The Car Ferry

I was always unable to sleep the night before a trip to Dartmouth. The excitement of seeing my grandmother and uncle, the fun things we would do, ran through my mind. On this trip, we were taking my Nanny Storey to Halifax to visit with her daughter Irene and family.

We were on our way across the straight when the boat went aground. The day was foggy and for some reason the boat-scrapped bottom in very shallow water. Fishing boats from Pictou were summoned and soon we were being transported to shore.

Mom’s sister, Aunt Bunny, now lived in Pictou and her husband, Uncle Charlie came to meet us at the dock. He drove us to their home were we awaited news of the grounded boat.

I listened as my father talked about insurance if anything should go wrong. I asked many questions about this insurance and was able to determine that I had a camera and a doll worth five dollars. That night as I slept in my aunt and uncle’s home, I prayed that the ship would sink. Of course sinking in a couple of feet of water was highly unlikely, I dreamed of ways to spend my new found fortune.

The following day dad and uncle Charlie went down to the dock to discover the fate of the ship. We watched out the window as my uncle drove like a madman across his front lawn and parked. Aunt Bun was heard to say, “If anyone else drove across Charles’s lawn that way, he’d shit his pants and die with the measles.” I was only six, but I thought it was the funniest thing I ever heard and I laughed until I hurt. The rest of the family also thought it was funny because they were laughing so hard they cried. Then Nanny said, “Here comes Gordon in his car.” Mom was overjoyed and I was disappointed because I was never going to see that five dollars. Oh well I was only six and had lots of time to get insurance.