Lunch with Mary

 

Lunch with Mary

Noel Laflin

6-13-21

Many years ago I took my good friend Mary out to lunch at a local Red Lobster Restaurant.

After scanning the menu, I happened to look up at an old black and white framed photo on the wall behind Mary.  It had been blown up to nearly poster size. It was a good shot – not grainy in the least.

“Hey, when you get a chance, look at the cool picture behind you.  It looks like Laurel and Hardy in a little dingy off a beautiful rocky coast somewhere. They are both holding fishing poles and looking rather relaxed.  There’s one other guy motoring the dingy – must be the captain, judging by his hat. It’s a cool picture.”

Mary set down her menu and turned to look.

“Oh, Good Lord, that’s my father!”

“Obviously the third guy in the skipper’s hat?”

“Yup, that’s pop alright. And that’s his boat.  He ran a small fishing service off of Catalina Island for years.  He would take paying customers to remote lagoons, or wherever the fish liked to hang out. He used to mention some of the famous folks that sought him out.  But gosh, I’ve never seen this picture before.”

About then, the server came by to take our order.

We both had fish.