WARMER DAYS... on to Florida (Part 156t)

WARMER DAYS… on to Florida (Part 156t)

When my father gave me the keys he also gave me $10 for gas and told me to keep the change. That wasn’t like him but I wasn’t going to complain. As we drove past the area we’d stopped on our way back the day before I had to smile. What had been the possibility of being a problem ended up being the start of something good (for me). We got into the city limits and stopped for gas. Elle decided she wanted to eat before going on to the Fountain of Youth but I had no idea where to go. I ended up asking the gas attendant (we still had those back in those days) where a good seafood restaurant was located. He asked if we liked shrimp and when I told him “yes” he gave me directions to this place located on the river. We had to go into the city to get there and when I finally found it he wasn’t kidding… it was on pilings about 100 feet out into the river. It was, for sure, a shrimp lovers delight. But the best memory of the place wasn’t the food. For ‘entertainment’ they would sell you a basket of stale bread and then you’d go to a window and throw pieces of it into the water. The catfish would go crazy for it. I’m not kidding. It was quite a show. Thirty to forty fish fighting for a few pieces of bread. Every time I thought about St. Augustine after that I”d think of the catfish. Elle got her shrimp salad and I chowed down on shrimp cocktail. It was probably the first time I’d eaten really fresh shrimp. The waiter pointed out the window to the shrimp boat that they bought them from. I was impressed.

We ended up walking the docks while we were there. I’d always loved looking at boats and with Elle’s father a fisherman it was interesting to see the different types.  A deckhand was cleaning up a shrimp boat that had just unloaded its haul. I asked some questions about how they went about catching them and the first thing I knew it was approaching 2pm. My plan had been to go to both the fountain and the fort but I wasn’t sure we’d be able to do both. Since Elle insisted on the fountain we headed there first. The words of my father were firmly entrenched in my mind as we  drove up. The archway into the grounds looked interesting but I was puzzled about why it was so elaborate when all we wanted to see was a simple fountain. It wasn’t until I paid the entrance fee and got the brochure that I realized there was more than that. There were formal gardens to visit… not my favorite thing, especially having had to pay to see them.

We followed the paths to the fountain and I can still say I was underwhelmed. The first thing was that there was no fountain to be seen… and it smelled like a whole bunch of people had let off a simultaneous fart.. All I saw was a grate over a hole in the ground. It only took a second for me to grasp what my father had warned me about… rip off!. I wasn’t happy but Elle tried to placate me by saying that at least she’d seen it. I was ready to leave but Elle said that since we’d paid the money she wanted to see the gardens. I’ll admit that if flowers and gardens were your ‘thing’ it was impressive. We were looking at a formal garden and Elle was trying to get me to take it all in since the area behind our garage had, at one time, been one. I was impatient to leave and had turned to go when this stranger called out to us. I saw the woman waving and rushing towards us. My mind said “What now?" as she ran up to us. Almost immediately she addressed Elle by name… her maiden name. Long story short, she’d Summered in our town in a cottage right across the creek that bordered where we’d grown up. When the tide was too low to swim in the bay we’d go down to the creek and swim there. She'd seen Elle and somehow she’d learned her name and, even more interesting, remembered it. Of course we had to indulge her and listen to where she was living now (Florida) and how much she missed our area, especially in the Summer. Elle was a lot more patient than I was so when I interrupted to tell her it was 4pm and we would have to hurry to get to the fort to get a few pictures she gave me one of her ‘looks’.

When we’d been at the fort earlier in the week the lady at the ticket window had indicated that if she was on duty when we came back that she’d let us in for a few minutes to take some pictures without charging the fee. By the time we pulled into the parking lot it was a little before 4:30pm and I wasn’t sure we’d get in for our pictures. My focus was on that and only that. I jumped out of the car and implored Elle to hurry. She hesitated and that just made me mad. Finally she started towards the designated area to cross the street. We were running when we got to the entrance. I was excited when I saw that the person at the gate was the same woman who we’d dealt with. She didn’t recognize us and started to say that she was closing for the day. I immediately reminded her of our conversation from earlier in the week and she smiled… but that was all. I was frustrated in being so close to accomplishing what I’d set out to do but now wasn’t going to achieve it. I don’t know for sure if it was the look on my face that made her soften her stance. She said she’d let us in but she would only give us five minutes. That was all I needed and as we walked through the gate she then volunteered to go with us and to take pictures with both of us in them. I couldn’t say “No” since it was up to her to let us in or not.

The whole time this was taking place I paid no attention to Elle. She was standing behind me and off to the side. When the lady took the lead up the stairs Elle caught up with me. She wasn’t smiling and I asked why but she didn’t answer. I couldn’t figure out why she was upset with me. The lady was clearly ‘in charge' and told us that we were only going to the top steps on the upper level where there was sun. She took one picture and then suggested another with the river in the background. Again, what could I say? That ended it.

 To be continued...