TRIGGER WARNING: n/a

New Characters:
Marshy
Ruth
The cop

This one is the best so far (and most recent).

Last Friday, Grunt was taking Holler to her new college dorm to move in, so they were nowhere near home. Therefore, Duck was in her bed by herself. When she woke up, Duck went outside to let Mabel use the bathroom and tend to her garden. It is about 7 AM. As she goes out to garden, Duck notices someone sitting in the yard in the chair that we have by our tree. at first, she thought it was Wobble but realized she didn't recognize the shirt.

Mabel noticed the man and did a wide semi-circle around him without barking. all she did was sniff the air as she went. When Duck finally went up to him, she asked if he was okay. The man said he was alright, but had been camping in the marsh all night and was wondering if Duck could tell him where the restaurant he saw on Google Maps was. He was nowhere near the place he was talking about, so Duck invited him in to sit and eat some breakfast.

Marshy was 76 years old, coming from another state on a jetski for a routine camping trip farther south. He had been riding through the sound Thursday evening before hitting something with his jetski and taking on water. Marshy beached his jetski on the nearest bank he could find, then called an aquatic towing company and gave them his coordinates around 5 PM. The tow person went out, but (of course) got the coordinates wrong and ended up in a completely different body of water around 7 PM. By that time, the winds were blowing so hard a rescue would have ended poorly and very risky, so Marshy would have to stay put until help arrived. Thankfully, this man had enough supplies on his jetski to make him comfortable for the night. After sleeping around 6 hours in total, Marshy left his campsite to go to the closest business/part of civilization he could see on his GPS. There, he found our house and ended up sitting in the chair by our tree.


When I woke up around 7:40 AM, I could hear Duck talking to (I thought) my uncle downstairs. There were two things wrong with that situation, since A) My uncle was supposed to come two weeks from that day with his wife, and B) Duck was supposed to be at work. Once I came downstairs, I quickly realized that my uncle was not here (that was a bullet temporarily dodged) and that there was a man as old as my Grandpa, Wobble, sitting at our kitchen counter.

I was quickly filled in by Duck and Wobble, who had come over when he saw a random man in the kitchen, about Marshy's situation. I felt bad for him and was glad that he had found our house. To get here, he had to have walked around half of a mile, over muddy roots and wood and whatever else lives in the marsh beds. his legs had several scratches and cuts on them that definitely caused him pain, but other than that Marshy was pretty well off. After downing two cups of coffee, banana bread, and a jimmy deans sausage, Marshy felt much better and was sure to thank us repeatedly. duck had to leave for work but made sure everyone was fed and watered before leaving.

after polishing off our breakfasts, Marshy joins Wobbles and I on the front porch to chat. We were also waiting for The cop, a police officer dispatched (after Duck called the local non-emergency line) to help Marshy recover the stuff on his jetski. We are in the middle of brainstorming ways to get Marshy's gear (he had ended up on the banks of a large portion of Private Property) since our family knew from past experiences that the people who owned it were not very friendly. as we are talking, The cop gets called to report to a call about a drunk man breaking into cars. The cop leaves after recommending we talk to the Game Warden in our area to see if they could help.

Once The cop leaves, the porch crew begins to disperse. Wobble goes inside to wake up Loon and fill her in on the excitement, Marshy begins one of four total calls with the Game Wardens office, and I busied myself with bringing Marshy writing utensils and entertaining him between calls. He was a very nice man and had many stories to tell.

Wobble and Loon come out to the front porch in the middle of the second Game Warden call. Once it ends, Loon and Marshy strike up a conversation as I rearrange the deck furniture to accommodate everyone comfortably. By this point, it is around 10:00 AM.

As Wobble and Loon are talking to Marshy, Marshy's wife Ruth pulls into the driveway. Ruth is a wonderful lady and in absolute adoration of Mabel. Mabel returns the sentiment tenfold. Now the porch is busy with introductions, and I scuttle around with more chairs as everyone gets acquainted.

Marshy and Ruth have been married for 52 years, compared to Wobble and Loons 55. Both couples have three children, are high school sweethearts, and all around very similar. The porch is soon filled with various conversations and stories of lives and homes and dogs and grandkids and how hopeless todays dating pool truly is.

It was so special for me to see another relationship like my grandparents, since I had honestly lost hope that they still existed. Listening to Marshy and Ruth bond with them was so comforting to me, since it was like Wobble and Loon in a different font. This entire experience made me realize how much I hope I can age like them, and how precious my current body and stage of life really is.

All the bonding between families goes on until around 10:30 AM, when Marshy finally mentions to his wife that he has an online training for his job at 11:00 AM that he has to do in the car on the laptop that she had brought with her. Goodbyes were said and many thanks given, along with Marshy and Ruths address and zip code if we ever wanted to send them a Christmas Card. (Of course, none of us thought to exchange cellphone numbers).

Once Marshy and Ruth leave, the house goes quiet again. All the life the encounter had brought into it faded away, and the halls were left with a quiet feeling to them.

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