The prompt for this week’s writers group was to write about something you had doubts about, but went ahead and did it anyway, and what was the outcome. My story follows.

Reunion Doubts

To hear my grandmother tell it, half the townsfolk of Brainards perished in the Delaware River.  Those who didn’t get swept away by the swift currents, or swallowed by whirlpools came to an untimely end in the quicksand bogs on the trails that bisected the thickets along the banks of the river. 

Each summer my father’s side of the family held a reunion at my grandmother’s childhood home, which sat on the edge of town, atop a bluff  overlooking the Delaware River.  In the week leading up to the reunion, my grandmother would relate a story each day to my siblings and I, about the lives claimed by the treacherous waters of the river and the quicksand bogs.  Then there was the railroad bridge that many a careless soul toppled off of.  Those that didn’t die in the fall fell victim to the whirlpools swirling around the abutments.  If, by some stroke of luck people managed to survive and reach the Pennsylvania side of the river, there was an abandoned quarry, now a deep pond, that presented a menu of pitfalls to claim the unwary.

For some reason, I was fascinated by the quicksand and  peppered my grandmother, who we called Mamie or Mame, with questions.  “Where was the quicksand?”

“It could be anywhere,” replied Mamie, “on any dirt road or path in the woods after it rains.”

“In one spot?”

“It comes and goes.”

“How does someone know that a person died in the quicksand?  Is there a hat floating on the surface?”

The answers got snippier, “I don’t know, you just didn’t see them anymore.”

“Does the quicksand look like oatmeal?  You know, like in those Tarzan movies?  I think we would notice it then.”

“I don’t know!” Mamie would snap, “You, your brothers and sister need to just stay in the yard so we can see you all the time!”  That was the signal my grandmother was no longer taking any questions from the press,  interview over.

So it is understandable why we harbored doubts about going to the family reunion.  Mamie’s childhood home, now inhabited by her brother and his family, sounded like an oasis in a sea teeming with peril.  It would appear the most prudent course of action would be to stay home.  Our parents could go to the reunion, I trusted them to be safe.  After all, my father had visited Brainards many time, had survived unscathed and, thus, should know where all of the hazards were.  Except for the mysterious peripatetic quicksand.  My brothers and sister would be safe.  With all of the Sunday morning kids programs, afternoon movies and toys to play with, we wouldn’t even have to leave the house.  But, because we ranged in ages from six years old to 4 months old, we had no choice in the matter, our doubts carried no weight so we were piled into the car and off we went to meet our fate.

The trip always seemed to take forever.  There was not yet a major highway traversing that region of New Jersey so our drive took us through a network of backroads winding through forests and pastures, past picturesque lakes, farms and Burma Shave signs.  Cruising down the Main Street of Brainards I was always struck by how deserted the town looked, but recalled my grandmother’s tales of carnage.  Arriving at our destination, the second thing that I always struck by was the number of people at the reunion.  There would be almost 50 people there.  How many more would’ve been there if not for whirlpools or quicksand? 

As we pile out of the car and stretch our legs after the long trip the words of caution begin to flow in a steady stream:

My mother, “Now be careful, don’t get your clothes dirty.”

My grandmother, in a panic, “Butchie!  (my nickname) Where are your brothers?  Jezis Kristus! Are they down by the river?  There’s quicksand!”

“I thought the quicksand was in the woods?”  I asked. 

My brothers come around from behind the car, my grandmother is relieved, “Jezis Kristus!  Don’t go down by the river!”

“Don’t leave the yard now.” Don’t go in the garage.” “Don’t go down by the river.” “Go sit at the picnic table.”  “Don’t let your brothers out of your sight.”

There was absolutely nothing to do for anyone under the age of 13.  Keeping a close eye on my brothers, we went into the house and drifted in the direction of the den where the TV was.  The antenna pulled in three channels, two of which displayed test patterns.  A couple of my second cousins were watching the grainy 3^rd channel.  There was some nature show on and, ironically, two guys in jungle fatigues were pulling a gazelle out a quicksand bog!  We didn’t linger in the den though, my father’s Uncle John stormed in, turned off the TV and growled, “What are you doing? Watching TV on such a nice day.  Go out and play!”  We went outside to watch the older kids play.

