The Hook Tender and his Hooker Wife

If you ever met Don Davis, you would remember him. Don was one of the old school hook tenders, of my early years. He was the real deal. I had the pleasure of working as a rigging slinger on his crew.

Don was legendary in the Alaskan logging community, if you did not know him, you knew of him. I had heard stories of him topping, and rigging spar trees, using sled donkey yarders, to harvest old growth timber all over the North West.

When I first met Don, I was amused at his jovial, and friendly demeanor. Don was a very large man, with dark red hair, that he wore cut in a short crew cut. He was clean shaven, but looked like an old battle scared marine. He had quite a few scares from many nicks and near misses. He knew that all the younger men looked up to him, and he enjoyed telling them a story or two, and he was not above spinning a good one for the gullible.

On the first night in the bunk house, some if the younger men were sitting around listening to Don tell some of his stories. One of the guys, made the comment that having Don around would surely make the evenings enjoyable with Don's old logging stories. Don told the man to enjoy it while it lasted, as he had negotiated to get a house in the family portion of the camp, as his wife would be coming to camp.

He assured the guys it would be a while, because she was in jail again in Portland Oregon. He went on to explain that he had married a hooker that he had met down on Burnside, and she had gotten busted again by Portland Vice cops. He said he had worked out a deal with her parole officer, for her to come to Alaska, and start a new life. He went on to say they should come and meet her when she arrives, it would make her feel welcome, considering that she will be the first Black girl in camp.

The crew fell for it hook line and sinker, and the rumors flew around camp for the next few days. Don played it up all the while, telling them he had to promise the camp owner that she would not work in camp. He would end that comment with who knows how that will work out.

A couple of weeks went by, and it was the day Don's wife was to arrive. The camp had been a buzz since Don first told the story of his wife. He had spent the last few days telling the guys how excited he was. His wife made a deal with the judge to leave the state if he suspended her sentence, and her parole office is letting her go. It was all working out wonderfully, and he was so excited for her to arrive. He hoped all the guys would be at the plane to greet her when she arrived. They all assured Don that they would be.

There had been so much talk about Don's wife, every wife in the family camp, and all of the bunk house crew were there to meet the plane. you would have thought some celebrity was to arrive. There would not be room for all of them to stand on the float plane dock, so they were all at the top of the ramp, as the plane taxied up. You could see that there was only one person in the plane beside the pilot, you could not see much else.

Don made his way through the group of people and bounded down the ramp, eager to greet his prostitute wife, the moment she stepped off of that plane. All of the bunk house guys grinning at him, while the family camp wives were looking a little perplexed.

Don had the plane tied to the dock, before the pilot could get his door open. Don was already standing on the pontoon opening the door for his sweet middle aged wife, who resembled a young Grand Mother you might meet at church. As she stepped on to the dock, she peered at the crowd of people who were there to greet her, as they all peered back at her. every one but Don had a puzzled look on their faces. It was obvious that not one thing Don had said about her was true.

Don's wife broke the ice, when she said in a loud voice that everyone could hear. With a laugh in her voice, "Don! Just what stories have you been telling this time"?!