Yeah, okay. A week is a long time with just two people. "Invite some friends!" she suggests. Great idea.
So, I do. Some of my oldest and dearest friends are in the area from Ohio. "Come stay with us for a coupla' days." I suggest. They are all for it.
My friend, Ron, originally from Baltimore, is now living in central Ohio. His girlfriend, Joyce, is from around my parts and the three of us have known each other since we in high school. With his two boys, aged 13 and 14, both raised their whole lives in Ohio, they visit for a coupla' days out in the deep Maine wildness, full of wildlife, nature, and other foreign stuff to the average Midwest teen.
Well, one of those nights, the older of the two boys, was out fishing on the dock, (the cabin we rented had its own dock on a small, quiet lake in Poland, Maine.) While we were indoors, playing a game or some such malarky, He burst into the cabin: "I'm not going out there alone again!" he declared, quite frightfully!
He went on, "There was these two Loch Ness Monster-looking things appeared up out of the water and started howling like wolves!"
I began laughing. My other house guests looked at me, surprised. I broke out my iPod and pulled up a photo: "Did this thing look like this?" I asked. And when he responded that it did, I explained that it was simply a loon.
Yup. A Loon. The howling waterfowl of the Northwest.
I showed the photo to the boy's father, who was quick to rephrase the entire situation. "You got punked down by a Duck!!! A DUCK!!!"
Throughout the evening, out on the lake, the laughter continued with every howl of the loon.
Ahh, City kids. How can you not just get a kick outta them!?!
Chris