My brothers and I decided we would creep stealthily around the perimeter of the yard, peering into the woods, and pretended to be scouts looking out for river pirates.  We saw a small clearing about 10 feet into the woods and debated investigating it.  My grandmother saw us and yelled,  “Don’t go in the woods Butchie!  The quicksand!  Cline Huff’s family lost a cow in the quicksand!”  So we wandered back to the middle of the yard and decided to do something safer, like playing with the Lawn Darts game, back when lawn darts had tips like spears.  I tossed a couple of darts and it became obvious the safest place for anyone to stand was around the target ring.  Someone yelled at us to put the lawn darts down, they’re for the older kids to play with.   My brothers and I wandered around the yard some more and spotted another path leading into some tall grass.  I saw my grandfather and asked him if rattlesnakes would be hiding there.  “Yeah, of course. You better stay outta there.” he said with a mouth full of fried chicken.

I had my doubts about the reunion, we went, this was how it turned out.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Ernie Stricsek

Chatham Writers Group

February 11, 2023

The prompt for the Monday Chatham Writers Group was to write about things in your refrigerator. Everyone in the group had a lot of fun with this prompt and the stories that were read were entertaining and funny.

The Tart

Resentment. Envy. Jealousy.  No undercurrents, all exposed, laid bare, making the already cool atmosphere even chillier.  Voices in the darkness, a hissed “Temptress”, made her laugh.  However, laughing further infuriated her detractors. “Harlot”,  “Shameless Hussy”.  These cut a little deeper, her almond eyes flashed in the direction of the voices.  The darkness was a blessing, those hurling the insults couldn’t see they had gotten under her crust.  

“Tart,” spat another voice.  

She really laughed at that one, “Finally, one of you hit the nail on the head!”

Life in the refrigerator was not all peaches and cream.  She knew the insults were coming from the crisper drawer, the fruits and vegetables hangout.  The celery sticks and snap peas were green with envy, strawberries and raspberries red with resentment.  The blueberries were always, well, blue.  Depressed about one thing or another.  The carrots were the worst though, bright orange with jealousy, they felt they were superior to everything else in the fridge because of the wide range of menu items they could be used for.  Soups, cakes, salads, snacks.  In your eye cilantro!  She didn’t mind the Narragansett Beer guys on the top floor.  They played cards and, when in their cups, would reminisce.

“I remember the good old days, when we were the Kings of Fenway Park, the official brew of the Red Sox,” one would start.

Another 16 ouncer would chime in, “Yeah, that was the life.  But when Quint chugged a ‘Gansett and crushed the can, that was the best scene in Jaws.  The highlight of our history!”  

“Crush it like Quint!” They would shout in unison.  The only time there was any friction was the first visit the guys from Nantucket made to the top shelf.  The  ‘Gansett’s called the blue cans Whale’s Butt Pale Ale, instead of by their real name, Whales Tail Pale Ale.  But after awhile they developed a respect for each other.  No, she didn’t mind the beers at all, they were decent folk.

Then there were the smells!  Fish!  She could never figure out why the people in the house liked fish.  The forgotten cucumber or pepper would begin to rot, but she would smile inwardly with glee knowing  that another arrogant vegetable got its comeuppance.  

It grew silent inside the fridge.  There were noises on the other side of the door.  The voices were muffled but snippets could be discerned.  Words like hungry, picky, could be heard. The vegetables groaned because a male voice on the other side of the door said they wanted something sweet.

The fridge door flew open, the light came on, temporarily blinding its inhabitants. As their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw the Mom & Dad of the house searching the shelves.

 The jar of martini olives shouted, “You guys look like you could use a drink!”

“Crush it like Quint, bro!” Called the ’Gansett guys.

The Mom and Dad began to push things around in the fridge, searching.  A wizened baby carrot, brown and wrinkled, rolled out from behind the cocktail olives.  In an ancient voice, it croaked, “Now you find me.  I laid behind this jar of olives for weeks, beseeching you to take pity and make me useful.  Now I am only good for the trash.”  His words were for naught and he was rolled behind a container of hummus.

Bookbinder was next to cry out for mercy, “Good God man!  It is January, 2023!  Look at my expiration date! June of 2020!  Alas, I am but a mere jar of horseradish, not a Twinkie. Please. I beg you.  Please!   Just throw me away.”  Bookbinder began to weep.

While all this was going on, the one called the temptress, the tart, sat biding her time.  She heard the Dad say he wanted something sweet.  As Dad’s gaze fell on her plastic package, she flirtatiously blinked her almond eyes, completely beguiling him.  Dreamily, the Dad asked, “Hey honey, how about we share this almond tart.”

