Baby Gayle was an underwater demolition man and worked the old Mississippi River bridge at New Orleans before he became everyone’s favorite Game Warden. Baby said ’bout 90’ deep in all that current ya couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. All you could do is feel your way around. Suddenly you’d feel a big flat head. Felt about 4’ across the top with an opening just below its head. It was a mouth that could swallow a 5 gal. bucket. All you could do was to back up then be still and pull the rope to come to the top.
Gave me the chill bumps.
He made all us land lovers quiet right up. But then Baby said his friend, Cajun Pap could eat 3 dozen oysters in only 5 seconds. We thought he was kidding until he took off his boot and slammed that hundred on the bar. “Any takers?”
Well, hell yea! We had $300 in the pot until Charley boy said hell naw, and threw his Rolex up, and matched that plus $200.
Tait Tate had to get the oysters ready; you know, we buy the oysters in a gallon can. We had a basket full of ole oyster shells and we would wash ’em good, take the oysters out of the can put them on the shells bring them out on a beer flat.
Cajun Pap said bring him a beer glass so he could mix his sauce and we watched, with the glass filled about 1/3 of the way up with sauce he started raking the oysters off in the glass, that left it an inch from the top.
He said “ready” as he straightened out his throat and poured those oysters and sauce down hatch. Well he snatched up that money and headed out the door wearing Charley Boy’s Rolex.