To the editor:
A man at the table next to mine, getting ready to leave, sees me reading the paper and asks, “What’s in the news today?” I show him my paper, the Houlton Pioneer Times, and he says “Oh, Houlton,” as if it is familiar.
“You never heard of it, did you?” I ask. “Sure, and Lincoln, and Baileyville, down near Calais, where we cross over to New Brunswick. Just got back from Grand Manan. We have a place there. Do you know anyone in Lincoln?”
“No, not now. On Grand Manan, do you eat dulse?” “Oh, yes, they collect it and dry it in the sun; that’s the only way to dry it. It has a lot of health benefits and we bring some back home with us. I can bring you some when we go back in October. You probably prefer the big pieces?”
“They would be a treat. I get the flakes here at the Co-op, and eat them every day. At home in Maine, a store on Main Street would pile up the dulse in the window and sell it in little brown bags. My mother really liked it.”
It seems he’s affiliated with an organization involved in a project here. When I mention a letter I wrote to the daily paper about it, he recalls it. “We’re continuing with the method you praised because we liked the results. Well, do you come to this restaurant often? … Me, too. I’ll probably see you here again before October.”
Later on I note the name on the card he gave me. I used to babysit for a family with the same last name. The wife’s first name was Frances and the husband’s name the same as that on the card. When they moved to Brewer, I visited them there. She gave me the recipe for her chocolate bread pudding which I have made many times over the years. I told her that sour pickles were my favorite, but that my mother no longer made them. A short time after I got back to Houlton, a box arrived in the mail, wet through and dripping. The pickles were perfect.
I must tell the man in the restaurant about that family. Could there be a connection, someone related to him? One more coincidence may be too much to contemplate — but he recognized Houlton.
Byrna Porter Weir
Rochester, NY