The shouts and screams from the crisper drawer went unheard.  The olive jar sighed, “A martini doesn’t go well with an almond tart.  Another day for us lads.”

The ‘Gansett and Whales Tale guys just shrugged and returned to their game of whist.

As the almond tart was being lifted from the refrigerator shelf, she cast her eyes on the arrogant carrots,  “Ahhh… what’s up Doc?”  Then she laughed like Cruella DeVille.  Their curses were cut off by the closing of the door.

From the top shelf, one of the Narragansett’s called to the carrots, “Hi Neighbor, lights out, pipe down now.”

Ernie Stricsek

The Chatham Writers Group

January 30, 2023

The prompt for the Chatham Memoir Group was to write about bicycles, or your first bike. Mine was similar to the one pictured above. My memoir follows.

My First Real Bicycle

I was astonished when I realized I have no memory of my first bicycle.  I am assuming I had one with training wheels, but maybe I didn’t.  I know I had a tricycle, only because I’ve seen a few black & white Polaroids of me sitting on it or standing next to it.  At the time, we lived in an apartment on a busy street and I may have ridden it in the driveway of that place.  The photos of me on the trike were taken in my grandparent’s back yard, so I suspect that is where I spent most of my time riding it.  There are also a couple of photos of my brother, Ken, sitting on the trike. Also in my grandparent’s back yard.  I guess that was his first wheeled vehicle as well.  But I don’t remember my beginners two wheeler. There are no photos of me on a bike with training wheels.  I was growing so fast at that time, I may have been too tall for a starter bike.

I do, however, remember my first real bike, an official big kids bike.  My uncle’s good friend Ronnie didn’t ride his bike much anymore.  They were in high school, they were cool. Ronnie, very flashy and charismatic, was the coolest of the cool and was the type of person who would transition from a bike to a Pontiac GTO.  At any rate, through a series of transactions involving Ronnie, his parents, my uncle and my parents, I became the second owner of Ronnie’s bike. 

I may have been a big kid for my age, but this bike was huge!  It stood about 16 hands high, about the size of a Clydesdale, or so it appeared to me.  After all, I was just entering first grade and Ronnie was in high school.  The bike I was gifted was a Roadmaster.  Red and white, the bike boasted chrome fenders, a big chrome and red striped tank which coursed along the frame from handlebars to just under the white seat.  Chrome traps to carry things rested above wide white-wall front and rear tires and a chrome bell with an American flag affixed to the chrome handlebars were the options the bike dealer must have thrown in when it was purchased.  Oh, I am forgetting the red and white streamers that flowed out of the white vinyl handlebar grips.  That was odd, Ronnie didn’t appear to be a “streamers” kind of guy.

As I mentioned earlier, this bike was huge.  So huge, in fact, my feet didn’t reach the pedals.  My dad corrected that by affixing an adapter kit to them.  The adapter kits consisted of blocks of wood of varying sizes that would get clamped to the pedals to close the distance between them and your feet.  I think my dad had to double them up so I could reach the Roadmaster’s pedals.  I had not inserted the word “proud” before owner.  For their first bikes, most of my friends had gotten the sleek and stylish Schwinn models which were the rage at the time.  I had this bright, shiny relic of the most recent past as my first ride. The Roadmaster was the Duesenberg of bicycles.  Did I say there was a lot of chrome?  At any rate, this was my first real bike, the one on which I learned to ride.

Before learning to ride, I learned how to fall.  And I fell a lot.  I got to be really good at it.  The bike was so big, so heavy, and with a lumber yard for pedal extenders, it proved to be unwieldy.  With the knowledge that I had to keep some degree of forward momentum to not fall while making a turn, the bike was so heavy, I needed to pedal faster than normal to make a turn.  As one might guess, most of my falls occurred while in mid-turn.  I had to ride with friends because took 2 or 3 kids to lift the Roadmaster from my scraped and bloody body.  If I had to ride alone, I carried a small scissors Jack in the rear trap and used it to lift the bike high enough for me to crawl out from under it.

