TimeOut

I was in my early 20’s and spent the summer at my parent’s camp on the bayou.  My parents lived in the city during the week but weekend there hosting a Friday / Saturday night poker game for a few of their friends who lived on that bayou.  I was there alone during the week except for Wednesdays; my dad would arrive early in the morning to take his Lafitte skiff out to empty and rebait his crab traps then trawl for shrimp, tend his garden, make repairs and check on me. 

The trawl boat was secured under the boat slip just above the water line by the hydraulic winch.  Sunday night and all day Monday it rained cats and dogs collecting rain water in the boat.  Tuesday morning I want out to the pier to enjoy my cup of coffee and noticed rain water in the boat.  I climbed into the boat and removed the plug in the rear bottom of the boat to let the water out.  Though the belts secured the boat, it was no longer just above the water line but setting lightly in the water.  In the few moments it took for me to stand up, an incredible amount of water gushed in.  Before I could get the stopper back the weight of the water offset the hull of the boat causing it to slide off the winch pulleys down into the bayou.  YIKES!!! 

Not one person could be seen up or down the small road so I ran two blocks to a main road where I hailed down a truck with two men.  Fortunately for me something prevented the boat from sinking as quickly as it should have.  Within an hour the two men (angel’s) were able to raise the boat, drain it and secure it back on it’s girth.  The two men then proceeded to give me a stern scolding for messing with my dad’s trawl boat. 

I never told my dad but the next day he was having trouble with the boats propeller; something was jamming it.  He asked me if I wouldn’t mind getting into the water and remove the obstruction. Although I know what type creatures lie beneath the surface, I agreed because I commonly dive from the end of the pier into the bayou to cool off in the heat of the day; nothing ever got me before!  I descended into the waist deep water from a small wooden ladder on the side of the pier.  To my dismay I slowly sank into hip deep silt; I was mortified.  I waded toward the boat trying very hard not to think of the eels, leeches and unknown urchins that breed in this brackish water - BURRR.  The only thing that kept me from jumping back onto the pier was sheer guilt and fear of telling my dad what happened.  So bravely, I reached under the boat, unloosed the debris then somehow within the blink of an eye, I was translated back onto the pier. 

This lesson seared an indelible mark of healthy respect on my mind for meddling with what I ought not.  Fortunately it was a small price to pay for my mischief.

Sigh…

Helen