Greenwood SC Realtor Tells A Real Fish Tale
I write often about life with my dad because life with him was not your run of the mill childhood experiences. It was interesting to say the least. He was a little on the eclectic side. This particular story still makes me smile when I think about it years later.
When he was a young boy my dad took up with some local Indians (I forget what tribe it was) out in Oklahoma and he was practically raised by them, my grandmother said they couldn't keep him at home. He always wanted to be outdoors preferably in the woods or on a lake. He spent most of his time with the Indians where he learned to hunt and fish to eat, not just as a pastime. My family hardly ate anything except what my dad hunted or fished except chicken. It was a real treat to get a beef steak and we never had a domestic turkey at Thaksgiving it was always wild turkey. This background information about him will help you understand better his way of thinking. 
My dad had gone fishing this particular day on our local lake Lake Greenwood,he didn't get home until very late and decided not to clean his catch until the following morning. He put the fish in the tub (our only bathroom mind you) and left the water dripping to keep the water circulating to keep the fish alive. (he did this often), This you have to understand was something we had to deal with in our house more than a few times. I've been embarrassed many times when I had friends over and their reaction to seeing fish in a bathtub.
Anyway he got home late that night after we were all in bed. My mom, a very easy going lady who went with the flow, she had to be to live with my dad,, had to get up sometime during the night and go to the bathroom (not turning on the light). Then out of nowhere in the pitch black something suddenly lunged at her and landed at her feet, she completely taken off guard, terrified, screamed loudly and began frantically stomping on whatever it was.
My dad hearing her screaming and stomping came running in the bathroom to see what the problem was, turned on the light to see one of his precious Large Mouth Bass laying lifeless on the floor, stomped to death. He didn't miss a beat, he scooped the fish up leaving my mom sitting in stunned silence and ran outside in nothing but his boxers and proceeded to gut and clean the fish, came back in wrapped it, put it in the freezer, washed his hands and went back to bed as if nothing had ever happened. It never occurred to him to just toss the fish out! That was part of the meal for the next day.
Only in the Cost house would a fish warrant such top priority. My mom after getting over her shock chalked it up to life with daddy and went back to bed. She never said a word to my dad that maybe his priorities might be a bit backward. We had many laughs after the fact as it was told over and over through the years it was just another one of those life with Neil Cost things that you would have had to have known him to appreciate.
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