Exit (this mortal coil) through the gift shop
After the Gator Boys Alligator Rescue Live Gator Show, we checked out the gift shop. I picked up a fridge magnet for my friend, Analog Stan, and then was drawn to a huge selection of fishing hooks.
My mind went blank, except for remembering a hook my dad showed me that he used to catch a giant tuna off the coast of Puerto Vallarta with. Most of the hooks were the same size. It was strange; I had a weightless and carefree feeling for a moment. Why would they have hooks for sale at a gift shop?
Then, as I was lining up to pay for my water and the magnet, I was drawn to a sign listing prices for private boat rentals.
Food for thought: Did my dad outdo Harry Houdini?
I didn’t put any of that together until chatting over snacks a couple hours later, but I am convinced that that was a Ouija Board moment: my dad saying hi from the great beyond. He used to rent a boat and crew and go fishing in the Pacific regularly.
The locals called him Mister Fish or Señor Fish. I’m 6’6,” but his friends in PV called me “Little Fish”. My being drawn to the hooks and the price list for private airboat rentals was my dad playing around with me.
Harry Houdini‘s last ever performance was in Detroit and he died at Grace Hospital in The Motor City in 1926 on Halloween.
For 10 years after Houdini’s death, his wife Bess tried to contact him from the great beyond via seances, etc. on All Hallows’ Eve. Bess gave up after a decade, saying “ten years is long enough to wait for any man,”
Houdini, the greatest magician who ever lived, never pulled off his greatest stunt, sending an email from the afterlife. My dad’s middle name was Harry, and he did.
Thanks, Dad!
PS: Houdini died in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The people I was with in Fort Lauderdale are from Detroit, Michigan, USA.
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