Scenes from the Sandusky

The water lapped gently against the boat's hull as we languished in the cool morning breeze. Some geese squawked overhead.

"Boat here yet?"

"Nope."

"What's keeping them?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe that's it."

"Are you kidding? That's too nice."

"Well hell. I don't know. It's a damn boat, isn't it?"

"How long ago did you make the call?"

"About 15 minutes."

"Good thing you brought the cell phone."

"Come on. We still have the radio - which no one knows how to use."

"I can hear it now: hello? Hello. We're stuck on some river by the marina. Can you come help at your earliest convenience? Thank you!"

"Yeah -- that might not work."

"There's the boat -and John's on it!"

"Okay gang - when the rescue gets here, women and children first, then you two, and I'll go down with the ship."

"But doesn't that mean you'll have to admit you killed the boat in the first place?"

"Good point. David, you stay."

"Hey! Thanks for coming out!"

"No problem; I'm going to hand over the gas can. Mike, can you get it? Great. Go ahead and fill it up. Hey -- where'd that gouge come from?"

"Oh, my dad did that when he collided with all the docks on the row."

"I see. You guys HAVE taken a boating class, haven't you?"

"Oh, yeah -- definitely." "Sure." "Absolutely."

Lies to the marina owner and running out of gas 150 feet from the marina entrance aside, it was a great weekend - we even made it back to Cleveland in time for the flight.