I remember how proud I was the first time I made a turn without falling.  A crowd had gathered to watch my inaugural cruise.  My parents, my uncle, my grandparents my Godparents, all bade me well.  They watched me climb the slight incline of Echo Place, make the turn – not a smooth turn – but I didn’t fall.  I had a big smile, everyone was waving.  As I started to roll down the hill and gain speed, I tried to brake and slow my momentum.  This bike didn’t have hand brakes, I had to push back on the pedals to slow and stop.  I began to brake, but one of my feet rolled of the stack lumber affixed to the pedal.  It threw my balance off and my front wheel began to wobble.  I was able to stop by crashing into the side of a car and falling to the ground.  I don’t remember how I got out from under the Roadmaster, maybe a passing crane driver took pity and lowered his hook to lift it off, my memory of that is vague.  

I went through a growth spurt which allowed the stacks of wood to be removed from my pedals.  As I began to grow into the Roadmaster, I removed the streamers from the grips.  To make my battleship of a bike cooler, I clamped baseball cards to the front and rear forks with a clothespin so the spokes would hit the cards.  It made my bike sound like a Harley.  The Pittsburgh Pirates had beaten the New York Yankees in the World Series, so I exacted revenge by using the cards of Pirate players as my noise source.  I mastered the road on a tank of a bike, with streamers and lots of shiny chrome, the Roadmaster, my first real bicycle.

Ernie Stricsek

The Chatham Memoir Group

January 27, 2023

The photo of this tattoo, or body art, displayed above was the prompt for today’s Chatham Writers Group. Inspired by the series of Bernie Gunther novels, and Volker Kutscher’s Babylon Berlin novels, I wrote this fictional story.

Lisa

Cologne, Germany, 1939

The light, misty rain was falling that evening and it lent an eerie glow to the lights of the freight yard.  Inspectors Guido Mara and Freddie Schubert of the Cologne Krimininalpolezei (criminal police), or Kripo, walked slowly along, straddling a line of box cars, training their flashlight on the doors.  If the doors did not exhibit a padlock,  the detectives were required to slide them open and scan the inside of the car.  Randomly selecting a locked car, Guido hunched over and swept his light from left to right to inspect the undercarriage.  

Reaching a break in the line of cars, Guido said, “Bullshit.  This is bullshit Freddie.”

“Keep your voice down Guido.  You don’t want to anger our esteemed colleagues.” 

Guido lowered his voice, “Sorry Freddie.  But I have spent the last 10 years catching criminals, and some really bad ones at that.  Now here I am, on a crappy night in a rail yard, searching for runaway Jews.  This isn’t right.”

“The Gestapo believe they are criminals.”

“In the eyes of the Gestapo, Freddie, their only crime is that they are Jewish.”

“Go back to being a circus strongman,” teased Freddie, “or hauling freight along the Rhine in your barge.”

“I am going back to the river trade Freddie.  I have to anyway.  To remain a cop, I have to become a Nazi, and I will not.  I am done in seven days.”

A voice, chillier than the night air, spoke from the gloom, “Do you Kripo lads solve crimes by standing around? Get back to searching those cars.”  

“Shithead,” muttered Guido.  Freddie was too stunned to speak.

Most of the cars on the section of track assigned to them were locked, so they gained some distance on their Gestapo counterparts.  With just a few cars remaining in their section, Freddie’s light beam fell on an unlocked door.  It was not completely closed.  He asked Guido if the doors on his side of the car were locked.  They weren’t.  Sliding open the doors, they directed their flashlight on opposite corners of the car.  Startled, Guido almost dropped his light.  “Bloody hell!”, he whispered.  Huddled in one corner, trying to hide behind some potato sacks and shielding their faces from the light beam, were two children.  

Freddie now moved his beam to where the children were.  “Who are you?” he asked.  He and Guido shifted their lights so not to blind the children.  They dropped their hands to reveal the faces of a girl and a boy.  Freddie said, “I know you!  Rachel and Paul Edelman, the baker’s children!  What are you doing here?”

Rachel said, “Police came, Herr Schubert.  Poppa saw them get out of their cars.  He pushed us out into the back alley and told us to run to the rail yard.  He told us to climb into a car on track two.  The train would take us to Rotterdam and our Uncle Rudy.  What does that mean, sir?  Can you tell us where Momma & Poppa are?”  

The same cold voice called from the dark, “Did you Kripo boys find something?”

“Potatoes, some sacks of potatoes sir”, replied Guido, “D’ya want some sir?”

“What? No!  Take them if you want.  Check those last two cars and let’s get out of here.”

Freddie removed his hat and ran his hand through his hair.  “What do we do Guido?”

