It was around 9 am on a beautiful spring cool morning. I was flying relatively low, only at about 1000 feet AGL towards my destination of Destin Airport in the Panhandle of Northwest Florida for a meeting at 12 pm. I wasn’t over any populated area and just wanted to see the open land below at a lower altitude so I dropped down to about 500 feet AGL. I was about 10 minutes from my destination when I spotted a grass airfield way off to my left that looked abandoned at first glance but as I got closer I could see that it had been mowed and looked to be in good condition. I circled around for a very low pass at about 50 feet and then this time I noticed a very large recently built sprawling home at the end of the field. I pulled up and circled back around again for another look only this time I noticed a person standing out by the pool waving his arm at me. So on the next pass, I did the plane wing wag to say hi back. As I passed over him he was indicating by his arm movements that he wanted me to land. OK, what the hell why not as I am early for my noon meeting. So I circled back around and slowed down, for the third time and I landed in my Super STOL airplane backcountry style of dragging the tailwheel for a little bit then set my plane down on its big 35 inch Alaskan Bush Tires. I taxied up to where the man had walked down to the airfield. I shut the engine down, raised the window up and the gentleman came over and said “Hi !… my name is Hymie..what’s yours?... Wow! what a welcome.
Today started out at around 8 am as I took off from my private airfield at my home for a trip to Destin, Florida. I had a meeting with the owner…Ruben Gallagher of the Blue Marlin restaurant, on the following day. My first stop was at my friend's cattle ranch just outside Cross City, Florida for an overnighter. John and I haven’t seen each other in about nine months since the dedication ceremony of the Grizzly bear display at the Idaho US Fish and Wildlife Service's office. I landed my Super STOL airplane on his driveway around 10 am. Later that evening we had a cookout with John’s brother Robert. We had one of the best porterhouse steaks I have ever eaten, and no wonder since they have a cattle ranch. I also never had a baked potato that was cooked 3 times, once in the microwave then olive oil was brushed over it with rock salt, back in the oven, and finally on the grill alongside the steaks. I told John just let me know when you’re doing this again and I’ll fly up anytime. Later that evening we sat around talking about that Grizzly bear incident at our fly-in camp at Horseshoe Valley in Northwestern Idaho. I’m sure Robert had heard the story many times from John but never from my perspective. In fact, John had an 8x10 photo of the two of us standing next to the display. We should have had the same guns pointing at the bear but there were too many people to reenact that moment. The next morning I took off around 8 am for my flight over to Destin.
Well, I said my name is J. Michael. Hymie asked what’s the J stand for. I said John but I don’t use my first name and I don't use my last name of Williams either. It was about to get confusing... it always does...I just go by J. Michael. Hymie said that will work for me, J. Michael. Come on get out of that thing and let's sit down by the pool and talk. After a few minutes of conversation, I asked what kind of plane do you have? Hymie said I don’t own a plane and I don't like flying. That old hanger was kept in place when the demo of the old house was done. He said you never know who might drop in someday. He asked me about my plane and those huge tires. I gave him a complete run down and said I would take him up for a ride…he said I’ll pass for now. I got the idea that Hymie really didn’t like to fly. We talked for about 2 hours and I then said that I need to go fly into the Destin airport to meet with the owner of the Blue Marlin restaurant for lunch. Hymie said, Ruben !! …he is one of my best friends … I’ll join you and we can take my car and you just put your plane in the hanger if you want. That old hanger was in perfect condition and newly repainted and I could see repair work also had been done but it looked almost new.
