as our tires kiss the tarmac, it quits raining! Oh benevolent God in heaven, why must your sense of humor be so cruel?

At the top of the hill leading to the Ferry is a small parking lot and a squat building that may be a smoke-house or a rest-room. I slow the bike, take a sharp curve and cruise into the lot. This looks like a good place to re-group, catch our breath, put on our rain gear, and attempt to think through the rest of our day.

"Well," I say, as I pull off my helmet with a definitive sucking sound, (Think of pulling a suction cup off of a sheet of glass, or Robert Downey Jr. circa 1995 from a post Oscar party with an open bar and a group of Colombian "fans".), "that was something, eh?"

Mom cocks her head slightly. "Did you just say 'eh?'

The woman I love looks at me with the eyes of a fish. Dead, terrible eyes. "If you start talking like a Canadian I will be forced to kill you. Kill you dead. Right here. Right now. Do you understand? Get your rain gear on while I visit the rest-room and try to dry out a bit."

I think that this deserves a calculated reply but then my brain starts working and I decide to smile and pursue the path that has kept our marriage on the right track for almost 30 years - I keep my mouth shut.


*** the journey continues ***