Another Expensive Day at the Office
Todd P. and I were in my canoe, in the No Motor Zone, looking for fly rod targets. Black drum were tailing, and Todd was getting some shots, hooking a fish now and then. Two guys in kayaks paddled by us. One said, “Hi, John!” I didn’t recognize either of them. People I don’t know commonly greet me.
A while later, one of the kayakers came paddling back, headed toward the boat landing. Being busy, we didn’t pay much attention to him. But when he was about a quarter-mile away, he started calling me.
“John, I need your help! John!” What the hell, I’m working! Leave me alone! “John!”
I said to Todd, “I don’t want to leave these fish, but what if he’s hurt? If it were me doing the yelling, I’d want the help. We have to go see.” We paddled down there.
The guy, whose name I never got, had found a dolphin stranded on a bar. He was trying to move it to deeper water. The bottle-nosed dolphins in our area average 700 pounds, which explains why he wanted my help.
By the time we got there, the dolphin was in water deep enough that it could swim away. It was just lying there, probably exhausted. I thought, “I could pet a wild dolphin! I’m doing it!” I waded over and started stroking the beast, gently.
Todd said, “I could take your picture.” Awesome idea. I waded back to the canoe, got my camera out, and showed him how it worked. Then I waded back to the dolphin.
Todd snapped a couple shots. Then, like a tree that had just been sawed, he slowly toppled into the water. He used the hand my camera was in to break his fall, shoving the device right down into the bottom mud.
The camera wasn’t waterproof. A Canon D-60, it was a digital SLR equipped at that moment with a Tokina wide-angle zoom lens. The entire outfit was now so much wet, muddy, worthless junk.
We get back in the canoe. It’s quiet for a while. Eventually, Todd says, “I’ll pay you for the camera.” I say, “I appreciate that, Todd, but I have to realize that I’m putting it at risk every time I take it out. Besides, it wasn’t new. How about if we split it?” Todd agrees this is equitable. We finish our day fishing, without getting any more photos.
I go camera shopping. The outfit is about $1500, which information I email to Todd. A few days later, the mailman delivers a check from Todd for $1500. I thought we were going to split it? I get the checkbook out, write a check for $750, address an envelope to Todd, and put it in the mail.
All even.