Once upon a time, when Papa was just a little boy,
he went on a long ocean voyage in Dada's big boat, through shark-infested waters, and the distinct possibility of pirates more ferocious than those at Disneyland, through all that water of the vast ocean, wearing an old-fashioned orange life vest. And Dougie gulped when Dada calmly told the family: "If we sink, just grab one of the cushions, because they float. But don't splash a lot in the water, as that will attract the sharks."
Dougie was terrified. It wasn't the boat, which seemed sufficiently huge enough. It even had a cabin with a horseshoe-shaped bed (with the floating cushions, one of which Dougie clutched dearly, as if it were a teddy bear). It was the fact that the ocean was so big, and they were traveling out to the faraway Catalina Island, which seemed to Dougie like the other side of the world. And he could almost feel the sharks swimming just on the other side of the retaining wall that was the boat (holding out all of that water!). Dougie had seen Dada working on the boat, and he knew how thin the sides of the boat were. One bump from a shark, and they would start sinking!For miles across the choppy water great clean seagulls followed their Gilligan Island craft (Dada himself built the top out of fiberglass, Dougie assumed so that the boat would look more like the boat from Gilligan's Island), and often Dada would toss one of a myriad purchased small fish (sold as bait, for fisherfolk, but purchased by Dada for bird food, and Dougie was certain to attract every shark in the sea), and screaming, the birds would battle mid-air to claim the tossed prize. Dada gave Dougie a fish and told him to try, but Dougie was afraid of the birds. The birds seemed awfully predatory, and Dougie was certain they must be in league with the shark, their piercing cries a honing beacon for the sharks to focus upon, a veritable dinner bell. Dougie must have been about four years of age during this trip, or even close to five, but the memories of this journey seem to come from his two- or three-year-old brain, since the young mind is so plagued by fears, and the entire trip is covered with the syrup of childish anxiety.Soon the small boat, rising up and down as it chug-chug-chugged across the ocean, was out of sight from land. They were surrounded by the sea. Only the birds, screaming all the while, reminded the family that they were not completely alone. And Dougie could not stop imagining the sharks just on the other side of the thin walls of the boat.In truth, on the trip out to Catalina Island, which is only about 25 miles from Huntington Beach, their home port.The thing about adult men is that they find it incredibly hilarious when their small children are terrified half to death, so Dada was probably playing up the sharks and the possibility of sinking and the fact that the birds were carnivorous. And generally speaking children love to be frightened, unless they are in a circumstance where their imagination and the actuality are absolute distinct possibilities (and this was before the movie Jaws), and Dougie could only imagine shark, shark, shark, shark, shark. And maybe one more shark. Who am I kidding? A thousand more sharks. A million, no, a zillion more, no, whatever comes after a zillion more sharks.On the island (yes, they made it, hardly sinking more than a little bit; Dada constantly informed everyone how many inches of water was flooding the bottom of boat), and the entire trip dashing around the island is a blur, there was a long tram ride, Dougie distantly remembers that, looking back down along rugged cliffs, and the tram driver, an adult male, took great pleasure in pretending to lose brakes and edge backward toward a cliff, scaring the pants off Dougie). Only the boat ride is vivid, and sleeping in a cramped hotel room later, and Dougie's mind was so discombobulated by terror that sometimes Grandma Medvee was there holding him, comforting him, and other times only Mama is there on the trip, laughing at his fear, and Donna and Pammy both pop in and out of the scenery, so to this day the Little Papa would never quite remember who made this trip, and part of the trip is probably overlaid in memory by a second trip they made when everyone was older, on a boat specifically built to float out to Catalina Island without sinking into a whirlpool of sharks.Later, sleeping in a cramped motel room on the island itself, the Little Papa woke in the middle of the night to utter blackness, not a solitary night lamp burning. What woke him was a very loud noise. a BOOM. No, it was more a...BOOM!Followed by another boom, and another, sort of like:BOOM! BOOM!!Dougie woke Grandma, or maybe it was Mama, or possibly it was Dada who woke up. Boom, boom, boom, at regular intervals when the infernal commotion blasted through the echoing night."What's that?" Dougie wanted to know, terrified. The ground shook with each boom. Maybe the island was sinking! No, Dougie knew what it was, he'd always known from the instant of the first noise. It just had to be a giant, a terrific-sized giant, stomping across the island. He could see its head, looming up near the sky, its dark eyes searching, seeking, always looking for a litlte boy, just the right little boy, all the while its titanic feet crashing down, smashing buildings. This guy was bigger than Godzilla, at least taller, minus the tail. The Catalina Giant! Dougis just knew it had to be true, because nothing other than a stomping giant could make that kind of noise."Go to sleep," Dada told him. "It's just a volcano."A volcano. Hmmm, that made Dougie feel better. He knew he would never fall asleep now, as he tracked the sound of the Catalina Giant stomping toward their cramped motel room. Boom! Boom! BOOM!Or if it was a volcano, that must be the hot lava, pounding closer, and closer, each house between the volcano and the cramped motel exploding as the lava reached it.What was it, that BOOM, that woke Dougie in the night? He didn't know that night, and probably fell back asleep at some point. He does not know to this day, not even an educated guess (because that would infer an education). And nobody else in his family remembers the noise.Boom! BOOM! BOOM!!Memory ends. It must have been the Catalina Giant, it just must have been.All Stories © 2009 Douglas Christian Larsen
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