So we left for the Blue Marlin restaurant to meet up with Ole Ruben. Lunch went well and Ruben wanted more information about very large aquariums. I sometimes represent the home and commercial aquarium builder in the Kendall area of South Miami called “The Living Reef”, owned by Ken Rollins. Ken and I met at a trade show a few years back and I told him my background in not only aquariums and filtrations systems but also photography. I mentioned that maybe we could work together on acquiring clients … I offered to go to his business and photograph his showroom with various sizes and styles of aquariums and then go to a few homes and commercial locations where The Living Reef had installed one of their very large custom design aquariums. I would then put together a digital album on my laptop computer to be able to showcase a range of aquarium designs. Then I would go to a potential client and find out what they wanted and about where an aquarium could possibly be placed. I knew about filtration systems and the space requirements and could easily direct the client to something that we both felt would make a significant statement to their home or business. I would photograph the proposed location and then when back at home at my computer, I would superimpose various aquarium designs that I had previously photographed and do a pictorial mockup of what the final design could look like. I then would send a digital copy to the client for further discussions. When nearly finalized, I would then give Ken a call and send him the digital proof so that his team could come up with an approximated costs. Once we had an approximate plan and proposed associated costs we would then get together at the client's home or business to finalize the design. At this point, the client would have decided on a freshwater or saltwater aquarium, which would affect the final costs. Maintenance and service contracts would be discussed. These systems are so complex that most clients would not attempt such an endeavor on their own.
The system that Ruben and I discussed would be huge, about 2000 gallons, and would be elevated above the center of a four-sided bar so that the people could view all 4 sides when sitting at the bar. The size would be about 5 foot wide by 5 foot tall by 10 feet long and made of 2-inch thick acrylic. All of the support systems would be under the aquarium and bottle racks where all of the liquor is placed on both sides of the main bar. I just had photographed a similar aquarium system so that assembling that photograph would be an easy task. We all talked for over 2 hours at the Blue Marlin, mostly about my plane as strange as that sounds. It seems that Ruben enjoys flying in small planes, and of course Hymie invited him over the next day to have me take him up. So that means another night on the road which I don’t mind at all, as I always take along extra clothes for just such times. And of course, I love to take people flying. Ruben showed up right at 9 am for his ride. I asked him if he ever rode in a Ferrari airplane before? Both Hymie and Ruben asked what do you mean? I said that my plane does things that not many airplanes can do. I said once off the ground it climbs really fast and at a very steep rate of climb…it fly's very slow and low, takes off in about 35 feet, and lands in about the same distance. You could compare it to an "E-Ticket Ride" at Disney World. Ole Ruben said I think that I’m going to like this plane ride.
My plane sits quite high off the ground because of the very large tires and the landing gear design, so getting into it is not all that easy. But I got Ruben in and strapped down. He made a comment about 5 safety harness straps... I just said standard-issue…this is not a commercial airliner, besides it keeps you at the scene of the crash. I got two very strange looks. I started the engine and warmed it up and taxied down to the end of the 1000 foot long runway, even though I only needed about 35 feet of it. I think that I took it a bit easy on Ole Rubin as I used about 200 feet on this take-off. However, once off the ground and a little bit of air-speed built up I pulled back on the stick and we went nearly straight up to 3000 feet before I leveled off. I think Ruben held his breath all the way up. I did a few easy maneuvers and some wing stalls to show him just what this plane can do and brought us down to the field at about 35 mph and held it about 10 feet off the deck for about half the length of the field and then pulled the throttle back and the nose up and plopped it in and then stood on the brakes for about a 50-foot landing. Ole Ruben was a little green around the gills but he said that he enjoyed the hell out of that and would do it again anytime. I said anytime? we could go back up if you want. Ole Ruben said I think I have had enough for one day.
Now a little event that I did not know anything about was that on late Saturday afternoons that Hymie, Ruben, and a few of their close friends get together at each other houses on a rotation. These parties are mainly very social events with drinks and finger food catered in. This Saturday, it was Hymie’s turn… and that meant that I had to spend another night just to meet all of those potential clients. Hymie introduced me as a representative for not only very large aquariums but for some of my photography, especially my very large panoramic Florida Landscapes. I didn’t have anything much to show other than what was on my laptop, but apparently, that was just enough to stir up a whole bunch of interest. Ole Rubin was very helpful in mentioning our meeting and what he was contemplating for his restaurant. Most of these people have interior decorators that they work with to make their very expensive homes a one of a kind. It seems that once one of those wealthy people has something new and different in their homes, then at the next monthly meeting that homeowner has to try and out-do the other. So I’m thinking that I may have stumbled on to something here. I think Ken, at “The Living Reef” and I am going to be busy here in Destin.
