Week 30 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is “Boats.”
My grandfather Fred had a strange sense of humor.
Fishing with his boys was one of the ways he bonded with them. While they were out on the water in his boat, he didn’t mind taking them for a few loops around the lake on waterskis. My dad and his brothers were all decent athletes and became pretty good at it. Grandfather Fred was a fast driver, both on land and in the water. He’d speed through the lake and then whip the boat around to cross through the wake. The waves he churned up created challenging skiing conditions for his sons, but that was the point. Fred was proud of his boys for getting up on those skis, but watching them lose their balance and go cartwheeling through the water was fun for him.
His favorite place to dump his sons was in a thick patch of weeds or water lilies. When the boys fell, the weeds tangled around them and clung to their bodies. As they fought to break free, the slimy lake plants slithered across them like snakes. It was an uncomfortable and creepy feeling – especially for my dad. When he was four, my grandfather threw a snake at him while he was mowing the lawn. From that moment on, Dad was terrified of snakes. If my grandfather happened to spot a harmless water snake while waiting for my dad or uncles to get their skis on, he’d reach down and snatch it out of the water lightning-fast. As soon as they got going and the unfortunate boy popped out of the water on the skis, Fred threw the snake back at him and laughed and laughed as his kid inevitably crashed and burned.
He didn’t do this cruelly or maliciously. In his way, he thought he was being funny and pranking them, but it was pretty messed up.
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