The Silver Fox

I went trolling last Friday and Saturday. I intended to just go to Outer Point and drag around for the day, but the seine boats were working the area, so I ended up closer to Flynn Cove by the end of the day and decided to drop in and spend the night. It's  a great anchorage when the wind is coming from the east, which it was. When I arrived, the Silver Fox was already on anchor. It was just  the two of us in the anchorage that night. I guess everyone else was fishing outside or tied up in town. The Silver Fox- what  a great name for a boat. It lives up to its name too, she's a sharp looking fiberglass job. I imagine it catches fish like crazy also. You'd have to catch a lot of fish with a name like that. It's too classic of a name to be a dud. It runs in my mind that a good looking, popular country singer named Charlie Rich had the nickname, the Silver Fox. Just like the boat, you couldn't look all flabby and wrinkled and be called the Silver Fox. It got me to thinking, I've got silver in my hair, although some would argue that its just gray. How come silver sounds so distinguished and gray sounds like crap? Anyway, I was thinking, I'm a little flabby, dress shabbily and am usually unshaven, maybe I could be the Silver Blob. Which made me think of the horror movie, the Blob, that my dad took myself and my brother and sister to see when I was just a wee lad. For some reason Mom didn't go- she probably had more sense than to go sit in a drive-in theatre and watch a scary movie. For those too young to remember, they used to have outdoor theatres with big screens that you watched from the confines of your car. You had to pull up to a stand with a receiver and roll down the window and hang the receiver on the window so you could hear the movie. It was pretty primitive by todays standards. As  I recall, half the time you'd end up freezing part way through the movie, the windows would fog from the condensation, if you had to leave the car to go take a leak you'd spend the next half hour trying to find your car in the dark, and without fail you'd end up spilling your drink all over the seat, which endears you to your father. Ah, good times, good, good times. Back to the Blob. It came from outer space and if I remember correctly it was just like a piece of meteorite. Somehow though, it managed to creep through the most impenetrateable spaces and eat people. It was red and bloody looking and kept getting bigger with each person it ate. Frankly, it scared the hell out me. I was quite certain it was going to come through the speaker on our car's radio and target me. For some reason it would bypass my dad and siblings and go right after me. It was a great relief when the firemen managed to contain it with firehoses.  I remember being afraid of several things when I was a boy. I was visiting my good friend Mike O' Day one evening when a very popular song called the One Eyed, One Horned ,Flying Purple People Eater came on the radio. We were laughing and singing and having a good time until it came time to go the half block to my house, then I got to thinking about being eaten by the Flying Purple People Eater. Though Mike tried to convince me that I wouldn't be a target because I wasn't purple, what if there was one lurking about in the moonlight who was color blind? He offered to walk me home. Actually we ran down the hill- you can't be too careful. You don't want to be exposed for too long. I think it was my first experience with sacrificial friendship. Mike was willing to risk his life to get me home safely. That's a true friend. Next time I crack the top on a cold, refreshing beverage I'll try to remember to toast him. To friendship,Mike- and the Silver Blob.