Guido looked at the children, who were shivering, eyes wide in fright.  “Rachel, Paul, I am Inspector Guido Mara, not of the Gestapo.  Each of you need to crawl into a potato sack.  I’m going to take you to a safe place. My apologies for any discomfort, but think of it as playing hide and seek.”  Freddie was gaping at Guido as though he were insane.

“Mara,” said Paul, “Mara, the demon who sits on people’s chests while they sleep and makes them dream nightmares.”

Guido looked at Freddie with raised eyebrows, then replied to Paul, “Well, I may have caused some people to have sleepless nights, but ,no, I am not the dream demon Mara.  We have to go, NOW!”  

In the dimly lit control room atop the freight yard control tower, the night shift yard attendant took a bite from his bierwurst sandwich, looked up from his newspaper and glanced out into the night.  Through the mist in the distance, he saw a group of six men converge, exchange some words and salutes, then separate.  Four men stalked off towards town, two towards the wharves along the Rhine.  They appeared to have sacks slung over their shoulders.  One of them, a giant of a man, carried two sacks.  “Coppers are potato thieves now, go figure,” he muttered to himself.  He turned his eyes back to the rugby scores.

After leaving their Gestapo counterparts, and again apologizing to Rachel and Paul, Guido outlined his plan to Freddie.  He was taking the children to his small freighter and they would hide in the crew cabin.  In preparation for his departure from the police force, he had moved his personal items from his apartment to the skipper’s cabin already.  In 8 days, he would be taking a cargo of Cologne’s finest Kolsch beer to ports along the Rhine, final stop in Rotterdam.  Freddie had recovered from the shock of his partner leaving the police and finding the Edelman children hiding in the rail car.  “We will talk more tomorrow Guido,” was all he said.

Once safely aboard his freighter, “The Lisa”, Guido washed the dust from the children and ushered them to the crew bunks.  Having rolled up his sleeves while washing them, Rachel noticed the large anchor tattoo on his left forearm.  “Are you a policeman? Or a sailor?  What does the “L” mean, Herr Mara?”

Guido smiled, then a look of sadness clouded his eyes.  “In the Great War, I was in the navy.  Like every sailor, I decided to get an anchor tattoo.  I was newly marriedmissed my wife, so I had the letter “L”, her name was Lisa, put in the middle of the anchor, then our last name across the bottom.”

“You said her name was Lisa.  Where is Lisa, Herr Mara?”

“Please, call me Guido.  Lisa, and my infant son, died in a great influenza pandemic that circled the globe. That was 20 years ago.”

Rachel noticed tears forming in the big man’s eyes.  But he smiled again, “Time to get you to bed, we have some big days ahead of us.”  Looking at Paul he said, “And don’t worry, this “Mara” won’t be giving you nightmares.”  Before tucking them in, Guido implored them not to leave the cabin if he was not around.  And showed them a hiding place should any strangers come aboard.  He then went to his cabin, where he spent a sleepless night.

The morning sun burned away the evening mists.  Guido made sure all was secure on his boat and spoke to the children again about what to do if they heard strange voices.  As he walked off the pier, two men in leather overcoats and grey fedora’s approached.  Behind them loomed the great Cologne Cathedral.  “Gestapo! Bloody hell,” muttered Guido.

 “Good Morning Inspector Mara.  You were observed carrying some large sacks onto your boat last night.  Might we have a look?”

Ernie Stricsek

The Chatham Writers Group

January 9, 2023

I settle into my chair at the dining room table and reach for the box.  I take a moment to admire its cover, a magnificent panorama painted by noted Civil War artist Mort Kunstler.  The cover and all four sides of the box draws attention to even the most casual observer, that this epic work of art is in 1,000 pieces.  Removing the box cover, I extract the plastic bag holding the minced pieces of Mr. Kunstler’s work. The bag shifts from my right hand to my left, then I gently squeeze it, kind of like Mr. Whipple from those old Charmin toilet paper TV commercials.  Feeling I am up to the challenge, I tear the bag open and dump the pieces onto the table. Exhibiting the eye/hand coordination of a hockey player, I fly as I begin fixing matching pieces together.  Two hours later, I lean back in my chair and admire my handy work.  I am overwhelmed with a great sense of achievement.  However, this euphoric feeling has a half life significantly shorter than the element Francium.  Alas, all I have accomplished is the assembly of the outer framework of the puzzle.  All of those pieces with one flat end.  The puzzler is now puzzled.  Where does this plumed-hat piece go now?  Is this globular shape shape a cloud? Or smoke?  Wait, if I use just enough pressure, I may be able to squeeze this anvil-looking piece into the middle of what appears to be a horse, or maybe a wagon – I don’t know, they’re the same color. Dang, now the horse looks like a boat, that piece doesn’t go where I thought it might.  Elbows on the table,  head resting in my folded hands, my eyes scan the remaining amorphous pieces of cardboard, and there are a lot of them.  To a passerby, I probably resemble statue, because it is now almost an hour since I last moved a muscle, or even blinked.  My son holds a mirror under my nose and announces – “He’s still alive.”

