What else you got?

I was standing in the coffee shop yesterday morning after my dawn patrol paddle on the Foss. (Once a week, more or less, I’ll stop there on my way home, get a “picnic” for Mary and the boy. Nothing like coffee and chocolate milk in bed, along with a slice of cinnamon swirl coffee cake – gets the day started on an up note.)

There was an older man there in line while I was waiting, looking out at my car with the 14′ Bark on the roof, looking back at me, obvious questions lurking just below the surface.

“Is that one of them stand up paddleboards?” he asked me.

I was surprised he knew the lingo, which might have showed, but I gave out with a “Yes, it is.”

“So you just stand up on it? And paddle?” He seemed incredulous, as if maybe I was a tad soft in the melon, and he was just being kind.

“Yep. Just stand up and paddle,” I said, not being able to think of anything else to contribute.

“Is that it?”

“What?”

“I mean, you can’t put a sail on it or anything?” He seemed surprised that there was no other function, no other modification that could be put together to make the idea of walking on water even more amazing. I wanted to smart off at this point, spout out some acid response, like:

“Is that your truck? So… you just sit in it and drive, eh? You put gas in it and just drive around? Is that it? I mean, you can’t put a sail on it or anything, can ya?”

He meant no harm and I kept my sarcasm to myself. Still, I thought it was an odd question asked from an strange premise. Like, maybe if you could put a sail on it, and perhaps a deck chair or two, he would have been more inclined to try it out sometime.