Margarine's getting married on Saturday in Austin, Texas. I've known him for thirty-one years. This weekend I wrote my Best Man speech, trying to entertain a little, but also to bridge the gap with a few anecdotes. Six and a half minutes can't make up for the twenty-seven year head start I have on S2B. So here's to a week of what I couldn't fit in there, starting with a little crabbing off a dock in Hampton, Virginia.
We had just moved there a few weeks before. It was summer, school hadn't started and we were living on B.O.Q., military speak for Bachelor Officer Quarters, on Ft. Monroe, Virginia. I was going into fifth grade and the three of us kids spent most of our time together, learning to back flip off the side of the pool and playing soccer against the locals, including soon to be best soccer buddy Matt Neely.
What we really loved, as we'd never done it before, was dropping a chicken leg tied to a string off the dock. When we'd check the lines and find a tug, we'd slowly pull it up to the surface then out of the water, the crab holding on like he thought he was getting a ride to the whole bird. Then we'd drop it on the dock and dare each other to pick it up from the back. We didn't always win, and sometimes they'd scurry off the dock before we could get them in the bucket or pick them up for a look. A big one took a chunk out of my finger when I was trying to separate him from the chicken. Margarine, seeing the blood pouring out of my finger, shouted, You make my brother bleed, you Die! and kicked the crab about to North Carolina while Shrimp Jr. almost fell off the dock laughing.
We had just moved there a few weeks before. It was summer, school hadn't started and we were living on B.O.Q., military speak for Bachelor Officer Quarters, on Ft. Monroe, Virginia. I was going into fifth grade and the three of us kids spent most of our time together, learning to back flip off the side of the pool and playing soccer against the locals, including soon to be best soccer buddy Matt Neely.
What we really loved, as we'd never done it before, was dropping a chicken leg tied to a string off the dock. When we'd check the lines and find a tug, we'd slowly pull it up to the surface then out of the water, the crab holding on like he thought he was getting a ride to the whole bird. Then we'd drop it on the dock and dare each other to pick it up from the back. We didn't always win, and sometimes they'd scurry off the dock before we could get them in the bucket or pick them up for a look. A big one took a chunk out of my finger when I was trying to separate him from the chicken. Margarine, seeing the blood pouring out of my finger, shouted, You make my brother bleed, you Die! and kicked the crab about to North Carolina while Shrimp Jr. almost fell off the dock laughing.
2 comments:
Six and a half minutes? The wedding itinerary has you scheduled for less than two.
Who is that handsome guy in the background?
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