There was a brushfire in the hills on Sunday, and as we sat listening to the roar of the fire planes passing overhead, Max told me all about an unfortunate (and apocryphal) scuba diver who got sucked up into the belly of one of those planes and dropped directly into a blaze.
“W. told us about it,” he told me. “They found him in a tree.” Mia, sitting next to him, nodded solemnly.
“Wow,” I said. “That sounds like a lousy surprise when you’re scuba diving, doesn’t it?” They both concurred, and we observed a brief, respectful moment in honor of the not-really-fallen aquatourist.
And then Mia looked up and said this:
“Daddy, W. told us that once, there was someone scuba diving and there was this fire, and when one of those planes came to the water to get water to put out the fire, the scuba diver got sucked up into the plane—”
The fact that I was laughing must have distracted her from her story, because she stopped mid-sentence.
“Wait,” she said. “Have you heard this story before?”
October 7, 2009 at 4:38 pm
I read this through before I realized that W. didn’t mean Dubya. I was like, what would they have been watching with Dubya telling urban legends?!?
(Also, that story is totally true. Dubya told me.)
October 10, 2009 at 2:39 am
Sorry to hear about those wildfires nearby. Did you hear that one time a scuba diver got sucked up into the water plane and then got dumped right onto one of those fires? They found him in a tree! It was terrible. So, no scuba diving for you right now while there’s a fire so close to you!
October 15, 2009 at 6:56 am
if you know W. like i know W., then you know it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that W. tells the same story twice as well.
that’s W. for ya, god bless him.
glad to hear that he’s still up to his old tricks.
lies lies, all lies!!!!!!