Ida Great Time #T

Did I ever tell you about my Aunt Ida's tarpon fishin' fo-ray down to Texas?  Waal, Aunt Ida got hooked on fishin' after her husband die, an' she spend lots a money an' even more time on the sport.  She would travel most anywhere for a good time on the lake, the ocean, or the river.  She dearly love to fish.

When Ida learn about the tarpon fishin' off Mustang Island in Texas, she would not rest easy 'til she had done thet.  So she load her best gear in her Hupmobile an' drive on over to Texas.  Now, the lady never in a hurry, an' it tuk her the better part a three week to get to Port Aransas.  She say she have some "adventures" in Atlanta, 'n more'n em in N'Orleans.  Well, she tuk the ferry over to the island and check herself into The Tarpon Inn.  Then she make her arrangements for her fishin' excursion.

Now mought nigh ever'body goin' out is usin' a Farley boat, boat built right there in thet town, design exac'ly for the sort of fishin' thet was done in them waters.  So what do you think happen the mornin' she arrive at the dock to hit the water?  They was a crowd around this one boat, and a whole crew of men come walkin' down the dock pushin' a man in a wheelchair right down to the boat next to where Ida was standin'.  You won't believe me, but as sure as my name is Jeptha Miller, hit were the President a th' Yew-nited States!  Hit was!  Ida were so excited she let out a screech, an' the man hear her, turn his head her way.  He tol' his fellas to "go fetch the little lady."  An' they did.  Tuk her right over and innerduce her ta Mr. Roosevelt!

Well, sir, Ida were so atwitter that she like to not be able ta walk back over to her boat, an' it tuk her most the mornin' to settle down enough to be able to properly take care of what she go down there for.

But that is not all th' story.  Ida catch two nice tarpon, an' when the boat come in, behol' Mr. Roosevelt's boat was comin' in, too.  As he were taken from the boat, he holler over, "Ida, how was the fishin'?"

"Caught two, Mr. President.  How'd you do?"

"Why," he says, "I caught several!"

They all go up for the weigh-in.  Ida's bigger one go seventy-nine pound.  The President's biggest were seventy-seven pound.  "The Little Lady," he says, flashin' thet big ol' grin, "is the Champeen a th' Day!"   Well, sir, Ida has always felt like the Champeen a th' World ever since thet day.

Aunt Ida sign a scale from her fish and pin it to the wall at the Tarpon Inn, alongside hundreds of others.  If'n you go there today you might find her scale should you look hard enough.  She write, "Ida great time in P.A. Texas."

©2014 David W. Lacy

Dancing and Fiahing #T

Did I tell you what Aunt Ida and her pal, Laura, did the day after they get to Cedar P'int?
Well, sir, Laura 'n Ida were up an' at 'em the next mornin'.  Now the ladies they was talkin' with on the verandy tells 'em more than they onc't know about this here park.  Sure, you can have a world a fun on those rides, but you seen nothin' 'til you see that dance hall, and hit full of people of an evenin'!

So they spend the day ridin' thet Cyclone, and alternatin' atwixt it and High Frolics.  What a view from seventy-five feet in the air!  But that don't last long afore the car come flyin' down th' other side.  "These monstrous coasters are the cat's pajamas!" enthused Laura.

And of course, they were in that swirlin' mob on the dance floor in the Coliseum that evenin'.

"It occurs to me," remark Ida when they return to their room later, "that while the pin was in the middle of the lake, we've done nothing but skirt along its shore."

"All right, then," respond Laura, "we need to find out what one does in the middle of the lake."

An' thet were their next day's project.  Fishin'.  Fishin' fer walleye, that's what one did in the middle a the lake.  So they go to Port Clinton and get a charter to take 'em fishin'.  "Ugh."  Laura's opinion.

"A wonderful lark," says Ida.  "And it is certainly something I've never done before."

Waal, they catch so many fish, and had such a good time, that Ida is hooked on fishin', so to speak, and say it is her new passion.  And there is a whole world of places out there where one can catch fish!  An' doncha know it was on'y a matter of a year afore Ida is off Cape Hatteras fishin' fer marlin.  Catch one, too.  Big one.  Land it herself.  Little bitty woman, five-foot two.  Tuk her nigh four hours to bring hit in.  Hit weigh 511 pounds, I recollect rightly.

Laura, though, did not share Ida's enthusiasm for anglin', so they two friends sorta drift apart.

© 2014 David W. Lacy