Shortly after the young boy appeared, his mother arrived. With her was a man who had brought his young son; the two boys were about the same age.

The adults purchased a mixed fruit plate and sat at a table on the deck. They shared the fruit and were also feeding pieces to the boys. Some of the melon pieces were so large they filled the hands of the young boys.

As the adults sat and talked, the boys played together on the deck. Then the younger boy, the boy I saw first, did something very funny.

He had a piece of watermelon in his hand. He took a bite and then noticed a large knot hole in the deck. The knot hole was almost two inches across. You could look through it (if you were close enough to the deck) down to the river bank below. Suddenly the boy took what remained of his watermelon chunk and tossed it down the knot hole. Not only did he seem to be very proud of what he had just done, judging from his glee, he seemed to think he had just done the funniest thing ever!

The second boy saw what his friend had just done and decided he’d give it a try. He went to the table and grabbed a piece of watermelon, walked back to the hole and tossed the watermelon down. He must have thought this was grand because he walked back to the table for another piece of watermelon which he then promptly tossed down the hole. Not to be outdone, the boy who discovered this wonder grabbed another piece of fruit and tossed it down the hole.

All the time the boys are playing toss fruit down the hole, the two adults are engrossed in their conversation and haven’t noticed their fruit plate being fed to the fish. I am the only one watching this little game unfold. With each piece of fruit that disappeared down the knot hole, I laughed harder and harder.

After three pieces were tossed down the hole by the second boy, his mother finally noticed what he was doing and stopped him. One boy has been taken out of the game but the one who started this little game isn’t done yet. Apparently he has picked up on the woman’s displeasure with her son. So before he threw the last piece down the hole, he took a small bite of it. I guess he reasoned that it was all right to toss fruit as long as he didn’t toss all of it. He took a bite and threw one last piece down the hole.

His dad, who has finally figured out what is going on, clapped his hands to signal an end to the melon tossing. By the time the last piece of fruit went down to the river below, I was laughing so hard I was ready to fall off my chair. This was the funniest routine I’d seen in a long time.