-INFESTATION-
REVENGE OF THE LOBSTERS

Hello, my name is Fred and in Mattapoisett, Mass., October 1996 (just South of Boston by Buzzards Bay) my wife, Nancy and I provisioned our newly purchased Kaiser Gale Force Nine Cutter, "ISLE". We were recently retired and looked forward to the cruising life. The leaves were turning brown, the frost was on us, and, the weather forecast was scattered snow flurries. Nancy and I were determined to leave and never see another snow flake.

After launching and rigging and while still tied to the pier, we noticed a lobster boat unloading. We purchased two beauties, went out to anchor and treated ourselves to our first of many feasts.

Two days later we left the bay and turned south. Unfortunately tropical storm Josephine decided to move erratically and come between us and the coast line. We could go South, but not West. We soon found ourselves 100 miles off the coast in a snotty storm heading SSE. This was not the preferred course. We observed first hand the idiom of having the wind vane attached to the compass, head on.

One fine bouncy morning as the false dawn came upon us, I slid down the companionway to see if there was any hot soup left. There wasn't! Nancy was sleeping in the Lee birth and I was tired. While in the galley I noticed something running across the sole and stepped back. I couldn't determine what it was in the early light. It ran the other way and stopped. I took off my shoe and hit it. It ran again and I hit it again, thinking I had missed it the first time. I must of swung pretty hard, because Nancy came right out of her bunk thinking the boat must of hit something.

While assuring Nancy that we were alright, I noticed it ran beneath the counter. Nancy still wasn't sure what was going on, but I was determined to find out what kind of creatures were living with us. I didn't like the idea of strange unknown things crawling around. Nancy handed me the flashlight and I got down on my knees to discover what looked like a limber hole under the counter. I reached in to explore this bug escape hole and discovered that this hole was in reality a fat rubber band that had come off the claw of one of our luscious red lobsters a few nights ago.

Revenge is sweet!


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November 9, 2012
© 1997-2012 Phillip Landmeier