Snapper Throats

Snapper Throats

    That night, Dale and Emily serve up a feast in their trailer on Little Torch Key. 

    Fresh-caught, Greek-style whole mutton snapper, pilaf brown rice, braised carrots with thyme, parsley, arugula and young mustard green salad with vinaigrette dressing. The arugula and mustards came out of the garden on the east side of the trailer. 

    "The throat meat is considered a delicacy, and Key Deer really don't like arugula and mustards," Emily chuckles.

    She continues.

    "When we rented this place, there was an old rotten stump in the yard, and some nice rich dirt about 3 inches thick. Below that is limestone bedrock, and below that is salt water, so we had to use raised beds to grow vegetables. Except, I cut up a sweet potato I bought at the Winn-Dixie in the Big Pine shopping center, and stuck the sweet potato pieces in the dead stump's dirt and watered it in good. About a month later, we had a huge patch of sweet potato vines and leaves. The leaves are really nutritious, good in salads. We left one day and came back and all left was stems. Not one leaf. That's when we knew there was a key deer on this island. Soon after, I went out on the front porch and saw an 8-point buck. One look at me, and he took off. Wild as could be. Later, we saw the doe. Even later, we saw two fawns and the doe down the dirt road out front. The fawns were kicking up their hind legs and playing, until the doe saw us, and adios! A year later, they didn't pay us no never mind, when they saw us. We figured someone was feeding them and giving them fresh water to drink."

    Dale says, "That crossed-eyed Siamese-looking cat on the sofa giving you two the eye, Miss Kitty, is our rat control. The woods here are full of wild rats, which look like large fat mice. When we moved into this trailer, the rats did not move out. We had to keep the bedroom door shut at night, to keep the rats from getting up on our bed with us. Emily drove down to the animal shelter on Stock Island, just above Key West, and told them our problem, and they pointed out that there cat and said she was brought to the shelter by someone in one of the neighborhoods, because nobody was taking care of her. The good samaritan said all the cat liked to do was hunt. So, when Emily brought Miss Kitty home and turned her loose in the trailer. She went on the warpath right away, and the rats have not been in the trailer since."

    Emily laughs, says, "The animal shelter asked me to take a male cat they had, too, named, Ranger. All he liked to do was be held and rubbed. And, he liked to range. He would leave and come back a day or two later. When he came back, Miss Kitty gave him hell. He hid in the cupboard under the kitchen sink, and he hid under the bathtub. She would not let him have any peace. One day, he roamed off and didn't come back. About two weeks later, we noticed Miss Kitty was losing hair and weight, and she wasn't pooping. We took her in a cat carrier, yowling all the way,  to a vet in Marathon, who couldn't find anything wrong with her. The vet wanted to do an X-ray, and we declined. Driving home, when we reached the peak of the hump on Seven Mile Bridge, Dale turned and looked in the back seat at Miss Kitty yowling, and said, 'You dumb shit, you ran off your boyfriend and now you are mourning.' We got home, let her out of the cat carrier, and she climbed that shrub out front and went up on the roof of this trailer, and viewed her domain. Her hair stopped falling out, she started pooping and gaining wait. That's when I realize Dale is a cat whisperer."

    Rile and Willa Sue burst out laughing.

    Dale says, "We have an acre here. Half of it is grown up, wild. We have some pretty large trees for the Florida Keys. Several sapodilla trees, which produce delicious fruit later in the year. Papaya grows well in our raised beds, and that's our dessert tonight. I took to calling this place, 'Walden', and that's what it is for us."

    Willa Sue says, "I can see why. You say you rent it?"

    "We did, then we bought it," Dale says. "This subdivision was condemned by the Florida Environmental Protection Agency, because it is mostly wetlands. No new houses can be built here, but we can get a permit to remove the trailer and build a house on our land. Probably, the subdivision never should have been approved. Maybe someday we will be able to build an octagon house here, like what Agnes and Wilfred have. But then, maybe we will not stay here much longer," Emily says.

    "Why's that?" Riley asks.

    "The county commission, developers and their lawyers think development is nearer to God than anything else. We think Mother Nature is nearer to God than anything else. We see what is coming down here. We've been looking at the Florida Panhandle, where you're from Willa Sue. We like what we see there. it's so far from a major airport, so remote, that perhaps Mother Nature can hold out longer there, than here."

    Riley says, "I would think hurricanes would deter development in the Florida Keys."

    Dale says, "Developers don't worry about what hurricanes do to people. They cut subdivisions and build homes and condominiums and sell them and laugh all the way to the bank. If a hurricane comes and wrecks their development before they complete and sell it, they send the bill to their insurance carrier and FEMA. There would be a lot less development here, if there were no FEMA. Without FEMA, working people like us could not afford to live in the Keys, because we could not fix our home back up after a hurricane floods it out and blows off the roof. Working people don't have trust funds like Wilfred and Agnes have to build a hurricane-proof home. Developers don't build hurricane-proof homes. How do you think this trailer would fare in a hurricane? Lots of working people in the Keys live in trailers. Mostly, rental trailers. Trailer parks. It's the only thing they can afford."

    Willa Sue asks, "What's the old wooden bridge about?"

    Dale says, "For many years, the bridge between Big Pine and No Name Key was made out of wood. Then, somebody started a fire on it and most of it burned down. For years, you could see burnt parts of the bridge and burned pilings sticking up out of the water. We heard it was really good fishing there. Grouper, mangrove snapper, snook and small bait fish all loved hanging out around that old bridge. They built the new bridge later, and that's when people built homes on No Name Key. Some people who live there complain about it being off the grid, no electricity, sewer or running water. We wonder why they bought there, if they were going to complain about it? Agnes and Wilfred love living on No Name Key. They want it to stay like it is, forever. Don't blame them."

    Riley asks, "Do you folks belong to Stop The Bulldozers?" 

    Emily says, "No. All they do is talk. What they need to do is hire a really good, tough, mean lawyer and tie the county commission and the develop;ers up in court until hell freezes over. A lawyer like you, Riley."

    Riley says, "Unfortunately, I am not licensed to practice law in Florida, and to become licensed, I would have to take the Florida Bar exam, and before I do that, I would have to pass a background check by the Florida Bar, and, well, maybe they would let me take the bar exam, for which I would have to study six months to stand chance of passing it. And, to be honest, after talking with Wilfred and Agnes and with you and Dale today, I don't feel called to take on that crusade. I really like you two, and wish I had known you years ago. I also think the Florida Panhandle is where I prefer to hang out and fish."

    During the drive back to Old Wooden Bridge Fish Camp, Willa Sue asks Riley, "Why do you think Michael sent us down here, if we weren't supposed to live here? Why all the wild foreplay, and it ends like this?"

    Riley shrugs, says, "Beats me, Wife."

    In Willa Sue’s sleep that night, Michael takes Willa Sue up in the air above the Florida Keys, and then above America, and says, "You and Riley needed a vacation, and you needed to see that what many people call 'paradise' is a proxy for what is happening in America. And beyond America. Riley doesn't want to run for president, so we showed him something you two could do instead, if that's what you wanted. There may be nothing he wants to do, other than be with you and fish and travel about. But, will that satisfy Riley? Will it satisfy you? You two have been given much, and much may be asked of you."

    Mary Lou comes to Riley in his sleep, and says,"Okay, lover boy, are you going to fish or cut bait?” 

Riley wakes up, wonders, What in the hell is that about?