OKAY, HERE IT IS...the photo of the pier. Its history goes back many years to when Daddy first built it circa 1956. Back in those days, there was a ladder up to the top of the boathouse (that taller portion on the right). So that's where my teenage friends and I spent many an afternoon, slathered with suntan lotion, soaking up the rays that would eventually give us skin cancer and wrinkles. Our agenda of the day was getting a tan, and waving to the boys who would speed by in boats and on water skies. Weekend afternoons were the prime time for this activity. Oh, how our adolescent hearts pined for some real excitement with the boys, and we discussed the possibilities endlessly as we turned from stomach to back on our beach towels and listened to our transistor radio pouring forth songs about little surfer girls, and boys who wanted to hold our hand.

That portion at the end of the pier doesn't look very large, but more than once I hosted a slumber party there with my girlfriends. We threw our sleeping bags down and crawled in. Then we laughed and talked and ate and laughed, and of course we did no sleeping. There used to be a house on the neighboring property, a rented-out house down there by the river. Once we woke the man who lived there with our noisy fun. How were we to know it was this man, however, when we saw a bobbing light appear and move steadily in our direction. It was a hatchet murderer! Oh, yes...we were quite convinced. And we were trapped! Sylvia, Sharon, Malinda and I, we hastily devised our plan. Couldn't four thirteen-year-olds overpower one man with a weapon? We'd push him in the river, hatchet and all! We'd fight for our lives, yes we would! Our hearts were beating fast with the adrenaline rush.

And then, he was hollering, "Hey, quiet down out there! I live in that house by the river; you're keeping me awake!"


So, we survived. And the river kept flowing to the sea. And the tide went on rising and falling. And many, many summers have now passed. But I can still smell the Coppertone and hear the Beach Boys and the Beatles singing on the boathouse roof.


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