So on my next flight to Destin, I now fly into Hymie’s airstrip, I brought along a couple of the smaller landscape photographs that would fit into my plane. I had three of my 28 inches by 74 inches stretched canvas prints, two in color and one in B&W, and some smaller wildlife canvas prints to show. Hymie absolutely loved what I brought and said let's hang these now and then we have to come up with how I am going to decorate his place for the next meeting. We had about 6 months to come up with something that would be the envy of the crowd. By that time the Blue Marlin would have the new 2000 gallon aquarium installed and I'm sure that Rubin showcased it to all of his friends. Hymie really wanted to showcase my photography and also wanted his bare walls covered, but they would require different wall colors. So Hymie and I and a couple of friends went to work on painting the walls to better show the photographs. In a couple of hours, we had the walls done and we hung the prints that I brought on this trip. Hymie chose a few more landscapes that he had seen on my computer and I would order them. I mentioned that if I had some work tables and saws and a commercial power staple gun, that I could just bring the wood for the frames and assemble any size print that you wanted. I said that most of my panoramic landscape image files are such that they could be printed up to ten feet in length, which is exactly the length that the wood framing material comes in and which I could get it into my plane as raw materials and not the finished product. Hymie said whatever you need, make me a list and I will go to Home Depot and get it and have it delivered and put into the hanger for you.
So while I was at Hymie’s place and looking around, one of the first things I noticed was a perfect location for an aquarium. When you walk in through the front doors you look thru the house to the wall of glass out to the massive concrete patio overlooking the pool and patio some 8 feet below. To the left of the wall of glass is a study with a wrap-around stairway that follows the side and back walls of the study up to the second floor. That study room is about 15 feet or so in length with tall ceilings. What a perfect setting for a 10-foot long aquarium. So I made some measurements and took a few photographs without Hymie there. Some photos from the entrance doors when you first walk into the house and also in front of where the proposed aquarium that I had in mind would be placed. I didn’t say anything to Hymie about an aquarium other than did he like the one at the Blue Marlin. I had asked Hymie if he liked aquariums and he said yes but thought they were too much trouble. So when I got back home I loaded Hymie’s house photos into my computer with the location of the aquarium that I had in mind along with all of the walls that he wanted to hang some more landscape photographs. I used some of the photos from the display room at “The Living Reef” for some ideas for a 10-foot long aquarium. I also found what I thought would be a perfect location for a ten-foot-long panoramic Florida landscape print on canvas. By making photos of the walls and then superimposing a proposed wall photograph, you get a very good idea of what things will work and what will not because you are looking at the entire room with the furniture, lighting, and flooring all working together.
It has now has been about two weeks and I have sent Ruben the photographs of what his bar area would look like with the large aquarium. It only took him less than a day to say yes to the project. I then contacted Ken at “The Living Reef” and said it's a go and then we scheduled a time for his people to meet me at the Tamiami Airport and the four of us would fly to Destin to meet up with Ruben. I borrowed a Cessna 310 twin-engine airplane from a friend in Punta Gorda to pick them up for the flight to Destin. I flew into the airport in Destin and had arranged for a courtesy car for us to go to the Blue Marlin restaurant to meet up with Ruben. I wasn’t surprised at all to see Ole Hymie there as well. I let the guys from the aquarium shop do their thing with how they were going to design this project to hold 8 tons of water 6 feet above the floor and still have all of the liquor shelves surround the bar. They still needed an access point to get in under the aquarium to install and service all of the filtering equipment, but that is what these guys do…the near impossible. So the final plans were made, deposits accepted and tentative construction dates were set…now on to Hymie’s house. Hemie had no idea what was about to be discussed. Hymie just thought we were going to his place for afternoon drinks, which I can’t have as I am the pilot.
