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Show RTVER "What the hell were you doing out there in a rowboat?" he asked. I didn't say anything. And what could I have said? I was out there looking for knowledge? In a rowboat? On the Mississippi River? Gale filled up the silence. "What kind of business did you have out there in a rowboat? You knew about towboats, didn't you? You'd seen towboats?" "Yes sir." "Well then what the hell..." "Like I said," I said. "It was my fault." And it was: you just naturally had to expect that a man in a rowboat would see something as large as a towboat before you could expect that towboat to see something as small as a rowboat. "You could have been killed," said Gale. "By all rights, you should have been killed." Once more, I was speechless. "All right," he said, calming down some. "What was that boat worth?" "It wasn't worth hardly anything," I said. "No," he said. "You've got to tell me how much it was worth-your boat and gear and everything-so I can make a damage report." So, still stunned with my watery spiritual experience, we cataloged all my late material possessions. I gave bargain basement prices on the stuff because I didn't want to cause Gale any more trouble than I already had. The damages totaled up to $450. Gale radioed company headquarters in Baton Rouge and very quickly a deal went down: the Chotin company would pay me $450 cash money and give me a free ride to Baton Rouge if I'd sign a legal release. That sounded fine to me. Olinda Chotin picked of her barges and started downriver. -212- |