The Writer's Life: The Writer's Life 1/1

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

The Writer's Life 1/1 - Holy Mackerel

As expected, there was hardly a soul on the streets when I took my morning walk at six AM, very little vehicle traffic as well. I chuckled as I approached the pedestrian bridge that spans lower Sheepshead Bay. There was a lone, hardcore fisherman jigging for mackerel. There were two in his bucket, about twice the size of those mentioned in the following excerpt from Inside Out, which I hope will be available very soon:

"We musta caught two hundred of 'em. They were small." John held his hands a few inches apart, indicating size. "We were gettin' three, four at a time. The bucket was full. All of a sudden this ol' moolinyon walks over an' says he wants to buy some. He asks for fifteen, so Vinnie asks him for fifteen cents, a fair price, penny apiece. The ol' coon looks at 'im like he's crazy. ‘Fi'teen cents?' he says - 'fi'teen cents? Why, I kin get a who'e buckaful fuh fi'teen cents - shiiiit.' An' he walks away lookin' over 'is shoulder at Vinnie like he's nuts. We died laughin'."
"And we're still laughin' about it," said Vinnie, amazed, wondering how he would get all the random slices of life into his work without them seeming forced.

The guy this morning was standing approximately in the lower right hand corner of the following pic:

The fish John is talking about were caught from the now beautifully remodeled Steeplechase Pier in Coney Island:

How 'bout this little bruiser? 14 pounds, 13 ounces, the heaviest baby ever born at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital near Dallas, delivered via C-section. Welcome to the great adventure, young man.