Halibut

A few days ago, I noticed my refrigerator temperature light wasn't working. Within a day, my sister told me the fridge wasn't cold. I thought the half & half container didn't seem all that cold when I was making coffee... I skipped off to work and dealt with it when I had the chance, on the weekend. As I was cleaning out the five year old crumbs, spills, and dust layers from the fridge, I recalled a particular trip as a teenager. I think it was the year that I had summer school at my dad's house in upstate New York. He asked me if I wanted to take a trip with him to Canada to the Val Metal plant to pick up some parts (or something) with a trailer hitched to his pick-up and I agreed, eager to be out of the house. It turned out to be an all day and all night drive to get there and back. Most of the time I spent staring out the window or dozing off. Traveling in the summertime with my dad was usually like that. Sometimes, I had the idea to bring a book, at least. He joked about going in and out of customs, making sure I understood that we could be stuck there for hours with a truck taken all apart if there were any suspicions. AKA: Be on your best behavior, Bets. I think we may have stopped at a fast food restaurant that my dad really liked maybe, Harvees (not Hardees), or something like that. I wasn't super impressed with the food but, then again, I was a grouchy teenager who was only a few years away from never eating meat again. The mistake was made, by me, to ask about something pertaining to a cooling unit that my dad was blabbing about and before I knew it, he was explaining exactly how a refrigerator works. I kid you not, he went through every little bit of the process. I fell asleep and woke up as we pulled into the pebble stone driveway hearing him conclude, "...and THAT'S how a refrigerator works!" His smile big and toothy, making me feel bad about falling asleep on the goof. To this day, he may have been teasing me, knowing that I fell asleep and just concluded for the sake of his own chuckle to himself, I wouldn't put it past him. Nor would the notion he simply did explain the entire inner workings, including certifications and permits needed to handle the specific gases contained inside. His limit for teasing me about mundane things held no cap. At some point he got the idea that I didn't like fish and relentlessly teased me at unspecific times all the names of fish he could recall. "...HALibut.... trOUT....." he would emphasize a weird part of the word, his childhood Boston accent peaking through. His extensive knowledge about nothing in particular worth noting always astonished me. I could very well ask him to state any information he has on anything and there would be an answer. His quest for being an educated know-it-all rubbed off on me, that's for sure. I learned everything there was to know about tropical fishes, gemstones and minerals, and glass paperweights before I was in middle school. I'm sure I was an interesting character to have around when my dad drove off to fix farm equipment and I would disappear until he was ready to leave. He only needed to find someone and ask where the cats hung out to find me knee deep in kittens. He would then brag to anyone who would listen about my love for eating cod and climbing up silos without safety knowledge. The thought of calling him to ask his opinions on possible repairs for my refrigerator was thwarted, temporarily, by the idea of being on the phone with him for two hours, still unable to have him stop by and fix it himself. I opened up a chat with LG and began the frustrating challenge to my intelligence by process of, "did you try unplugging it and plugging it back in?" There certainly isn't any cold air inside but, it sure does sparkle. And I regret to report, no place for any halibut.