If many of these thoughts deal with maritime matters, people and places, it is because I have a deep affection for the people of that area. Go where you will in Canada, you'll find no one like a Maritimer, nor will you find another Canadian to match his wry sense of humor. I sat, one evening many years ago, with an ancient seaman on the jetty at Digby, on the Funday coast. The old man was telling me about a terrifying experience he had on the first boat that ever took him to sea. In attempting to haul in a big one off the coast, his hand became so entangled in the line that when the fish fought back, the fisherman lost not only his glove, but the fourth finger of his right hand. This was the finger on which he wore an ancient family ring which had been passed on to him by his grandfather. He went on to relate how 10 years later he caught a huge fish in the very same spot where his finger and ring had gone into the deep. "I had a feeling about that fish," he said, in all seriousness. "And so I took him home in the cart and with the utmost care, I started to cut him up. Now I know you'll find this hard to believe,”, he said, "But what I am about to tell you is God's truth. As I told you, I had a feeling that this was the same fish who had torn off my finger and possibly swallowed my grandfather's ring, and when I cut him up, what do you think I found inside him?" He asked. "The RING”, I said excitedly. "No, BONES," said the old fisherman. Like I say about Maritimers, love them but don't always believe them.
No comments:
Post a Comment