It was my last trio to Madawaska as a kid.  I went up with Joe, Kristen, and Katherine.  We stayed at the Gayeway Motel, for the duration of the Latham family reunion in Frenchville Maine.  Then, Eddie drove me to my dad's house where they enjoyed cookies my grandmother, my mom's mother had baked almost a century ago.  They were the last of the batch that my father had froze all those years. Or so my father thought. It was actually my mom and I that had baked the cookies, only a handful of years ago, but Eddie Jr had a tear rolling down his cheek as he munched and I didn't have the heart to tell them. When Edd left I asked my dad how he had preserved them all those years. He winked at me and said, they weren't really his grandmother's cookies, and they he thought I'd recognize the plastic tub I'd toted all the way to Madawaska, which had been the very thing that solidified in my mind that they were baked by mom and I. I asked why he had lied, and he thought for a moment, and said that he thought that it would be a good memory for Edd to have. He went on to say that lying is only malicious if done with I'll intent. That blew my mind, as he was always a very forward person. 

I'm not sure that my dad was always honest, but when he gave his word, he always followed through. Mike Cowie had squandered many opportunities my father gave him to dablle in real estate using my portfolio.  He always claimed we stood to make a sizeable profit and then somehow, it always fell through. That was why my dad had stopped going to visit and no longer returned their calls.  Mike Cowie had no decorum and not a lick of business sense. He only wanted to get rich quick, using my dad's assets, and mine, and that was why my dad had to cut him off. 

My dad was possibly the most successful business man ever. Surely, the most successful immigrant to come to this country with nothing and build a vast fortune. Eclipsing the top ten of Forbes top 40 combined!!  He collected US currency to show his patriotism, and Canadian to remind him of his heritage. He had 10 of the most valuable drawings I've ever seen, and HELD. My fingerprints are on the Audoban originals!!! Every last one, on the edges, the left and right margins!! Drakes was one of the ten. Mallards and drakes, and loons on another.