BRINGING HOME THE SALMON

There are secrets that go to the grave, I found. One of these surfaced last week, about a year after my husband's death. Since he died suddenly, in the middle of the night, perhaps he had meant to tell me about it at some time in the future he found appropriate. Then again, maybe he got a kick out of my not knowing about the salmon.

It all started after we retired to Sonoma County in California. For those of you who don't know this little piece of paradise, Sonoma County is home to all kinds of wonderful food - there is no limit to what is grown there. You can eat your way from one end of the county to another and never miss an ingredient for a gourmet meal. Oysters, Pacific fish, cheeses, fruit, pate de fois gras, turkeys, champagne, wines --all call Sonoma home. I was thrilled with all this bounty.

One fine day my husband and one of the sons started out for Bodega Bay to play golf. On the way they would pass miles of Gravenstein apple orchards, a cheese factory where they make Camembert, oyster beds, and end up at the wharf at Bodega, where the salmon season was in full sway. He promised to brong me a salmon from one of the places where the fishermen unload their catch, or bring anything else he saw along the way. Hours later the men returned, with a large salmon. I praised them, and went into a little fit of enthuiasm about this wonderful place we lived in, etc, etc.

Now, years later. the son has finally come clean about the salmon. I guess he felt guilty. The whole thing was a con, expertly carried out in a tissue of fibs and I fell for it. They had forgotten to buy the salmon. On the way home, it dawned on them that they were going to catch a lot of grief. "Should we go back?" My husband said, no, he could handle this. They stopped in Sebastopol at a Lucky market, where he bought a large salmon. He got the butcher to unwrap the plastic shrinkwrap on the fish, take it out of its cardboard tray, and re-wrap it in butcher paper just like the wrap on the wharf at Bodega Bay. Removing the Lucky price tag, he was ready to go with this deception. The worst part was that they were able to talk about it with a straight face afterward, both of them. Finally the truth has come out.

I wonder how many more secrets there are that went to the grave? I know that I have one myself, and I'm holding on to it.