CITY VOICES
HARVEY
FIRST PERSON
Casting about for peace of mind JANICE HARVEY
perpetually reeked of spilled bait water and the occasional decaying shiner stuck between the seats. It come from a family of fisherwas only a matter of time, since men. I have watched them his dad was also a fisherman, that cast into water all my life, John would be just as enthralled though I have never personally felt the lure of the lure. A deep by the smell of rubber worms as his Uncle Chris, nicknamed by my love of the sport began with my own maternal grandfather, so un- mother “Gadabout Gaddis,” after the television pioneer/fisherman. fortunately named “Adolph” that If John was interested in a we took to calling him “Ad.” I have subject, he absorbed it, and wore in my box of treasured photos a it like a second skin. School never picture of Ad, holding a rod and reel in one hand and a smoldering fully sparked his interest, but fishing became for my son that secstogie in the other. His slickedond skin, that thing that filled his back hair was already thinning in thoughts night and day. What was his early 30s, and the ravages of multiple sclerosis hadn’t yet intro- it about fishing I wondered, that captured the men in my family duced themselves. With that rod so completely? What could drive and reel in his hand, he is happy, grinning through the few teeth he them to gleefully drill holes in ice and sit patiently waiting for a bite no longer had by the time I came in 25-degree weather? What made along. Despite the struggles of them watch with rapt attention the Great Depression, or perhaps other men fishing on television? to escape them, Ad was going I asked Chris and John to share fishing. with me the secret of their pasWhen my brother Christopher sion for waders, tackle boxes and was a kindergartner, my great hooks that landed in trees. uncle Eddie gave him a fishing “It has always been about my pole for Christmas. Uncle Eddie love of and attraction to water. It had less fingers than Ad had was the fish that dominated my teeth, after years of factory work early years,” said Chris. “Catching that likely preceded the advent the most and the biggest fish was of OSHA laws. In a photo dated my driving force, but catching 1966, Uncle Eddie, Aunt Julia and my Nana Helen, Eddie’s sister, are gave way to fishing in the order of importance. Fishing created an standing in Nana’s Lincoln Street endless desire to learn. The back kitchen. Behind them and off to and forth between angler and the side, oblivious to the camera quarry would lead me to underor anything else in the world, is stand that the days without a bite Christopher, holding with both were simply lessons in the educahands a Zebco 202 set up. Whoever snapped that photo captured tion of an angler.” All those years I thought my the moment when boy meets dumb little brother was just starobsession. ing off into space. Go figure. Growing up on Coes Pond, “That’s why they call it fishing, Chris spent all of his time casting for pickerel and kivers, sometimes not catching,” said Gadabout. Fishing, it turns out, is the percrawfishing with me along the shore. If he had a buck it went into fect pandemic pastime. Fishing is all about social distancing. Two’s a the till at Eddie’s Live Bait Shop crowd for most anglers, and if you or Paul’s Fish & Tackle on Green Street. (My claustrophobic father, can adopt Christopher’s outlook who worked the arson squad as a it’s a great way to reduce stress, Worcester police officer, remarked though I question that he morphs into the Dalai Lama after a whole that Paul’s was “a fire trap.” He day without a nibble, having said the same about Spag’s.) played Monopoly with him. He’s Decades later, when I lived in a no gracious loser. Vernon Hill three-decker, I would For John, catching matters. find myself giving my son John “The drive to catch fish has my last dollar for shiners from always been there for me. It Gazo’s on Millbury Street. My car
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motivates me to get out there. It’s ironic because as much as it helps with stress, serious fishermen sometimes put stress on themselves to do well. It’s all part of the experience.” For both John and Chris, fishing pushes every worry about the world overboard, at least for a little while. A new generation of my clan has been introduced to the wonders of catch and ase by Uncle John. On a recent Saturday morning, the kid who sloshed bilge water on my floorboards and hid frogs in his bedroom took all four of my grandkids fishing — two 3-year-old girls, an 8-year-old boy and a 13-year-old for whom he’s been coaching the skills of angling and night crawling since she was in preschool. Teaching kids how to fish seems natural to John. “Something about fishing gives kids a sense of accomplishment,” he said. “It seems to be good for them in every way.” His 3-year-old daughter Scarlett concurred. “Fishing is good for people!” I suspect her great-great-grandfather Ad would agree.
Testing negative for COVID-19 JOE FUSCO JR.
white tent. I ordered a jumbo lobster roll then asked the waiter aine insisted that we test if he wanted to see my negative result but he just needed to know negative for COVID- 19 within 72 hours of meet- if I wanted “buttered hot” or “cold with mayo.” ing our daughter and Next morning, we drove down her family in Wells so we drove Route One to play mini-golf with over to CareWell Urgent Care on the grandchildren. The 2-year-old Lincoln Street and signed up for was determined to throw as many the procedure. of our golf balls as possible into the A Q-Tip was inserted in each of water hazards. I went back to the my nostrils for five seconds. The cost of the test was $160 or $80 per entrance to replace my ball and inquired whether the attendant nostril, which is $16 a second. I made a hard copy of the “nega- wanted to see my negative result. He just asked what color I wanted tive” result and put it in my wallet and charged me an extra $2.50. for our trip to The Pine Tree State. After 18 grueling holes, we drove I was a tad disappointed when to the nearest ice-cream shack. You we crossed over the state line and there wasn’t a Border Patrol asking had to order inside then sit outside at the picnic tables. I opted for a to see my papers. hot-fudge sundae with Triple-EcOur daughter checked us into our two-bedroom suite which went stasy Chocolate. When the scooper asked if I wanted nuts and a cherry, smoothly because she is a New I declined the offer and showed Hampshire resident. I asked the her my negative result. She seemed hotel clerk for extra towels and nonplussed. if she wanted to see my negative That evening, sitting on the patio result but she just smiled and gave after a couple few gin and tonics, I me the linen. conveyed to my family the dismay We drove to Kennebunkport for dinner and dined under a large C O N T I N U E D O N N E XT PA G E
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