The continuing tale of my father, David Owen, and his adventures along the Oregon coast.
While my dad lived in Oregon with his brother Harold, their father George and LaVera, their stepmother, I don’t think the boys went to school. He never mentioned attending classes. It seems he just got into a lot of mischief, as youngsters that age are prone to do with little supervision and guidance.
My father told me that many ships came into port from all over the world. One time he spent the day playing in a park close to the docks, running in the grass, and dodging tall trees. The cool shade was adequate, but he was thirsty and made his way to a fountain. As “Davey” took sips, he watched several squirrels scampering up and down limbs.
In the meantime, a freighter docked from Russia. The weary sailors disembarked, many making their way to the very park my dad was playing in. One burly maritime comrade separated from the others. He said in broken English that he was from Russia. My dad kept a safe distance, not wanting to be shanghaied, but observed that the man was also eyeing the squirrels.
“Good eating, those?” asked the sailor.
My dad had eaten a few that his big brother shot and cooked during hard times and nodded. “Yes, they are.” He imagined fresh-fried squirrel and dumplings were better than the buggy sea rations and salted fishes that the sailors must have consumed for several weeks.
The sailor reminded Davey just a little of the cartoon character Bluto from the Popeye comics and he watched with amusement as the large-armed stranger casually walked toward a bunch of the rodents. Their bushy tails twitched a little, but generally they had little to fear from the average picnicking families and their children. The little animals went about their business.
The Russian set his sights on a fluffy momma squirrel with large haunches who rested beneath a tree that had a wide girth. As the foreigner approached, she eyed him with disinterest. The Russian looked to see if his audience was watching. Yes, indeed, Davey wanted to know what would happen next. The big man got closer, so the bushy-tailed animal jumped, but instead of scaling up the tree bark, it ran to the other side of the trunk. Davey and the man could still see the tip of a wee tail flicking from the other side, just above some gnarled roots. “Bluto” ran to that side of the tree, so Momma Squirrel did the same, running to the opposite, as if she was playing a game. Davey laughed, the Ruskie guffawed and grinned. He looked around the thick trunk; she looked from the other side, and it went on like that for several minutes until the squirrel had enough and climbed about five feet up, clinging to bark. She was still and quiet. Davey could see large shoulders heaving on the other side, then two hulking muscular arms reaching out as if to hug the tree. Then came the two hands with sausage-like fingers that, in an instant, throttled the squirrel around its slender middle.
Just as quickly, the toothed, angry creature began to chew the man’s hands. He screamed and howled, but for some reason he would not loosen his grip! My dad watched in stunned horror as the fierce battle for survival went on and the intense pain-infused yelping from the other side of the oak continued.
Suddenly the fingers disengaged. The squirrel dropped to the ground and hobbled off. Bluto came from the other side of the log, blood dripping from his meaty hands.
“You!” He lifted a digit that looked like it had met with a sausage grinder and pointed it at Davey. “Look at my hands! They are no good to me now! YOU said it was good to eat! I should kill you!”
My dad, with the swiftness of the unremorseful boy he was, ran a ways and said, “Yes, they are good to eat, but I never told you to catch one with your bare hands!”
So, the boy ran as fast as his feet would carry him, out of the park and as far from the scene as he could reasonably get. He did not go back there for some time, but there was more mischief to be enjoyed, as we shall see next week.
Harold Klein Owen and David Evert Owen in Detroit, just before their big move to Oregon
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