After we arrived at Hymie’s place and sat down for a bit. We got Hymie busy in the kitchen so I broke out my booklet of the photographs that I took the last time I was there in which I arranged a layout for an approximate 1800 gallon freshwater aquarium with a very unusual background…a tree trunk inside the aquarium with rocks and stumps that appeared like the side of a riverbank. The tree rose out of the aquarium with branches that went up the back wall to the staircase and spread horizontally on either side. I had already discussed this with Ken and they had a similar insert that could be added on to make up the tree. All of the aquarium inserts, whether it be saltwater or freshwater are hand made from molds taken from a real host. It could be various types of corals/rocks, sponges, etc for saltwater and river rocks, roots, trees trunks, and branches right down to the leaves. All are made of a high-density expandable foam that is mixed up as a liquid and poured into hand made molds. Once cured the item is removed and edges cleaned up and are spray painted to match what it looks like in the wild. When a little algae builds-up on them over time they are extremely very lifelike.
Hymie came in from the kitchen after making some finger food snacks and I showed Hymie the new photographs on my computer that I thought would look good on his walls. They appeared as if they were already hanging on the walls. Hymie was stunned as to my methods of presentation and accepted every one of my suggestions. Now it came time to reveal my aquarium concept for his house that he had no idea that I made up. When I turned the page you could hear Hymie gasp for breath. I thought I saw tears well up in his eyes….he was once again stunned at what he was looking at. There was a trembling sound that came from his mouth that muttered…J. Michael, I love it. When can I have it made? With Ken and his people there, it was perfect timing as to what all would be needed…measurements would be taken and quick concept designs for the filtering system would be drawn up. I had a previous idea that the back wall of the study/house was open to a concrete patio that was curved and about 30 feet wide. I mentioned that maybe a shed type structure could be built to the back of the house with a slanted roof and access door to all of the aquarium filtering equipment. The last time I was there I photographed that back wall and then added my magic. l envisioned that this add aquarium room could be incorporated into a patio bar with a simulated thatched roof and barstools complete with a chiller for wines and a keg of beer on tap. Hymie mentioned that he had always wanted just that very thing. Hymie said, J. Michael…you need to come up here more often with your ideas. I laughed and said my pleasure Hymie.
We drove back to the airport and boarded the plane and took off for the Tamiami airport and arrived around 7:30 late that afternoon. Ken said he would get back in touch with me about the associated costs and how to split up the construction work. I said don’t worry so much about the costs, as that was not a factor with Hymie. I said that I would hire a local contractor to build the outside filter room and have your electrical requirement installed and ready to go. Once the room was dried in and watertight the construction crew would then cut the concrete block wall for the aquarium to sit in. Just let me know the final overall size opening of the aquarium itself and all locations of the aquarium piping and electrical. I will also need the electrical requirements for a sub-panel. I will need to find a way to bring in a water line and a drain line back out from the new filter room. I mentioned to Ken that maybe we should consider an on-site well to be able to initially fill the aquarium along with 25% water changes instead of using the city water system. Ken said a good idea. Now I will need to find a well driller. The footprint of this aquarium just got larger. Hymie told me once that his place is on a well since it was so far away from a city water line so that problem was eliminated.
I departed back to the Punta Gorda airport and exchange planes and then on to my home base and a stout drink…I think that I had earned it today.
Now we can fast forward about 4 months. I found a general contractor, another friend of Hymie's, to do the total construction work at Hymie’s place, including modifications to the on-site water well system for the aquarium. He said he would work with Ken on whatever he needed at the Blue Marlin as well. This contractor even did all of the final finished woodwork for the bar…total completed job and it turned out fantastic. I knew that Hymie's bar would also look as good as the Blue Marlin's... a very authentic Tiki Bar with a thatched roof, all of the LED lighting, stereo sound system, and a wet and dry bar. Ken not only had the Blue Marlin's aquarium built and installed in record time but also had Hymie's aquarium built and delivered on-site as well. Ken said that I saved money on the truck rental by getting both delivered at the same time. There was still a lot more to do on Hymie's system to get it finished in time for his next Saturday's party, which was about 6 weeks away. Both systems are still being worked on at this time but are scheduled for water and fish in another 3 weeks. Ken also had a maintenance man that worked in that geographical area that was well versed in aquarium systems and that he would handle the total maintenance for both aquarium systems. I had flown up to see the aquariums installed and also had Hymie’s photograph materials with me ready for assembly. I set up shop in the hanger and had all of the photographs assembled in about a day or two, except for the ten-foot panoramic landscape…I needed more table length. We hung all of the photographs that I assembled the next day. Hymie was about 6 weeks away from another friendly neighbor dinner at his place and was anxious to get everything up and running. I had Ken under the gun as he also knew that once all of those people saw Hymie’s aquarium, that I would probably have an easy sell for more of the same…both in aquariums for Ken and the photographs for J.Michael.
