When I first went to Newfoundland in 1962 my army friend Doug promised we would go moose hunting. He said he hunted moose a little differently,no guns, all we needed was our knives.
We hiked for hours to Red Indian Lake, he picked two trees, he got up one and sent me up the other. He said the moose would meander right between these two trees, and we would both jump on his back. Sure enough, along came a big one, the largest set of antlers I had ever seen.
"Now!" , he said, "Jump!" The surprised moose took off at high speed, hang on said Doug.
We each hung on to one side of the antlers, it was a wild ride and Doug could not let go to get his knife. We soon came upon a sawmill, Doug said he had a better idea, we would steer that moose right up the ramp and saw him in half. Pull hard on your side he said. Sure enough we run him right up the center, only problem was, in the process, Doug's head got cut off. There it was rolling around in the sawdust. Luckily some of the men working there knew first-aid and we were able to get Doug's head back on and then packed it all around with snow. We got Doug in a truck and headed for the hospital forty miles away. On the way I asked Doug how he was doing, but instructed him not to shake his head when answering, he gave me a thumbs up, his vocal cords must have been damaged . We were only ten miles from the town when we ran out of gas. Not to worry, the millworker said, I know everybody, we can get some gas right here in this house, he's a friend of mine. We went to the door, no one answered, so we stepped in calling the owner's name. He must be in the barn, said our driver. There was a warm pot of wonderful smelling beans on the stove, and Doug started pointing to them. He loved baked beans. Our friend said ,I'll go to the barn and gas up the truck, help yourself to the beans, so we did.
Doug had a big smile as he gobbled those beans, but then I noticed the snow melting around his neck. I told him he had to stop eating and we had to get out of that warm house. He kept shovelling the beans into his mouth, the odd bean dropped out of the cut on his neck where the snow had melted. Just then the door opened ,Doug turned around to see and didn't his head fall off. His head rolled onto the table, rolled off the table, rolled across the floor, the steel point of the poker was sticking out by the fireplace, his head hit the poker right smack on the temple, it killed him , stone dead.

CC#23 Paul Crawford