The Felon…
We went out for dinner tonight. Mrs. WhiteRock and I, the Ace, the Deuce, and my parents. We went to Cold Beer Company.
My father had two beers. He doesn’t drink much these days. Two Miller Lites is a big night.
He told a story about going from Chicago to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for the weekend. He said he was about 20 and that there were he and five friends. He said that Bob Tarpley (RIP) was the ring leader. They checked into a motel in the town of Lake Geneva. They drove to the other side of Geneva Lake to Fontana to go to some bar.
My dad said, in front of my mother, that they went over to Fontana to look for girls.
He also said they had a big time.
When last call was over, and the lights came up, it was my dad and Tom Whitaker (RIP). The other four could not be found. My dad and Tom figured that they had been left behind. They sat on the curb outside the bar and wondered what they could or should do. The lights went out at the bar and the parking lot. They were sitting in the dark. They were there in Fontana on the shore of Geneva Lake with no way home and no way to get a ride. The town of Lake Geneva was about 12 miles across the length of the lake.
My dad says they looked out at the water and saw a dozen boats tied up to mooring buoys. He said he turned to Tom and said, “We could take a boat.”
Tom said, “Which one?”
My dad said, “There’s a Chris-Craft.”
So they swam out past all the little fishing boats with the 5hp outboards and reached the Chris-Craft tied up to a mooring with a cover on it. My dad says he reached under the mooring cover and could feel the keys in the ignition. He says they climbed aboard and threw the mooring cover into the water. They untied from the buoy and started the engine.
They took that boat to the other side of the lake.
Worried that they might get caught, they ran it aground about a half mile from their motel and walked the rest of the way.
He told the story in front of the Ace and Deuce!
Mrs. WhiteRock was not happy. Especially since the rest of us were laughing so hard.
My favorite part is that they threw the mooring cover into the lake. They didn’t just stuff in the back of the boat… They left it behind!