So I needed another sheet of plywood, some 2x4’s, and sawhorse brackets to make up another eight-foot table to assemble that ten-foot photograph. Hymie called his friend that rents vehicles and had a cargo van delivered in no time. I went to Lowes in town and picked up the materials I needed and stopped in at a local gas station to refill the van before returning. I'm sure that I really didn't have to do that since Hymie personally knew the rental company. Come to think of it...who doesn't this guy know in the town? As I was filling the rented van a pickup truck pulled up at a diagonal right across in front of me, which at the time I thought was a bit odd. The passenger door opened and I saw the long barrel of a gun come out first and then the guy. I knew right away I was in deep trouble but had no clue as to why. I ducked down behind my opened door as the shot went through the window. I pulled out my 40 cal auto handgun from my waist stood up and quickly fired off 3 shots at the guy’s body before he could regroup and fire off a second shot at me. The guy went down immediately and his gun fell to the ground. I was still wondering “What the Hell”. Then the driver opened his door and I saw a pistol come up in his hand. I ducked down again as a single shot rang out. This time I had to move and quickly made it to the back of the van as he fired a couple of more rounds where he thought I was at. I came around the opposite side of the back of the van and saw the guy come out from behind his door to see if he hit me. I had a clear shot of him and fired 3 quick rounds at his body and he went down hard. His gun was about four feet away. I carefully went over and kicked his gun under my van and then did the same with the gun that the first shooter had.
Just when I thought that this mess was over, a second vehicle pulled in at a diagonal behind me. Now I am at the front of my vehicle and looking around the driver’s side to see a big guy get out with what looked like a shotgun. I’m thinking “Damn” where are these guys coming from? I had no place to go so I got down to ground level and when I could see the guys legs, I fired 2 rounds at them apparently hitting him both times just above the ankles. I could see him and the shotgun fall to the ground... the shotgun was out in front of him. I quickly got up and ran around the back of my van. When I got to the back corner of the van I could see that this guy now has a handgun in his right hand. I didn’t wait a fraction of a second and fired at least two or three times. Thankfully he was the only gunman in that vehicle. To say that my heart was racing hard would have been an understatement. I kicked that handgun back under my van as well as the shotgun. I’m now spinning around in circles looking for more threats and seeing none for the moment.
I was about to get my cell phone out to call 911 when I saw out of the corner of my eye a black BMW with very dark windows slowly pull in along the opposite side fuel pumps and stop. Then I saw the back window roll down. I said this is not good and I got behind the concrete column next to the fuel pump that I was using. I heard two rifle shots ring out, one hitting the pump and the other hitting the side of my van right behind the door. I didn’t know at this point just how many rounds that I had previously fired, so I dropped the magazine and got the other mag out of my pocket, and slammed it into the handgrip. I heard another rifle round go off and hit the van right between the pump and the concrete column I was standing behind. At this point, I had nowhere to go but I needed to stay behind this concrete column or get shot. I decided that if he shot again that I would come around the opposite side of the column and the next gas pump to get a shooting line of sight. When I heard the next shot, I got into firing position and put two rounds through the back window and then fired at least two or three more times through the hole in the window. The BMW then slowly moved away and rolled across the gas station’s parking area and across the side road and rolled into the building across the street. I heard the car’s horn blowing steadily and I quickly figured out that I must have hit that guy and hopefully he was out of this ridiculous gunfight. I didn’t go over to check on him as I would be too exposed and have no cover. As long as that horn kept blaring I figured he was done for but I kept watching to see if anyone got out of that car. The other three shooters I assumed were dead as they have not moved at all.
