I distinctly remember Uncle Pete teaching me how to swim. As the Aherne's and the Hull's always split use of the family beach house, I would only get one months of swimming lessons a summer, not quite long enough for me to become proficient at swimming. Finally one summer, Uncle Pete threw me off the dock into the deep end and held a bamboo pole in front of me just out of reach. Exh time I reache for the pole to save myself from drowning, Uncle Pete would move the pole a little further away, and again just out of my reach. The next thing I knew, I had swam (swum?) all the way to the shallow end. Uncle Pete promptly announced to my father that I could now swim, and the rest is history.
Chip
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3 comments:
GOOD ACCURATE RECOLLECTION FROM CHIP
I have a foggy recollection of Uncle Pete. But I may have been getting pulled around in a wagon at the time. (not cause I was drunk but because I was 3)
Derf
SHOWING YOUR YOUNG AGE, DERF. YOU CAN 'T REMEMBER UNCLE PETE?
ONE CAN NOT DISCUSS THE EARLY1950-TO 1964 ERA IN SALTAIRE WITHOUT DISCUSSING UNCLE PETE, HIS SWIMMING LESSONS AND HOW HE DOMINATED THE VILLAGE AND EVERY LITTLE KID THEREIN.
UNCLE PETE DOMINATED THE VILLAGE AS MUCH AS SKINNER DOMINATED THE BAY. BETWEEN THE TWO, THEY WERE THE TOWERING MALE FIGURES IN THE VILLAGE IN THOSE DAYS. IT WAS A PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY IN WHICH THE DADDIES LEFT THE ISLAND SUNDAY NIGHT OR EARLY MONDAY MORNING ON THE DEATH BOAT AND DID NOT RETURN UNTIL THE DADDY BOAT ON FRIDAY NIGHT, 5:30 OR 7:10.ALL WEEK LONG, THE MALE AUTHORITY FIGURES WERE UNCLE PETE AND CAPT AL.
NOBODY ELSE CAME CLOSE IN THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GREW UP IN THOSE SUMMERS.
NOW LETS GET TO WORK
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