Imagine a cool spring day in Arkansas, perfect weather, not sticky like normal but crisp and warm. 70 degrees… perfect. The breeze slightly blows through the trees in the font yard and the dead leaves from last fall, still hanging on for life, rustle. Some fall to the ground. The smell of Cajun spices flow through the air. The smell is hot and pleasant, like cayenne pepper and a little salt. We’re having a crawfish boil. I hear voices and walk around to the side of the house where everyone is gathering around the boiler. I hear bits and pieces of conversation, someone’s talking about the crawfish, someone’s talking about their grandchildren, and someone’s talking about the weather. I can hear the birds chirping for the first time in a long time. It’s the first pretty day of spring, the Perfect day to celebrate and eat crawfish.
Birdie, my Lab. keeps sticking her head into the kiddy swimming pool we bought to keep the 120 lbs of craw fish wet and alive. I know she’s at least snuck two off to eat. I get on to her and settle down in to my lawn chair next to the washer boards to watch the tournament while sipping on my cold, thick, spicy bloody mary. A truck passes by on the highway and honks, we don’t know them.
Sean throws the first washer at the flat washer board about 15 feet away. The board is a 2x2 foot square plywood board with a four inch hole cut into the middle. The back of the board is propped up about four inches so the hole is at just the right angle to toss a 3 in washer into. The washer Sean threw hits about two inches to the right of the hole and bounces off with a thud. A second one follows shortly, thrown by a skinny guy in shorts that Sean hunts with… it’s too cool for shorts but it’s good to finally see shorts after a long winter. The second washer goes straight in the hole with a ‘tink’, the skinny guys hollers and teases Sean. Five points for the skinny guy’s team. The goal of the game is to get all three of your washers in the hole on the board. You play until you get to 21 points. You get five points if the washer goes in the hole, and one point if your washer lands on the board and is closer to the hole than your opponent’s washer. Usually a beer in the hand of the guy playing washers helps his balance and also helps with the overall entertainment of the game.
As the afternoons winds on, we eat crawfish as it’s finished boiling, pot after pot, until all 120 lbs of crawfish is gone. There’s a proper way to eat a craw fish. You break off the hard shell of a tail and pull out the meat, much like you do to a shrimp, except with a crawfish you turn around and suck the head of the crawfish to get all the spicy juices out. That’s not something I do, but a lot of the tougher people that can handle the spicy hotness think it’s cool. We also cook veggies and sausage along with the crawfish, potatoes, corn, onions, and mushrooms. The hotter, the better.
Before the party we stopped by the beer store to pick up a 30 pack for the boys and the store offered us all their extra beer flats which we took thankfully. Beer flats are the cardboard boxes that the six packs of beer come in, they are about 12x24 inches and have about two inch high sides, perfect for throwing crawfish in and eating out of. As we all sit around I laugh to myself at everyone trying to balance these boxes on their knees. We all sat around the washer boards and boiler, flat in lap, drinks in one hand, napkin in the other, all afternoon talking about our families, the weather, and sports. You can hear a few “how’s your mamma and them” ‘s and “hand me another cold beer”s.
As the night creeps in, the crickets start to sing. This is music to my ears. I haven’t heard crickets in months. A loan frog croaks every now and then, that’s the sign of spring. The band we’ve asked to come, settles in and starts playing the guitar and violin to some bluegrass songs. Sean builds a fire in the front yard because as the sun sets the temperature drops. The stars are out clear tonight. It’s a beautiful night. The firelight flickers across everyone’s faces and there isn’t a sad spirit in the group. Everyone is laughing and visiting with full bellies and empty beers. I’m surprised to see mosquitoes floating around. It’s been awful cold to see mosquitoes but I’m glad to see them, it means spring. I’ll be really glad to see the lightning bugs..they don’t come until summer though. Living by the river, I’m used to mosquitoes and run inside to get the ‘Off.’ ‘Off’ smells like summer. It’s been a wonderful day and as the night kicks in Sean starts playing my favorite song on the guitar.
Lazy yellow moon coming up to night, shining through the trees
Crickets are singing and the lightning bugs are floating on the breeze
Baby get ready
Across the field were the creek turns back by the old stump road
I’m gonna take you to a special place that nobody knows
Baby get ready ooo oooo ooo
You and me going fishing in the dark
Lying on our backs and counting the stars
Where the cool grass grows
Down by the river in the full moon light
We’ll be falling in love in the middle of the night
Just moving slow
Staying the whole night through
Feels so good to be with you
Spring is almost over and the summers comin
The days are getting long
Waited all winter for the time to be right
Just to take you along
Baby get ready
…….Oh how I love Southern Spring nights. I can’t wait to do this again!
