Got a match?

So there I was out in Sagi, short for the name of my boat, Sagittarius, you know the winged horse thingy, in the sky. Anyway I was at anchor fishing for the big one. I really don't know what I was going to do if I really did get something really big, and it got angry. I always had my survival knife at the ready, and I kept a baseball bat on board. If you want to keep your hooks you have to reach around toothy areas, and it works best if they aren't too alert.

Thanks to my big sister I had learned to smoke. Dad's of course. Little short Lucky Strikes. So there I am at anchor with a baited line out, about a half a mile off shore from the Navel Air Station, Alameda, shark and sting ray country. And now its time to lite up a short one. Problem #1,it's a little bouncy out here. Problem #2, I may have a cigarette, but I don't have a match on the boat. No sticks to rub. No flint and steel, but I have a two- cylinder motor. I remove the cowling from the Mercury motor, pull one spark plug wire, move the throttle down to real slow idle and turn the motor all the way to one side. If I lean over just right I can hold the cigarette between my lips and hold the plug wire next to the motor and lite my smoke.

I yank on the starter rope ,the motor starts, but a little rough because one wire is off. I start going in circles because these old motors don't have a neutral. When they start, you start moving. I lean in and try lighting up. Other that shocking myself more than I like, all that happened was I burned little holes in the end of my one and only cigarette, I got a little dizzy going around in circles, and oh yeah, I wrapped my anchor line and fishing line around the motor too.

Looking like an idiot, I unwrap everything from the motor. It's still bouncy out here, and now I'm not facing the waves. New plan. I dip a rag in the gas tank, restart the motor and get zapped a few more times. I hate that. I just remembered doing that to my little sister once. She didn't like it ether. Well don't ask me why I didn't burn the boat down to water line. I couldn't get fire on this boat no matter how hard I tried. I was still at the age where I didn't need to smoke, I just wanted to. Years later I would realize how stupid it was to even start. I tossed my electrocuted cigarette overboard and went back to fishing.

Thank you Eloise and Neil for reminding me of this story.