The cavalry has arrived.  In a matter of moments, my wife, my son and his wife have joined me.  Things begin to happen very quickly now.  Smaller, then gradually larger sections of assembled puzzle pieces, are making the dining table to disappear.  The four of us are now pondering and debating placement of the puzzle pieces.  Snacks and drinks appear, despite maintaining focus on the task at hand, we talk about things other than the puzzle.  Discussion sounds like this:

“So what are you binging on Netflix? Oh hey, here’s part of the barn!”

“Ozark, gotta love that Ruth character.  Haystacks!  I found the rest of the haystacks!”

This was great and this is the beauty of puzzles.  They bring people together, working towards achieving a common goal.  Family and friends, of all ages, are engaged with each other, trying to solve a puzzle.  Nobody is texting, or checking social media posts.  They are having a good time, enjoying each other’s company.  

In the early days of the coronavirus, when we were encouraged to avoid intermingling with large crowds, my mother began assembling puzzles.  It helped relieved some of the anxiety of dealing with a previously unknown disease and to avoid feeling isolated.  As things became more relaxed with the advance of vaccines, my mother continues to work on puzzles and as of today she has completed 102 of them since March of 2020.  Social media has played a small role over this time, but only when my sister texts me photos of my mother and siblings, occasionally nieces and nephews, huddled next to her trying to find pieces to fit.  I especially love to see my mother’s beaming smile with a freshly completed puzzle resting in front of her.

I feel word puzzles are part of this mix of bringing people together to achieve an enjoyable goal. We first played Wordle last week, December 26^th, while visiting our older son and his family for Christmas.  I know the point of the game is to test your personal skills, but it was fun working together to solve the word.  You can’t totally escape the role of texting in our lives because now there is a daily exchange of messages between Chicago and the Cape with screenshots of solved Wordles.  Puzzles, bringing us together.

Ernie Stricsek

Barnstable Library Writing Group

January 3, 2022

Fishing Adventures – Dahnert’s Lake, A Memoir

It was via the rumor mill which circulates around young boys that we learned of a potential “hot” fishing spot called Dahnert’s Lake.  This rumor mill spun a story of the lake being stocked with trout, and with large and small mouth bass thriving beneath the Water Lilies in the far corner of the pond. One might even reel in a good sized perch.  Now, to the mind of a more seasoned fisherman, none of this would make any sense.  Dahnert’s Lake was not one of those lakes in the northwestern New Jersey hills noted for containing such desirable sporting fish.  No, Dahnert’s Lake was located in a park in the neighboring town of Garfield, New Jersey.  I admit I have no insight to the system used for classifying standing bodies of water, but someone apparently mis-read their slide rule, or ignored the basic principles of geometry.  Dahnert’s Lake was far from being a lake, rather it was, a small murky pond with tiny island in the center of it, on which stood a single weeping willow tree.  Picnic tables and hibachi style grills dotted its shoreline, however nobody dared swim in the lake.  Dahnert’s was notable for being a prime place to ice skate if the winter’s chill was sufficient to make it freeze over.  People did fish here though, and the rumors of real fish that you could actually boast about catching being present in the lake, filled our young minds with such fantastical thoughts, we had to go there before all the good fish were caught!  Our enthusiasm was so great, our band of anglers grew to a party of eight.  The number being to great to fit in any parent’s car, we decided to hoof the 1.3 miles to Dahnert’s Lake.

