Last Updated on August 17, 2018 by Terry
Once upon a time, I was minding my own business and accomplishing my responsibilities. You know, working. I was spending an entire week with a client about 50 miles west of my home town of Martindale, Arkansas. I was conducting some manager and supervisor training that they had requested. It’s what I do (when I’m not fishing).
They had several managers from other locations around the country in for this seminar and were taking everyone to supper as a group on the third night. Naturally I was invited.
The dinner party was scheduled for one hour after class. All the managers went back to their motels to get ready. Since I was driving back and forth, I had nowhere to go so I went to the eatery where the banquet would be taking place.
They had strung some tables together and allowed me to sit and wait. They brought me my drink of choice, water with lemon. I was sitting back and looking out over the nice lake where they were located. I was day dreaming about catching a kayak full of fish and scanning the dining area watching the patrons.
Most of the time people are interesting to watch. As usual, I was observing in order to get a new story idea. Watching people and the interesting things they say and do has given me many storylines in the past.
First, there was of course the loud table. It was really one guy. It was obvious that he thought he was the only interesting person at his table. He dominated the conversation. Any time someone else attempted to speak, he ranted on. I smiled as I watched his friend’s facial expressions and wondered how many more times he would get invited to their dinner group.
There were two elderly couples together. One of the couples reminded me of Carla and myself. He was about 6’ 3” tall and she was about 5’ 2” short, about like us. It seemed a peaceful and friendly dinner encounter. Nice, I thought.
Then there was the young mother with two small children about five and seven I would guess. (I’m not very good at guessing ages so they could have been anything.) I couldn’t help but wonder their situation in life. Where was the husband/dad? Too many possibilities to spend wondering, but I did anyway. He didn’t pan out as a husband? A cheater? Deployed hero? Hey, he may have been the loud guy at the other table.
Suddenly I noticed the fourth glass of water at the table. Stupid! It’s about quitting time for most workers and he’s on his way to meet his nice family. Lesson to learn; be careful of your imagination. Don’t judge any situation too quickly or you will end up an idiot like me.
Of course, there was the loser of the month. I don’t frequent bar settings and only see this on TV. There was a bar near my table. The bar tender was a lady with an easy-to-look-at appearance. There he was, the only one at the bar and explaining to her why he was indeed a great catch. He wasn’t using those words but you’ve heard him before. How pathetic.
The young lady pretended to be interested in order for the moron to sit longer at the bar and order more overpriced drinks. I’ve been married for thirty nine years and even I could see what was going on. Of course, he fell for it and went through four drinks in a short span of time. It was probably more but that is all I remember. She was very good at her job.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise coming from the loud table. As I was scanning back toward the loud guy, my eyes passed the table with the two older couples. The lady nearest to me was reaching for her throat and attempting to stand. She was choking and the look on her face spoke volumes.
I got out of my chair and was stumbling around the end of our tables to get to her. Just before I arrived, her husband noticed and stood up behind her as he asked, “Honey, are you alright?”
Choking people are seldom alright so I kept advancing. He was attempting the Heimlich maneuver but was obviously untrained. Any trained rescuer knows that you must secure the choking person tight to you as you reach around them with both hands and thrust upward with your hands together in a fist like formation.
He had his hands around her but was merely reaching out and slamming her into his stomach. He would slam and she would separate from him as he reached out again. He had slammed her three times when I arrived.
It appeared that she had only a partial blockage and was able to breathe slightly but her panic was causing her to not attempt coughing. I got the husband under control and knelt down on one knee so I could see her eyes and speak with her. I got her to cough a couple of times and breathing became less of a struggle.
The paleness in her face was leaving and her rosy cheeks were gaining color. As soon as she looked around at her husband and he realized that she was ok, he sat back down and went directly for his fork in order to finish eating before his food got cold. Don’t feel too harshly about him, she was sitting and eating in less than 10 seconds after he sat down.
I stood near and watched for about a minute and they never looked up. I was afraid I was going to disturb their meal if I stayed any longer so, I returned to looking out over the lake and remembering what a great bass fisherman I am and continued waiting for my clients to arrive.
Guess who showed up? The husband/dad that I had so wrongly judged earlier. From the reaction of his wife and the two children, he apparently was a great person.
And of course one of the single guys that was with me showed up and went over to the bar and began impressing the lady bar tender. She smiled as she set down his first drink. Her plan was working perfectly.
Hey, thanks for your time and have a great weekend. Don’t forget to hit the “like” button. The Face Book experts said it helps me somehow. If you enjoyed this adventure, be sure to check out more of my stories.
One more thing. When you finish any of the Friday blog adventures, look to the left side of the story <<<< and send in your email address. You will receive the McHenry Creek Fishers Dictionary and Users Guide. It’s full of fishing terms we have been using for about sixty years. You will be glad you read it. It’s free!
