I was given an old Johnson 5-HP outboard motor for my 6th birthday so that I could putt up and down Double Bayou during the summer. I had access to a small cypress skiff that must have weighed five hundred pounds. The freedom was nice, but I was by far the slowest thing on the bayou that wasn't being rowed. Two years later, my uncle borrowed it for one of his friends to use on a fishing trip. The guy either forgot or didn't know to tighten the clamps on the transom. When he cranked the engine it started and then jumped off the transom and sank. They managed to fish it out, but it was not repairable.
I moped about for the rest of the summer, but really missed the freedom of having my own boat and motor. Christmas rolled around and I hadn't asked for anything in particular. I had received a new bicycle for my birthday and the only thing I really wanted was a replacement for my old 5-horse Johnson, but there was no sign of an outboard motor under the tree.
After all the presents were opened, my Dad and my uncle went out in the garage and returned with a used, but fairly new 10-HP Mercury outboard! Mercurys were really "hot" in those days, and I never ever thought about actually being able to own one, much less one rated at twice the horsepower of my beloved old Johnson.
The next weekend after Christmas, a big blue norther came down, and the combination of the moon and the north wind blew a lot of water out of Trinity Bay. We loaded up the new motor and went oystering, and I swear that I almost got the old skiff up on a plane!
