Sea Trials

So the four of us, some of the best and brightest in this little harbor town, a town a travel writer might call a real "pocket of authenticity," decide to drive to a nearby cove, take along a few cold cans of ocean-going beer and an essential item, a newly purchased inflatable boat...it was overcast that summer day but the water welcomed us with open arms and instantly a sense of adventure carried us from shore...best friends out for an adventure...it is pretty easy to loft an inflatable boat over your heads and since it was up there why not have it carry all the beer...Me, G, C and A were psyched...some of us dove overboard to get a further taste of the sea while others cracked open beers and swilled them down all the while bobbing...bobbing at one point even turned to raucousity as A began to laugh and rock the boat all the while laughing like there was no tomorrow...all the while we were never more than 100 yards from shore...pretty good considering that our craft had been found at a School Street yardsale for the princely sum of $15, a value that most likely had not been seen in these parts since Champlain traded with the locals 400 years ago...I had my cell phone in a Pelican case just in case, our truck keys, and oh yes, there was also a rolled-up cigarette in there that to some might have looked slightly illegal...it started to rain, really rain, and yes, we had to head back to shore, under paddle power and our desire to get into dry clothes...I'm not certain but I think it was A who once again who rocked the boat, laughing uproariously of course (she does have the best laugh)...when we finally got to shore we were all laughing about everything when I suddenly smartly blurted out "She's always been such a sweet little bitch." Never have I seen anyone laugh harder than us that day and all the while dripping wet in our shorts, attempting to dress in clothes left behind that were almost as wet...Ok, inflatable is hoisted and off we trek to the truck with our remaining beers and empties securely lodged in the now airborne inflatable...Ut, oh, trouble looming ahead as we spy park rangers waiting for us near the truck...cool as the proverbial cucumber we keep the boat held high, slide in onto the truck rack and turn to chat with our new friends...seems there was a lot of empties in the back of the truck from previous adventures and they wanted to make sure we were fine to drive, which we were, but then when asked to produce the truck keys from my Pelican case, I remembered that it also contained a rolled cigarette which could have delayed our departure...C is a very clever guy and managed to distract the rangers while I pretended to fumble before finally producing the keys without anyone seeing the "perfectly legal" cigarette that has taken its fitting place in the annals of maritime tales as far as we are concerned...about the only reminder of the beers which might have caused us some legal problems was the occasional clanging of metal as they danced around in the inflatable every time the truck came to a bump in the road...