She was my very first love and it was late afternoon when she called. It had been a long, hard day, but I knew she would call, and I knew that I would answer. We had spoken earlier, and agreed that it would be a good thing to meet later. This was that call.
I drove slowly to the rendezvous point. On the way, I occurred to me that I had known her my entire life, but only in the context of the people we were about to visit. We all had been at this very same spot only a few hours before. She and Larry were already there when I arrived. Together, the three of us walked across the Veterans section of the cemetery to the fresh grave site where he rested beside his wife, Miss Dot.
I scanned the evening sky as if looking for ducks, and pulled a silver flask from my coat pocket. I offered it to her and could not help but see the sadness in her eyes. She took it, and slowly unscrewed the cap. Larry and I just watched her. She looked so tired as she carefully poured a bit of bourbon out on to the ground. A lone tear wandered down her cheek as she toasted her father one last time.
Larry and I each took our turns with the flask, and both of us offered a toast to the man resting in the grave before us.
In the 1960s, my brother and I used to tell folks we knew the strongest man in the world and that his name was ‘Coachie’. He was strikingly handsome, and was the living embodiment of a true southern gentleman. He spent uncounted hours in my childhood teaching me the finer points of duck calling, a skill which I have spent a life time exploiting.
The walk back to the cars was long, and slow. Darkness had fallen. As we approached the cars, she stopped and asked me, ‘Is there any thing of Daddy’s that you would like?’
“Yes”, I replied. “I would like that old Olt duck call. It was the call he taught me to call on.” The don’t make them anymore.
“It’s yours”, she said. She began to turn as if to get in the car, but she stopped and turned back to me. She paused for a second and asked me a second question.
“Is there anything your brother would like?”
“Yes,” I said,” there is.”
“What is it?”, she countered.
“He would like to be able to call ducks.”
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