On these cold winter days it’s nice to think about summer sunsets in Menemsha. But first let me tell you a joke.
A police car was cruising down the highway when the cop saw the passenger door of the car ahead of him suddenly fly open and a woman come tumbling out. The cop stopped to help the woman, who miraculously was unhurt, and then they sped ahead to catch up with her husband.
When the cop pulled him over the husband hadn’t even realized what happened. “What a relief”, he said, “I thought I was going deaf!”
We heard that rather sexist joke years ago in Martha’s Vineyard where as a young family we spent many idyllic summer vacations. If you know the Vineyard you know that Menemsha is the best place on the island to watch the sun go down. One night we headed there for dinner at the Homeport, a fun, noisy seafood restaurant on the water.
We had dinner, took in the glorious sunset and then walked across the road where there was a bakery and a fish market. I bought a few things and headed back to the car carrying my packages.
As my son jumped into the front passenger seat, I opened the trunk to stow my packages. That done I was about to get in the back when my husband stepped on the gas and pulled away. I watched the car disappear down the dark country road and laughed at my family’s bizarre sense of humor.
But as minutes passed and they didn’t come circling back for me I grew perplexed to say the least. It was the era before cell phones, but we had a car phone. I walked back to the restaurant to call. This is what had happened.
Not realizing I had opened the trunk, my husband heard it slam and thought it was me in the back seat slamming the car door. He started for home but after a few miles spotted a history marker on the side of the road and pulled over so they could get out and read it. It was when they were getting back in the car that my son suddenly asked, “Where’s mom?!?!” As he and my husband peered into the empty back seat, the car phone rang.
“Did you realize you left me in Menemsha,” I asked, “or did you think you were BOTH going deaf?”
Dana Susan Lehrman
One time we were on our way to drive Alicia back to college which was in Morristown, N.J. We were at a toll booth when my husband reached for tokens which were kept in the cup holder. They weren't there, so he started yelling at me because it was my fault. "How" I asked, was it my fault?" He said, "because you didn't remind me to take them." I got so mad I got out of the car and said I was going to take the train home because I wasn't getting back in the car with him. As I walked to the train station I heard Rachel who was ten at the time screaming, "No mommy don't throw yourself under the train,: I'm convinced that all of us have select hearing, and we hear something different from what is said.
Thanks Ang, sounds like Rachel had read Anna Karenina!
Why were you in the back seat?
I guess then "riding shotgun" up front next to dad was a big thrill for a kid. Nowadays they probably like the back seat so they can text in private!