A Tribute to A Then Young Lad

[ChrisNG53]

I was fitting a brand-new motor onto the back of our boat.
Just then I heard the ominous sound of the tick-tock hoist slip.
Gravity kicked in. The full weight of the motor came down … came down onto me as I was crouched under the motor.
This caused my back to bend to a bow shape, seize and lock in that shape.
I was trapped … trapped under the motor, unable to move.

I knew that it would only be a matter of time before my back snapped like a twig … but I could do nothing … nothing whatsoever about my plight … except to once again start reeling off them Hail Marys, that had always worked in my long and troublesome life.
Would Mother Mary come through? Would She??

Just as my back was starting to give and I was giving up hope, I became aware of someone approaching.
It was our son, Christopher Mark Greenland, known affectionately as CG.
I heard him intone an exclamation of concern – “Dad”. The expression on his face mirrored my desperation and helplessness.
The relief I felt at seeing him played out in my mind as a cruel trick.
What could this 13-year-old do about this horrible situation?

Nothing!
Fate was adding to the horror by letting our son witness his father being crippled for life.
In a hoarse whisper of utter desperation I started to tell him to get a car jack to wedge under the motor, hoping against hope that there was enough time.

However, to my utter astonishment and disbelief, the lad grabbed the motor and lifted it up and off me as if were a feather …
all 268 KGs ... yes 268 KGS of a 75 HP Mercury boat motor.
I was free.!!!
I was not going to be crippled for life. !!!
It was unbelievable.!!!

As these words hit the screen my eyes well up in tears of that pride that a father has for a son …
a son who has always been so good …
so good at everything he has turned his hand to …
including now being South African Bass Fishing Champion …
due to represent our adopted country in the USA in November 2019.

Feel that pride with me .. and yes, don’t forget to thank Mother Mary.

PS: When we later transferred that motor to another boat, it took three grown men.