The Kindness of Strangers – Maritime Style

Sharing a short story I wrote in 2010.  Let me know if you enjoy it!

~Sheri ~

 

The Kindness of Strangers – Maritime Style

~Sheri Gammon Dewling~

Our Father was born and raised in Nova Scotia.  The kind nature of the Maritime people shone through him and was highlighted to us all in the summer of 1991.  My 5-year old Niece Julie travelled with her parents and Brother Daniel, just two years older.  My parents led the line of cars and tent-trailers as we revisited Dad’s homeland, once again. 
 

Once at destination, we travelled directly to a well known ocean pier, prior to setting up camp.  Dan and Julie got settled with bait, dropped their lines and waited.  No nibbles tugged their lines, wasps were flying, and summer heat was rising as kids’ patience waned.  A young boy came from the end of the pier to announce, “The fish are not biting today”.  Seeing the disappointment on Julie and Dan’s faces, the boy’s Father offered, “Take the 2 mackerel we caught today.  We have a freezer full at home.”
 

We were taken aback by the generosity of a stranger.  Our generation had grown up in Toronto, where we treated strangers with caution.  We were thankful for the gift of fresh fish, as our mouths watered with thoughts of breakfast the next morning.  We turned back to the kids on the pier, and witnessed their renewed determination to overcome the odds.  Julie threw her next cast and, with surprise, watched as the Donald Duck fishing rod flew out of her hands, off the pier, into the high tide.  Her rod was out of reach for rescue.  Big brown eyes were sheltered by fluttering lashes as the tears flew down Julie’s face.  Not only was she not ‘the fish catcher’ but she became heartbroken over her lost fishing rod.
 

The next morning we relished fresh mackerel for breakfast at our campsite.  As we began to take down camp to move to another destination, a strange pick-up truck pulled up to our site.  The man who stepped out of the cab had been on the pier the previous day but was not the same man who gave us the mackerel.  He went to the back of his pick-up and pulled out Julie’s $10 Donald Duck fishing rod.  He walked over to a grinning Julie and returned the rod to her. 
 

 We were in shock.  We questioned the man and he said, “I was on the pier yesterday, saw what happened and the disappointment of your little girl stuck with me.  I went back at 5:30 this morning, when the tide was low, to look for the rod.  I saw it offshore and rigged a hook on the end of a rope to snare the rod.”
 

 “But how did you find us”, we asked.  With a modest shrug he replied, “I saw the tent trailer attached to your car, tried the campground near the pier and noticed you packing up.”  This stranger who we’d never shared words with previously, had witnessed an event that stuck with him.  He had risen at the crack of dawn on the off chance he could find a little girl’s fishing rod in the ocean and then later find these strangers, to return it to her.  He proceeded to travel 15 minutes from the pier to find us and return the rod to a sweet little girl he had seen cry over its loss. 
 

 

In a world where many strangers press ‘close’ on an elevator button as you run forward asking them to ‘hold it’, who does that??!!  A Maritimer does that. 
 

 Our awe was evident and we expressed our deep gratitude, waving as the stranger drove off.  The trip to Nova Scotia this time was more than revisiting roots, and more than a family reunion.  It was a reminder of the spirit of human kindness.  Maritime people will give you the food from their freezer and go far out of their way to bring a smile back to the face of a five year old child, even if she’s a stranger. 
 

Over twenty years later, my Brother continues to share this story, remembering how important that day was to his little girl.  The Donald Duck fishing rod has a place of honour on the wall of our family cottage in Ontario, reminding us that time is more precious than the minutes that tick by as we commute to work. .  Each time we see that rod on the wall it reminds us that each moment is precious, and that a Maritime man chose to spend his precious time bringing a smile to the face of a complete stranger.