The prodigal canoe

Addendum to the previous canoe post. The seller emailed me that he told a friend of his about our deal and his friend said that I screwed him. It was worth twice what I paid him. He thought that it was lousy that I tried to look like I was doing him a favor by upping the price when I was really sticking it to him. I’m paraphrasing him because it wasn’t quite that printable.

I responded that I believed his friend to be mistaken (and a couple other things I didn’t mention) and that he should feel free to check pricing on the link I was providing and see for himself that I gave him market value (didn’t remind him that I had paid more than he asked). Or, I’d be happy to drive the boat back over immediately and he could refund my money and allow his friend to double it for him (he deserved the onus). He wanted the boat back, so I complied.

Back to square one. I engaged all the search engines once again. One ad caught my eye, mostly because it was practically in my backyard. The details were sketchy and, once again, the seller didn’t know much about it. The price and location made it worth a look.

I knew what it was the moment I laid eyes on it. I had bought one in 1984 and cut my teeth on solo whitewater canoeing with it. Ah, the times I had in that boat (and, beside, behind and under it). But, the kids were growing and a solo canoe no longer fit into the picture. I sold it to a guy named Gary.

Now, I was looking for a flatwater boat. So, I thanked the man for his time and started to turn away. Something tugged at me. I looked at the canoe again.

Mine had been the same color with the identical wood trim. It was outfitted exactly the same way as I had done mine. The registration decal had been bought in 1984. I asked the seller how he had come to own it. He said he bought it from a friend of his a couple years ago. The friend’s name? Gary.

Twenty-seven years of nostalgia washed over me. No, it wasn’t what I was looking for today. But, it was the boat I bought. The return of the prodigal canoe.