story4

PAGE 4

When I use to have the evening watch, I would enjoy climbing up to the light tower early and spend time sitting out on the catwalk with my legs hanging over the edge. The solitude and scenic beauty was soothing to the soul. Time seem to slow down up there. Passing mariners would wave and it was like I could sense them saying, Thank You for being there. It was not so much them saying it to me, but to the institution of the manned Lighthouse, who�s unfailing sole purpose was to guide them safely home. It was times like this that would help me come to realize the true tradition of this Lighthouse and the Keeper�s before me.

The four of us lived in the Lighthouse much like a family would... without the kissing. We would always try to combine our resources to make life there more pleasant. The Coast Guard would pay us each a substance allowance for food. Instead of just providing our own food, we would all pool our money and then go shopping every couple of weeks. That would cover all the basic meals. Any extras you wanted like yogurt, cigarettes or whatever, you would pay for separately. All of us would take turns cooking our specialties, but Mark did most of the cooking because he was the most talented cook. Our evening meal was always a sit-down meal at the table. Our table conversations ranged from laughing and telling jokes to planning upcoming projects. We also took turns doing the dishes, but generally, everybody helped clean-up after the meal.
During the winter months, after eating we would usually head to the ping-pong table set-up in the mud room. Again, it was a tight fit, but enough room to play. We all became pretty good players and had some exciting matches. I would tell you who the champion was, but I think it could be disputed. Then we usually headed to the livingroom to watch a little television. We even a rotation schedule for the TV. If it was your TV night, you got to pick what to watch. I don�t think we ever had any disagreements about what to watch though. Especially during lunch, we just had to catch-up on the Soap Operas. Occupying free time is probably something I could talk about for a while. Unless you were on watch, nights and weekends was free time. If you didn�t find something you enjoyed to do during this time, it could seem like an eternity and found yourself longing for the workday to begin again. Isolation is something most every Lighthouse Keeper experienced and Plum Island was no exception. For those of you who don�t know, Plum Island is a quarantined and restricted island due to the USDA Animal Disease Center being located there. So its not like we would get very many visitors. Every now and again someone from the island would stop by or we might see one of the guards on their rounds. Of course, there was the mailman. He came every so often too, but that was about it.

PAGE 3 HOME PAGE 5

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws