relocation.logistic

The board meeting had come to an end. Bob started to stand up and jostled the table, spilling his coffee over his notes. “How embarrassing. I am getting so clumsy in my old age.”

Everyone had a good laugh, and soon we were all telling stories of our most embarrassing moments. It came around to Frank who sat quietly listening to the others. Someone said, “Come on, Frank. Tell us your most embarrassing moment.”

Frank laughed and began to tell us of his childhood. “I grew up in San Pedro. My dad was a fisherman, and he loved the sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out until he caught enough to feed the family. Not just enough for our family, but also for his mom and dad and the other kids that were still at home.”

He looked at us and said, “I wish you could have met my dad. He was a big man, and he was strong from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch. When you got close to him, he smelled like the ocean. He would wear his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls. His rain hat would be pulled down over his brow. No matter how much my mother washed them, they would still smell of the sea and of fish.”

Frank’s voice dropped a bit. “When the weather was bad he would drive me to school. He had his old truck that he used in his fishing business. That truck was older than he was. It would wheeze and rattle down the road. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he would drive toward the school, I would shrink down into the seat hoping to disappear.”

“Half the time, he would slam to a stop and the old truck would belch a cloud of smoke. He would pull right up in front, and it seemed like everybody would be standing around and watching. Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Her, I was twelve years old and my dad would lean over and kiss good-bye!”

He paused and then went on, “I remember the day I decided I was too old for a goodbye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I put my hand up and said, “No, Dad.’”

“It was the fist time I had ever talked to him that way, and he had this surprised look on his face.”

“I said, ‘Dad, I’m too old for a goodbye kiss. I’m too old for any kind of kiss.’”

“My dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to tear up. I had never seen him cry. He turned and looked out he windshield. ‘You are right.’ He said. ‘You are a big boy-a man. I won’t kiss you any more.’”

Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes, as he spoke. “It wasn’t long after that when my dad went to sea and never came back. It was a day when most of the fleet stayed in, but not dad. He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with its nets half in and half out. He must have gotten into a gale and was trying to save the nets and the floats.”

I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Frank spoke again. “Guys, you don’t know what I would give to have my dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek…to feel his rough old face…to smell the ocean on him…to feel his arm around my neck. I wish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never have told my dad I was too old for a good-bye kiss.”

Dad was going to be in charge. It happened a lot nowadays, because Kitty’s Mum’s new job meant that sometimes she had to work on Saturdays. Once they got used to it, Kitty and Daniel didn’t mind. They always had fun with Dad.

This Saturday morning, Mum said, “There’s plenty of salad in the fridge for lunch, and I want you to eat it up.”

The children groaned.

“Rabbit food,” said Daniel.

“I don’t want to eat silly, slimy salad,” said Kitty.

“Can’t we have something else?” they moaned.

But Mum had become very keen on really healthy eating. She said, “It’s good for you all - but if you want something hot to go with it, Dad can cook you some rice. But remember, NO biscuits. They’re bad for your teeth.”

They groaned even more loudly. But Mum took no notice, and left.

Dad said, “Better do as we’re told, kids.”

Kitty stuck out her teeth, held two fingers above her head like ears and hopped around. “I’ll turn into a bunny if I eat any more lettuce, Dad!” she said.

He laughed, and sent them out into the garden to play while he did the washing up.

The morning passed quickly. Daniel and Kitty played hide-and-seek with William and Sally, the children next door, until heavy clouds made the sky dark.

“It’s going to rain,” said Sally. “Come in for a snack.”

Her mother gave them a plate of chocolate biscuits to share, and glasses of lemonade. Daniel winked at Kitty.

As lunch-time came near they decided they should go home. It had stopped raining, but the air was damp and cold. “Lovely weather for salad,” Kitty groaned.

They were surprised to see a strange man sitting at the kitchen table with Dad. They each had a glass of beer. Dad looked very pleased. He told the children this was a very old friend he hadn’t seen for years. The man, whose name was Bill, was big and jolly. He looked at his watch, “Well, if your lady-wife isn’t coming home, why don’t we all go down the road and get fish and chips?”

The children jumped up and down, screaming with delight, and clapping their hands.

Dad looked at them, then at the fridge door, then at his watch. “We-ell…”

“Oh, come on!” said Bill.

“You’d better promise not to tell your Mum,” said Dad.

“We won’t!” yelled Kitty.

Twenty minutes later they were all walking down the road, munching delicious fish and chips with their fingers. When they got back to the house Bill took cans of fizzy drink from his pockets, which made a perfect end to the meal. The children were sorry when he had to go.

“Oh, dear,” said Dad, looking at empty cans on the kitchen table. “We’d better clear up. Mum will be back in half an hour.”

When Mum’s key turned in the lock, Dad and Daniel were watching a film on television, and Kitty was wheeling Mr Tubs up and down the hall on her old baby tricycle.

Mum kissed her. “Hello, love, have you had a lovely day?”

Kitty nodded. She started to feel a bit guilty.

“And it wasn’t so bad to have salad for lunch, was it?” asked Mum.

Kitty looked at her and went red. It was no good. She couldn’t tell lies - that would be terrible. So she told Mum what had happened.

“Aha-he did, did he?” said Mum, folding her arms, a little smile showing at the corner of her mouth. She marched into the sitting room.

“Well, was it good, having a salad of fish and chips?” she asked standing in between Dad and the TV.

Dad looked really guilty. He looked at Kitty, and she could almost hear him thinking, “But you promised you wouldn’t tell.”

“Don’t be angry with me, Dad,” she said.

At that, a big smile broke across Mum’s face. “Look at you all!” she said. “Like frightened rabbits! You have been eating too many greens. Well, I went to the market to get a special treat for tonight’s supper, and I met Bill - which was a lovely surprise. And he told me about your lunch.”

“And you don’t mind?” asked Dad.

“Of course not. I’m not a witch, you know! Didn’t I say I’m making something you like for supper?”

“What is it, Mum?” asked Kitty.

“Fish and chips!” said Mum.

“Oh, no!” they all groaned. And then they started to laugh.

A baby snail asked his mother, “Why was I born with a shell that grew so hard and heavy?”

His mother said, “Because we don’t have bones to support us. We can only crawl and move slowly, so we’ve got a shell to protect us.”

Her baby asked again, “The caterpillar has no bones either, nor can she move quickly. Why can she do so without a shell?”

The mother snail answered, “That’s because a caterpillar will become a butterfly. She flied high to the sky, which can protect her.

Her baby had another question, “But the earthworm crawls like us. He has no bones nor can e turn into a butterfly. Why doesn’t he carry a hard, heavy shell?”

His mother said, “He can drill a hole, get into the ground and be protected by it.

The baby snail then burst into tears, “What a pity!! We have no protection either from the sky or from the ground.”

His mother comforted him, “That’s why we are gifted with a shell. We needn’t count on the sky or the ground for protection. We rely on ourselves.”