Being raised Catholic in the 1950's we were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays and to do so was a terrible sin. Fish sticks were served for lunch in the public school and my parents would cook some kind of fish for dinner. One summer day that happened to be a Friday, the Boy Scout troop I belonged to was out fishing in a pond on a farm where one of the Boy Scouts lived. None of us brought a lunch and hunger was becoming an overwhelming feeling. Then there was a shout from the nearby farm house that the hot dogs were ready. Everybody dropped their fishing poles and ran toward the house. Some of the other boys were Catholic too but did not hesitate to get a hot dog in a bun and put some mustard, relish and other fixings on it. Following the other Catholic boys and feeling guilty I indulged in a hot dog thinking how will I ever repent from this sin and be saved from the fires of hell? Years later the Catholic Church no longer required meatless Fridays and hopefully I was forgiven for eating that hot dog.
A collection of stories from the life of Michael Burke. He worked for the Forest Service in Alaska, California, and Oregon. He lives in Oakland, OR. His wonderful wife, Celia, passed in May of 2021
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