Bug Tails - "Bug Went Boating"

Several days following our camping adventure with Bug, I readied our fishing boat for summer enjoyment. Bug wasn’t as interested in participating in the boat’s summer preparations as he had been in the preparations of the camper. He didn’t even bother to pee on the boat’s trailer tires. He did growl and bark at it, though, when I brought it up to the garage from the back lot.

The next morning my neighbor and I launched the small boat. I sailed it home from the launch-site to our dock. My wife, old Libby and Bug were waiting for their first boat ride of the season with an attitude of excitement. Well, the wife and Libby were excited. Bug took a nap even though he was about to go for his first boat ride.

I eased the boat up to the dock, tied off, and waited for my passengers. Libby immediately jumped in to take her regular place on the seat located in the bow of the boat. The wife stepped in and took her place on the center seat. Several minutes were then spent urging Bug, however, to get in the boat. It took a lot of coaxing, but he eventually leaped in then jumped up on my lap. He was trembling. I soothed him with gentle words and petting. When I put him down on the deck, so I could push us away from the dock, he scurried under the middle bench-seat and under my wife.

It was a hot and very windy day, the water choppy. Our little boat bounced and banged across the waves. We cruised along at quarter-throttle. Libby played at fending off jet-ski riders with growls and barks. My wife pointed out the properties that had come up for sale during the spring. Bug continued to cower under the seat; he wasn’t a “happy camper.”

Approximately twenty minutes into the ride I shut off the motor, let the boat drift, and began attempts to coax Bug out from his hiding. I wanted him to become a “happy boater”. After awhile I succeeded. He came out from under the bench, shook, jumped up into my wife’s lap…then puked.

Shortly thereafter, we arrived back at our dock.