The Boat on the Highway
"What are you gonna do?" said the man whose crew called him the Showman.
"Wait it out," said Sambone, who was one of the crew.
"You know I like to have you with me," said the Showman.
"How could I not?" said Sambone. "It's been forty-seven years."
"You'll be doin' more laundry, I reckon," said the Showman, who was watching Sambone listen to the racket that the washer made on spin.
"It ain't so bad," said Sambone.
"Well, I'm goin' out," the Showman said.
"Of course you are," said Sambone.
"Fresh air's good," the Showman said.
"It is," said Sambone. "But you know, folks wonder."
"Let 'em wonder," said the Showman.
"Fine," said Sambone. "Fine. I will. I always have. But me, I wonder too. I look down the highway and I wonder, 'What are we doin' on a boat that's lookin' down a highway?"
"Things ain't like they used to be," the Showman said. "So sue me."
"I'll call you when it's suppertime," said Sambone.
"You do that," said the Showman. "Maybe I'll be hungry."
"I'll do that," Sambone said. "Because you always are."
25 December 2020
Texas Jim (author of Big Bertha and Little Mac)
West Dover, Nova Scotia