Because we wanted to get the jump on the prize fish beneath the surface, we set off early with our fishing rods in one hand, tackle boxes in the other.  Arriving at the lake with the sun sitting low in the morning sky, we were astounded with the view that confronted us.  In the shallows surrounding the lakeshore were what appeared to be thousands of fish. The eight of us had never seen anything like it, I have never seen anything like it since.  However, all of the fish were carp!  In various shades ranging from brown to gold, their sucking mouths were gathering in tiny flying insects that had lit on the lake’s surface.  Remembering the rumor of bass being in the corner of the lake with the Water Lilies, several of us took off on a sprint.  Two of members of this group of runners were the Swiller brothers, whom I’ve referenced in a previous fishing memoir.  In what was becoming his trademark move, Robert Swiller began to lose his balance while running along a retaining wall and basically leapt into the pond.  His brother Cliff, ever so sympathetic, just shouted, “Get outta there now!”   It took him a couple of attempts, but Robert eventually climbed out.  Covered in muck and pond detritus from knees to feet, he sloshed off after us.  He fished in that condition for the balance of the morning.

Braking to a halt at the lilies, we saw the same phenomena we first observed, hundreds of carp scarfing down bugs.  Deciding the real fish were out in the deeper water near the small island at the lake’s center, I strung a heavy one ounce sinker to my line.  Stretching my fishing pole back almost to the ground, I swung my arm forward for a mighty cast.  I released the line and it shot out from the tip of my rod for about 3 feet, further progress stopped by a knot in my reel.  The sinker struck a goldfish near the shore right in its forehead.  A glazed look came to the carp’s eyes and, stunned, it rolled partially on its side and swam slowly in a wide circle.  Clearing the knot, I finally was able to cast my line to a spot where I was certain the prize fish were.  In a few moments, the tip of my rod quivered ever so slightly and I felt a series of light tugs on my line.  I had a hit!  I set the hook and began reeling in my prize.  I was disappointed to see my catch was a small sunfish, I think weighing only slightly more than my sinker.  Carefully extracting my hook, I tossed the little fish back and cast out to the deeper water again.  I noticed the goldfish I brained earlier had regained its composure and resumed sucking insects.  My subsequent casts resulted in catching more sunfish.  The carp began to abandon the shallows, but with bellies full of bugs, showed no interest in our earthworm baited hooks.  One of our party, who had been fishing at another spot on the lake, came trudging dejectedly to where we sat, equally discouraged by the low quality and quantity of fish we caught.  He had asked another fisherman where the trout and bass were.  The guy laughed and said something to the effect of any other lake but this one.  We came to the realization we had fully swallowed; hook, line and sinker, someone’s bait about prize fish swimming in Dahnert’s Lake.

Ernie Stricsek

Chatham Memoir Writers Group

November 18, 2022

The prompt for the Chatham Writers Group this week was to focus on the importance of aromas in your character’s life. The story I wrote involves the character, Ezra Bond, whom I wrote about a couple of weeks ago in the story titled “Uncommon Bond”. This story focuses on the events that led Ezra Bond to his situation at the naval stores camp near Vicksburg, MS.

Uncommon Bond – Uncommon Scents

Jackson, Mississippi. Summer 1938

“Just follow your senses,” his parents always told him.  Ezra Bond always felt that two or more of his senses  worked in partner with each other, but felt his sense of smell dominated all other senses.  As a child, his sense of smell detected the fire that started in his aunt’s summer kitchen.  The first hints of smoke he smelled aroused his sense of danger, because there were no food smells in the smoke, it had a combination of paper and cloth.  He alerted the adults and sure enough, a spark from the bread oven had ignited a curtain.  The fire was extinguished before any real damage was done.  There were other instances Ezra could remember where his sense of smell helped him avoid danger, or led him to discover more pleasant situations.  So, on this particular morning,  it was his sense of smell that led Ezra Bond down from his bedroom to the kitchen where his mother was bent over the oven, poking a couple of pecan pies with a butter knife to see if they were done.  The aroma was intoxicating.  He definitely didn’t smell anything this good during his undergrad years at Tuskegee University.

“Oh, my.  The smell of those pies woke me up, Mama.  I believe I was drooling in my sleep!”  Ezra hugged his mother, Mavis, and kissed her on the forehead.

“Good morning to you Ezra, you just missed your papa.  He has a load of patients to see today.”

“In four years time, I’ll be able to help lighten his burden.”

In less than a month, Ezra would be off to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee,  to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a family practice physician.  The few white doctors willing to treat black patients did so grudgingly and sparingly, and there were too few black physicians to tend to the needs of the nearly 20,000 black residents of Jackson.  He hoped to provide some small amount of relief to that situation by joining his father’s practice.  

“How soon will those pies be done?” asked Ezra.

Mavis squinted and pointed the butter knife at him, “It don’t matter how soon, they are for the pot luck supper after tonight’s chorale concert!”

