on bending time

and fish so big - never bullshit a bullshitter

And then, the fish I had on my line was so big, it didn’t bend the road. It bent time!

Ah dear reader, the fish that men catch are much like the snakes in their trousers.

They tend to get bigger the more they are spoke about.

Over time, it’s difficult to know the clear boarders between myth and reality.

Farley Mowat said it best: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

In this story, a young Jimmy Dalling used to answer the phone at the taxi stand on Wyse Road in the evenings.

No, I didn’t grow up at a taxi stand. The Jimmy in this story is my father. It was the 1950’s and my grandfather was Bob. If you’ve lived in Dartmouth for any amount of time you’ve seen his name around town. Though he died back in the 70’s his name lives on on the dome light on top of taxis.

Bob’s taxi has been a Dartmouth institution since he got off the Maggie at the end of World War Two.

Though Bob’s is over seventy five years old, it hasn’t been in the family since the late fifties. The date is still unclear to me.

Every now and then though? I get in a Bob’s taxi.

Once there, I love to ask the drivers if they know Bob.

Recently I was driven by Yuri from Russia.

Do you know Bob?

He’s dead. Bob is dead. Died long time ago.

Sure, but do you have any idea who he was?

They say Bob DeMont. Started Bobs. Owned it for long time. Died. Not long ago. Family business for many years. Oldest taxi company in Dartmouth.

So you’ve never met Bob?

Nyet.

I have. And it wasn’t Bob DeMont. It was Bob Dalling. Bob was my grandfather.

Dalling? I see this name. It is on sign across from taxi stand. Denture clinic. They make the teeth there.

Yes. They do. That’s my uncle Bobby.

Bobby and Bob? Very nice. You know, they tell me that Bob’s taxi? It was lost in a poker game. This how Bob DeMont started business. Poker game.

This where things get blurry. I was told that the taxi stand was sold to Cal DeMont in 1959.

But at the same time?

I’m not so doubtful of this myth.

I mean it’s a great story: Lost the business in a poker game…

What kind of man loses a business in a poker game?

The same kind of man who makes illegal teeth and has a son - my dad - take orders for twelve green bananas.

But that part of the story?

The stories of the illegal teeth and the twelve green bananas?

Those will have to wait for another day.

Perhaps tomorrow.

Until then?

Shroud yourself in mystery and practice your eastern European accent.

Making big fun of speak funny English?

Very nice!