The great white ship, with HOPE painted on the side, passed by us while we stood on the granite blocks of the breakwater. It was a sunny weekend afternoon at Point Judith, Rhode Island fishing in the ocean with my Dad and his friend Al. This ship was so close to us I still see it today. We always went to the ocean there because the public beach was free and Mother would set a place with blankets. We had an older sun umbrella made of wood and a heavy material but it worked well. The whole family had to fill their arms with anything that was needed for this day trip. There was always another family with us in their car sharing the work and then the fun. I remember we had so much stuff that we young boys ran back to rescue a family member waiting there surrounded by coolers, bags of food, buckets and shovels to make sandcastles all day. We ran back laughing all the way and after placing things down neatly in front of our mothers we undressed down to our bathing suits and charged in. If you have ever gone into the Atlantic ocean before late August then you know that a tip toe in is safest. That ice cold water will take your breath away as you dive in to get real wet. Most babies,over fifteen years old, run back to shore shivering for a towel with purple lips shaking. I stayed in and after two more dunks, all the way under, the body gets used to it, totally numb. The sun was beating down and the smell and taste of salt surrounded us. We big kids built large sand castles in the wet, pliable sand near the water, with a moat around it. When Mother would call Time to eat , we all started kicking and destroying our masterpiece, why not when you can make five more. The tide goes in and out every day so sandcastles made of sand DO fall back, into the sea. The best time was lunch after a long day so far.We were up at five in the morning with a very quick breakfast and then load the car with things and then us. We would meet up at the Milano home, all them ready to go we hit the road for our one hour ride to paradise. We always had big loaves of fresh italian bread with plenty of cold cuts, lettuce, tomato and onions, salt and pepper and cold mayonaise Mother kept in a jar in the ice chest. Our drinks were all ZAREX, Koolaid, water and Iced coffee for the two mothers with ten kids between them. There were always chips , egg and potato salads and big pickles that made us pucker up. The dessert was always watermellon, cantalope, grapes, apples and oranges. No wonder we were so healthy eating like this every day. McDonalds had not sold a million burgers yet and had none back east yet. There was always a rule to not go in the water for thirty minutes after eating so we would walk the shoreline finding sea shells and an occasional star fish. We always made friends there to collaborate with to play catch or fun in the water, belly surfing. The taste of salt always filled your nose each time you went underwater but that smell gets inside of you for life. When I was thirteen my position moved up to fisherman with two other older boys and our fathers. There is a breakwater, square blocks of granite as big as cars stacked high and wide reaching out two miles into the ocean. This was done to create a sea wall so big and small ships could enter the river into the bay with no waves pushing from the side. It worked but was made because of all the damage done by hurricanes over time. The women and children turned to the beach on our right side while we all walked out onto the long, tedious walk way out there. We rarely went to the end where the bouy was located at the tip. The water was deepest on our left side, the channel inlet, so ships could come in. We always fished on the open ocean side to our right. These rocks were each square but piled like blocks randomly dropped. We had to jump across some dangerous gaps as we trudged our way out to the bend in the breaker. My Dad liked to get out the bait, fresh clam necks, like they serve at Friendlys and Newport Creamery, but we fished with it. I still only eat full bellied, deep fried clams at the coast, when there. Our friend Al would bait his jig, six hooks at once, with necks and sea worms, watch out they bite. He would cast way out with his open faced deep sea rod and reel. The line was heavy test strength able to pull in a shark but not a whale. He then clipped a bell at the tip of his rod, lit a Parodi, closed his eyes and waited for a bite to wake him. This one day my jaw dropped as this gigantic ship came passing by us. It was marked HOPE on the side and should have been on the open ocean, not here, so close I could have cast my hook and weight out and hit it. My understanding back then was that it was the famous, world traveling hospital ship, spreading our good will. This was not a dream but if you can correct me about this incident, I would be interested in hearing otherwise. I know that seeing is believing , I do it often
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 02:47:40 +0000
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