Conversations
“Hey . . . there’s Johnny! Look, everybody, it’s Johnny. Johnny, you haven’t been in for a long time. Where’ve ya
been?”
“I’ve been working, Annie.” Johnny was tall and sturdy-looking. A maroon fishing cap was pulled tightly over his
reddish hair, which matched his beard. He’d just entered the bar and was now standing over my left shoulder as
he spoke to the bartender. The chilled salt air that had followed him into the room from outside wafted over me
before it dissipated and mixed with the smoke in the room.
“Fishing must be good,” Annie replied.
“Oh, yeah. We’ve been chasing squid from Nova Scotia to Virginia, up and down the coast. We’ve taken some
long trips, but you know how it goes, Annie—you’ve gotta follow the fish.”
“I know. You bet,” Annie said, seemingly quite familiar with the
vagaries of fishing. “I remember being off of Scotia back in the
winter of ’85, and it can be nasty up there this time of year, but
in that big new boat of yours, you guys were probably okay.”
“Yeah, no problems with the boat. It’s a great boat. It takes the
swells easy, and we average twelve knots in rough seas.” It was
apparent that Johnny, who looked to be in his late thirties, was
the proud owner and captain of a commercial fishing vessel.
“What can I get ya?” said Annie, warmly smiling as if she were
making an offer to a close family member.
“First things first, Annie. I need to get a T-shirt for my nephew,
who just got back from Iraq.” He shook his head slightly and
pursed his lips.
I could tell from his raised voice that he wanted to broadcast to the others, who seemed to know him as well as
Annie did, the pride he felt in his nephew’s military service. I took advantage of his declaration as an opportunity to
break out of the isolation of pretended interest in the football game and get involved in the developing
conversation.
“Did you say your cousin just got back from Iraq?’’ I said to Johnny.
“No, my nephew.”
“Oh, okay.” I think I knew he’d said nephew, but I’d said cousin fully expecting to be corrected. “Is he all right?”