“If you’re going to stab me with a butter knife then, I’ll opt for one of your biscuits then.”  

Ezra took his biscuit and a glass of cool milk into the parlor and sat down in front of the piano to rehearse. He would be part of the orchestra accompanying the singers in the chorale concert that evening at the Baptist Church.  His sister, Josephine, or Jo, would be performing the Flower Duet with her friend Bettina.  Jo had applied to The Juilliard School in New York City.  In a chorale group of excellent voices, Jo stood out.  Two representatives of the school would be in attendance that evening, at the insistence and invite of the chorale director.  The Bond’s were excited and nervous, apparently this concert would essentially be Jo’s audition for the conservatory.

The concert, as anticipated, was hugely successful.  Munching on a piece of his Mom’s pecan pie, Ezra saw his sister and parents huddled in a deep discussion with the Juilliard contingent.  Suddenly, Jo spun around to look at Ezra, a huge smile on her face.  His father leaned his head forward into the palm of his right hand, his eyes were squeezed tight, his shoulders shaking.  Was he sobbing?  His mother’s hands flew to cover her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.  Jo sprinted over to Ezra.

“The Juilliard people want to come to our house to talk about admissions and a scholarship!  They want to hear me sing some more!

Ezra picked Jo up in his arms and spun her around.  “You’re gonna be a big city girl!  Look at you!”  Full of pride, he beamed at his sister.

“Momma and Poppa said we should scoot home and bring a couple more chairs into the parlor,” said Jo, breathlessly, “they want to hear Bettina and me sing again, I’m going to round her up.”

Ezra walked down the front steps of the Baptist Church, Jo and Bettina each with an arm looped through his.  Turning in the direction of the Bond house, all three were in the middle of a song when Ezra slowed their pace.  He stopped singing.  He smelled cigarette smoke, specifically Camel cigarette smoke.  There was only one person he knew who smoked Camels.  His sense of danger spiked.

“Ezra, what’s wrong?” asked Jo.

“Let’s cross the street, ladies,” was all Ezra said.

Out of shadows of an alley appeared a group of four white men.  When they reached the yellow light of the street lamp, they stopped, one man slightly ahead of the other three.  A trail of smoke drifted up from a Camel cigarette in his left hand.  The neck of a bottle protruded from a brown paper bag gripped tightly in his right hand.  He took a swig, and pointed his cigarette at Ezra’s group.  

“Yo! Boy!”he slurred, “You peddlin’ them whores?”  He pronounced the word “hooers”.

Ezra’s fears were confirmed, the man talking to him was Tate Jeffords oldest son of Doc Jeffords, head of the largest whites only hospital in Jackson.  Tate was a know bully and treated black people with a malicious malevolence .  Several of Ezra’s acquaintances had fallen victim to Tate’s fists, boots, and belt buckle.  The drunker he was, the more sadistic he became.

“I as’t you a question, boy!  You peddlin’ them bitches?”

“No,” Ezra replied, not making eye contact.  “I am escorting my sister and her friend back home from the chorale concert at the church.”

“Oh! They’s sophisticated bitches then,” slurred Tate.  The three other men giggled.  “Oh, wait!  They’s those singers that them Yankees is fussing about!  My sister sings a far sight better than any colored girl.  She’s the one they should be talking too.”

Ezra attempted to rush his sister and her friend ahead, but the drunk men moved surprisingly fast and blocked their path.  Tate pitched his cigarette in the gutter and a pulled a knife from behind his back.  The women screamed, Ezra gasped.

“They won’t sing worth a shit with no tongue,” Tate spat and he stepped towards Jo.

Ezra screamed “No!” And instinctively shoved Tate away.  The drunk Tate stumbled backward and tripped over the curb.  He came down hard on the back of his head and didn’t move.  His three friends rushed to help Tate, but in their drunken state, tripped over each other and ended up in a heap next to Tate.  One looked up and snarled, “You’re dead boy!”

Ezra raced his sister & Bettina to his house.  Jamming a few things into a satchel; he kissed his sister goodbye.  

“Wait! Where..?” She cried.

His voice breaking with emotion, Ezra said, “I can’t stay here.  I’ll write as soon as I can.  Then he was gone.

Staying in the shadows, Ezra jogged to the railroad tracks.  Running along side a westbound freight train, he spotted a car with its doors open.  Hands reached from the open door and pulled him up and in.

Ernie Stricsek

The Chatham Writers Group

11/12/22