For well over a year, almost two there was a pink feather boa hanging on a coat hook on the bulkhead that you would face as you entered the barge's living quarters.
It appeared there mysteriously and then later went back to where it came from. While I do know where it came from, I am still not letting the cat out of the bag.
Anyway, the other crewman came aboard, saw it and asked me 'What's with the pink feather boa?"
"I dunno. I the other musta crew left it," I replied. "Leave it."
He shrugged and trundled down the steps into the galley.
Several hours later we were tied up at a customer's dock. The dock man and gauger came aboard and came into the galley/office. On the way down both of them saw the boa and both of them asked about it.
I shrugged and said that it had probably been left there by the other crew.
For the remainer of the tour practically everyone that entered the boat asked about the damned thing and we said the same thing. The other crew left it. When the tour was over I went home and took my time off.
A couple of days afer I returned we were getting ready to discharge. The dockman came in, saw the boa and said to us, "The other crew says YOU guys left it!"
I shrugged. "Whatever," I said. "Maybe one of the tug guys sneaked it in here to start $hit. Who knows?"
Everyone that saw it for the first time asked about it and over time it simply became a part of the woodwork. Supervisors who at first asked about it simply paid it no mind when they visited.
It had been there for about a year when one of the dockmen came in to do paperwork and asked if he could borrow it.
"Only if you promise to use it to cause someone heartburn, grief and discontentment," I said. "Perhaps embarrass a supervisor or something along those lines."
"Something like that," he said.
When I returned and came aboard I saw the boa back in its place and mentioned that to my relief. He laughed. "Jim returned it," he said.
"Larry borrowed it. What happened?" I asked.
He laughed. "Larry borrowed it and was seen by his supervisor wearing it. He passed it onto Dave who was seen wearing it. Dave passed it on and most of the dock guys were seen wearing it. They made it look like practically everyone was wearing a boa. They told the bosses they were wearing it to keep their necks warm because the company stopped issuing those company scarfs."
Being January it made sense. It was a really cold winter at the time.
That wasn't the first time I saw that old movie Indian trick being used. I saw it pulled with a Shell Oil baseball cap once but that's another story. I knew exactly what had happened.
"What happened?" I asked.
"The company started issuing scarfs again," he laughed.
The boa stayed in place for a few months before if finally just disappeared one day. I didn't bother looking for it.
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