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little before noon after stopping for another gross lunch, and a few walks with Bahama.  I ended up having to call my parents anyway because I couldn’t remember his exact address, despite remembering the Christmas card he sent my parents fairly well, a bunch of Santa’s sitting around a poker table smoking and drinking.  Luckily my mother, who keeps almost everything, was able to locate the card and envelope within a couple minutes.  Plus, if she hadn’t found the card, I’m sure she had already put his address in her handy dandy address book.  After talking to my folks for a few minutes, and telling them about my trip to that point, including worrying my mother with the wallet story, I hung up right outside my uncle’s house. 
                  The huge house sat on stilts to protect it from flooding due to hurricanes causing some kind of impact on this little town every few years.  Four parking spots were underneath the house, and then a wooden staircase went all the way up to the third floor.  As soon as I parked the car Bahama got excited – more than usual.
                  It was pretty dark underneath the house, but I could see well enough to know that we were being greeted by a huge dog.  The mix breed dog appeared to come in at over 100 pounds.  I felt Bahama and I had every right to be scared, but in demeanor the dog was calm, as it peaked into the driver’s side window.  After giving us a curious look, he backed up and sat at the foot of the steps.  I guess he was going to be our personal escort on our way to meet Howard and his wife.  Judging by the size of his back, he would have had no trouble taking my luggage for me.
                  Bahama and I got out of the car, Bahama making a bee-line directly to the beast of a dog for an introduction.  This scared me a bit, but the dog hardly paid any attention to Bahama, other than a quick sniff back, and then looked back at me, as if to ask, “Are you coming?”  Being that I had spent most of the time talking to a dog the last two days, I didn’t feel odd at all, answering, “We’re coming!  We’re coming!”
                  We marched up to the third floor, and around to the side of the house facing the Gulf of Mexico.  As soon as we reached the final step, we were greeted by a hot tub with my naked uncle and his second wife, whom I had not yet met mind you – not that it would have made it any easier had I met her.  My uncle barely moved, while his wife Gail looked around frantically weighing her decisions about running into the house stark naked or sinking further into the hot tub.  At this point to her I was just a stranger, so she also had the concern of just exactly who was this guy standing in front of her and staring at her.  Unintentionally.  I was also worried that she would scream or squeal and that their dog would react by eating me for lunch.  Luckily, after a few seconds of remembrance, my uncle said to his wife, “Relax, relax, this is my brother’s kid, Michael,” setting down a now-soggy joint on an elevated table next to the hot tub.
                  I don’t think this helped Gail any, as she was still naked, and I was still a stranger.  I finally got the hint and walked a few steps back down the stairs.  I was used to back tracking this trip so this was natural.  I waited until I could tell she had scampered back into the house.
                  In the meantime, Howard had put on a pair of swimming trunks and was getting out of the tub.
                  “Your dad said you were driving around the country.  I had a feeling you might make it here,” slapping a wet hand on my back.  “I see you met my wife,” he added, laughing, as she came back outside, this time with clothes on, but still wearing a red mask of embarrassment. 
                  While I had had the opportunity to get a full look at her I had diverted