cheerfully.
Nina smiled, enchanted by the gentleman. “Well, you’ve done a fine job. I bet you’ve never gone hungry.”
He laughed and slapped a hand on his thigh. “Thank you, miss, but that’s not the case. I was lazy as a boy and when I didn’t fetch the birds fast enough for my da, I went hungry no matter how many ducks he brought home for the pot.”
Nina looked at him in surprise. “That’s not very nice.”
He shrugged and bent back to his carving. “I learned not to be lazy.”
He peered up at her. “Where are you from? You look like someone I know.”
“I’m from Alexandria actually, but my Grandpapa Tom lived here and I used to visit him from time to time.”
“Tom, Tom who?” he asked, squinting one eye to peer up at her.
“Tom Burley, over on the channel,” she replied.
“Sure, I know who you’re talkin’ about. I served as mate under Captain Tom on the Lady Say . I seen your likeness on the mantel board at the big house one day. That’s why I thought you looked familiar. You look a little like your mother, too. I knew Miss Emily, you know, and her passing was a harsh blow to us all. I thank ye that Tom had the gull Freda to look after.”
Nina was delighted to find someone new who worked with her grandfather. The man, who she soon discovered was named Cyrus Leppard, entertained her with tales of the sea and of her grandfather when he was a young man.
As the sun’s rays lengthened along the grass of the park, Cyrus brought Nina over to a group of retired locals gathered there at the fair, all of whom had been peers of her grandfather and who further entertained her with her grandfather’s exploits.
One story, obviously a favorite, concerned the storm of 1944 when Tom had been a young hand on another’s fishing boat.
“I remember it like yesterday,” Cyrus began. “We’d gone out for a load of bluegill for Handy Thomas…”
“You all remember Handy’s restaurant, there on Pikes Street?” Sheltie Pierce asked, removing his cigarette from his mouth and gesturing east with it.
A communal nod and murmur sounded and Nina smiled. The restaurant was way before her time but she remembered Sheltie. Her grandfather had taken her with him often to Sheltie’s small camper on Little Oyster to pick up fresh shrimp or a late summer alewife for dinner.
“Wadn’t he wiped out by Connie in fifty-five?” a grizzled man asked. He had a neck that resembled folded leather.
“Yep, ta one. So even though it was nigh on to fall, Handy had a hankerin’ to run a special on bluegill. So out we goes, a five-man crew…”
“Three sheets to the wind, as was the way,” offered another old salt as he removed his cap and scratched his balding head.
The others laughed as Nina tried to place the phrase. One sailor noted her confusion and mimed drinking from a bottle. Nina blushed and chuckled.
“Well, it had turned a might chill,” Cyrus muttered in the crew’s defense before continuing. “Back then, they never said naught about the blows coming up the seaboard, so we goes out all happy on Jackson Reed’s fishing scow and some was playing gin in the hold, never noting the storm skies at all. Then lookout calls and we rush up and ta squall’s on us…”
“Thirty-foot swells reach up before we knowed,” commented Sheltie, “and we all falls back and are swimmin’ aboard…”
“That we were,” agreed Cyrus with an expansive nod. “So young Tom’s hanging on to the mains’l, feet to the wind and up comes the man boat, damn near slams him, and who’s hidin’ under it but Charlie Gaynes and his gullfriend, Tabitha.”
The men laughed as one as Cyrus continued.“So Tabby grabs onto Tom’s legs and she’s crawlin’ up him as Charlie hangs on to the boat for all he’s worth.”
“So we got Tom and Tabby on the mains’l, Charlie on the rowboat holdin’ by one line. We got Cy and Jimmy over there port and starboard, and me and Jackson aft, all hangin’ on for dear
Nina smiled, enchanted by the gentleman. “Well, you’ve done a fine job. I bet you’ve never gone hungry.”
He laughed and slapped a hand on his thigh. “Thank you, miss, but that’s not the case. I was lazy as a boy and when I didn’t fetch the birds fast enough for my da, I went hungry no matter how many ducks he brought home for the pot.”
Nina looked at him in surprise. “That’s not very nice.”
He shrugged and bent back to his carving. “I learned not to be lazy.”
He peered up at her. “Where are you from? You look like someone I know.”
“I’m from Alexandria actually, but my Grandpapa Tom lived here and I used to visit him from time to time.”
“Tom, Tom who?” he asked, squinting one eye to peer up at her.
“Tom Burley, over on the channel,” she replied.
“Sure, I know who you’re talkin’ about. I served as mate under Captain Tom on the Lady Say . I seen your likeness on the mantel board at the big house one day. That’s why I thought you looked familiar. You look a little like your mother, too. I knew Miss Emily, you know, and her passing was a harsh blow to us all. I thank ye that Tom had the gull Freda to look after.”
Nina was delighted to find someone new who worked with her grandfather. The man, who she soon discovered was named Cyrus Leppard, entertained her with tales of the sea and of her grandfather when he was a young man.
As the sun’s rays lengthened along the grass of the park, Cyrus brought Nina over to a group of retired locals gathered there at the fair, all of whom had been peers of her grandfather and who further entertained her with her grandfather’s exploits.
One story, obviously a favorite, concerned the storm of 1944 when Tom had been a young hand on another’s fishing boat.
“I remember it like yesterday,” Cyrus began. “We’d gone out for a load of bluegill for Handy Thomas…”
“You all remember Handy’s restaurant, there on Pikes Street?” Sheltie Pierce asked, removing his cigarette from his mouth and gesturing east with it.
A communal nod and murmur sounded and Nina smiled. The restaurant was way before her time but she remembered Sheltie. Her grandfather had taken her with him often to Sheltie’s small camper on Little Oyster to pick up fresh shrimp or a late summer alewife for dinner.
“Wadn’t he wiped out by Connie in fifty-five?” a grizzled man asked. He had a neck that resembled folded leather.
“Yep, ta one. So even though it was nigh on to fall, Handy had a hankerin’ to run a special on bluegill. So out we goes, a five-man crew…”
“Three sheets to the wind, as was the way,” offered another old salt as he removed his cap and scratched his balding head.
The others laughed as Nina tried to place the phrase. One sailor noted her confusion and mimed drinking from a bottle. Nina blushed and chuckled.
“Well, it had turned a might chill,” Cyrus muttered in the crew’s defense before continuing. “Back then, they never said naught about the blows coming up the seaboard, so we goes out all happy on Jackson Reed’s fishing scow and some was playing gin in the hold, never noting the storm skies at all. Then lookout calls and we rush up and ta squall’s on us…”
“Thirty-foot swells reach up before we knowed,” commented Sheltie, “and we all falls back and are swimmin’ aboard…”
“That we were,” agreed Cyrus with an expansive nod. “So young Tom’s hanging on to the mains’l, feet to the wind and up comes the man boat, damn near slams him, and who’s hidin’ under it but Charlie Gaynes and his gullfriend, Tabitha.”
The men laughed as one as Cyrus continued.“So Tabby grabs onto Tom’s legs and she’s crawlin’ up him as Charlie hangs on to the boat for all he’s worth.”
“So we got Tom and Tabby on the mains’l, Charlie on the rowboat holdin’ by one line. We got Cy and Jimmy over there port and starboard, and me and Jackson aft, all hangin’ on for dear
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