There came a time after we moved that we took a vacation.I'm a bit uncertain as to when exactly that was, but it must have been near the end of the first summer we lived in Moncton,because I was still a very small child.In fact,I don't recall a lot about that vacation,aside from the story I'm about to tell.I guess I was still prone to sleeping a lot during long car trips.
As I recall,my younger sister was not with us.It was just my parents and myself.I think she must have spent the time with my grandparents,when all of my mother's people still lived out in the country.It's possible she was with us,but I don't recall it that way.In any event,we went to visit some of my mother's family in Portland,Maine.For some reason,it's stuck in my head that we took the ferry from Yarmouth,Nova Scotia to Bar Harbor,Maine.But common sense say's it must have been the other way around.But I can't say for certain.
I have some memory of the visit to Maine.My mother's family owned a restaurant called Smith Farm,in a place called Gray,a bit north of Portland.It was kind of like a big red barn.Other than that the only real thing I remember is that the place we visited had a huge stone wall out in front,and the surroundings looked very different from where we lived.
When we got to the boat that was to take us across The Bay Of Fundy,it was nearly evening and the boat ride was to take us all night.I really didn't get to see much of the boat.I must have gone to sleep shortly after we got on board.I recall,though that the boat was blue and very very large.I was amazed that we drove right inside the boat,where it was very dark.And I have the vague memory of not liking the dark much.
Once we left the car and started to wander around on deck,I remember a lot of people waving up at us from far below as the ferry started to move.There were other boats around too.Before I went to sleep we visited a gift shop on board and my father saw a small sailors cap,something like the captain would wear.It was a crisp,clean looking white hat,with a yellow braid going around it.My father bought the cap and placed it on my head,no doubt thinking it was cute.For months I wore the cap nearly everywhere,but I've always wondered why my parents never took a picture of me wearing it.
But it's not so much the hat that I remember as it is what eventually happened to it.One chilly,windy,blustery day,likely in the fall,I was sitting at the curb in front of our house.My mother was nearby in the front yard.There was a lot of dirt blowing around and getting in my eyes and it really wasn't a very pleasant day.As I sat there,a big gust of wind grabbed my sailors hat and began to blow it down the street towards Mountain Road.But my mother came along just in time to rescue it.To do so she had to go running down the street after it.She placed it back on my head,but no sooner had she done so than it was gone again.This time she didn't have to chase it quite so far.For a second time she put it back on my head,where it stayed for a few moments.Then a really strong wind roared down the street,not so much a gust as a steady,stormy blast,the kind that you get in November.Once again my hat was gone.It started down the street,sort of rolling on it's edge right beside the curb,but much faster than I could have run had I been allowed to run out into the street.It rolled all the way to Willett,the first side street,and it didn't stop.It flipped over onto it's top,and seemed to slide down the road going faster and faster and getting farther and farther away.By the time my mother noticed it this time,it had blown almost all the way to Mountain Road.I could still see it rolling and flipping,but there was no hope of catching it no matter how fast you could run.It began to look really small,but I could still see it.I suppose that it finally reached Mountain Road and was flattened as it blew out into traffic.But my hat was gone,and I knew that it was gone.
And gone too was the summer,and most of the days of 1964.Our neighborhood was still unfinished,and I don't remember Christmas or snow that year at all.
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