The "Who's got the Poison Pooh?" Story

It was an ordinary day. The kids were in the water having a good time. They always have a good time when we go on vacation with the Howrys. Have been doing it for a few years now. The Howrys live up the street from us and we go to the same church. We have 3 kids, they have 3 kids. Mostly the same ages. This year we have traveled to the Elk River which is close to Locust Point. The Elk is one of the rivers that empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Just around the corner is the Bay. The water is cloudy. Can see maybe, on a good day, six inches under water. The bottom is sandy with a few pebbles from the shore to maybe 15 feet from shore. After that it is muck. Really slimy muck. Probably made that way from all the fish taking dumps in the water. Well, the kids have made up a game called "Who's got the poison pooh?" Once they reach the end of the sandy area they reach down, or dive down if the tide is in, and scoop up a handful of the the muck. Pretty gross. After they surface with the stuff, they proceed to rub it on someone else or they throw it at the closest person. They play this every day until some one cries. Usually is Tad, our youngest. He doesn't enjoy having the poison pooh all over him. You know, some places we travel to in the Caribbean charge you big bucks to have your body covered in poison pooh. They call it a mud bath. Probably isn't the exact same stuff, but sure looks like it. The game goes on sometimes for hours. You get the poison pooh on you and you either wipe it off or get more from the bottom and sling it at someone else. Every now and then my wife will get in the game. Count me out, though. Then there is the other game where they pick out a person and see how much they can stack on their head. Tad usually gets the worst of that also. And then he cries. It's been years now since we have been to the bay with the Howrys. Gary H. died on April 9 quite a few years ago. Trips haven't been the same since. But, the kids STILL talk about "Who's got the poison pooh?" every summer when we head to the shore. Tad's older now and doesn't cry anymore when they joke about it with him! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Top pix shows the kids having fun on the "dock of the bay" while the bottom has from left oldest Derek, Brynn in the middle and Tad on the right playing "Who's got the poison pooh?" In memory of Gary H.