There was another gentleman on the far side of the gas station filling his car when all of this began. I walked over and said are you alright…he said yes. I asked him if he would stay until the police showed up and tell them what he saw. I could tell that he was a nervous wreck and asked where are your car keys? He said in his pocket and got them out and I grabbed them quickly just to make sure that he wouldn’t drive off. The owner of the gas station had locked his doors and was on his cell phone, calling the police no doubt. I motioned for the owner to open the doors and then told my witness to get inside and lock the doors again. I then went over and got my cell phone and dialed 911 and said there was a shooting at the Speedway gas station south of town and send the police and hung up. I needed to document that I made a 911 call on my phone. I then called my Firearms Legal Protection company and said that I had just been involved in a quad shooting and gave them the name of the town in Florida. They already had my name and card number as a redirect. I said that I was the one returning fire and I was going to need help. I also said that when the police arrived, I would not be able to talk to my council, as my phone would surely be taken away. The woman said she had all she needed and someone would show up in person in a few hours and to say nothing to the police until my lawyer arrived. I said Ok, just as I heard the sirens of several police cars arriving.
I took out my driver's license, my concealed weapons permit, and my FLP card and put them in my shirt pocket. I then unloaded my weapon and put the magazine in my pocket and my weapon back into my holster just the first police car pulled up. I immediately put up my hands high into the air and said I was the one that returned fire after I was shot at by multiple attackers. I said that there was another shooter in that black BMW across the street but was not sure if he was still alive or not. I then gave the officer my identification cards and said my weapon was unloaded and back into the holster on my left hip. He took the weapon, magazine, IDs, and my cell phone and said go sit down in the back seat of his patrol car and try to relax. I said that there was a witness inside along with the owner standing over by the door and that I had his car keys to make sure he would stay around to be my witness. The office began to ask me questions as to what had happened and I said that I would fully comply and answer all questions just as soon as my lawyer and I had talked in private. That officer knew the procedure and was very kind. It is the same procedure that a police officer would do if he was the shooter. They are told to say nothing until their representative gets on site. I said to talk to my witness and I’m sure that the station had surveillance cameras, as well as the attendant inside, had a front-row seat. I felt that there would be sufficient information available for the police to get a good accurate accounting of what had happened. Once my lawyer arrived and we talked in private, we would then sit down with the investigating detective and give my account of what had happened.
To this day I am still unsure why this happened, as I did not even live in that town. I told the detective that I was staying with Hymie Rosenthal and needed to get in touch with him as I’m sure he was getting a bit worried that I have been gone for so long. The detective said that he knew Hymie very well and said that he would call him immediately. It's nice to know that Hymie knew so many prominent people in this town. It was about an hour later and after my legal representative and I had the private conversation that we were escorted into the police Captain Brown's office where the prosecuting attorney, Hymie, the investigating detective Wilson, my attorney, and myself were all seated. I thought that maybe I was in deep trouble until Captain Brown set the tone of this meeting by saying, Mr. Williams, I would like to say what a commendable act of self-discipline you expressed today in your actions of taking out a gang we couldn't. We have reviewed the surveillance tapes and talked to the 2 witnesses as to what had happened earlier today and have concluded that your actions were completely justified as self-defense and that you may have possibly saved the life of one of those witnesses.
I was then released but had agreed to stay in town until the official hearing. I’m very sure that Hymie had a little something to do with all of this. The attorneys said they would try to see if this formal hearing could be fast-tracked as this was a justifiable shooting. Once Hymie knew the name of the judge, which he also knew personally, that would preside over this case he called him to ask for a special favor to fast track the process. That only took about a week and I used that time to finish building the assembly table in the hanger and assembling the ten-foot canvas landscape photograph and hung it on the wall.
Sitting down with Hymie that evening with a very stiff drink in my hand, I began to recall those terrible events that happened that afternoon. Hymie tried to humor me by saying that he would have been dead on the very first shot and asked me how in the hell were you able to not get shot in the process? I replied that I guess my training at shooting my firearm led to the accurate shooting. Hymie leaned over and said, did you have a gun on you all this time…I said yes…he said my word, I would have never guessed that in a million years. I said that I don’t flaunt the fact that I carry a lethal weapon for self-defense… it's just there if I need it, and I guess this day I really needed it. Little did I know at this time the true story behind Hymie.
The investigation during this week determined that this was a drug-dealing that was being handled in their own way and that I was an innocent person driving a similar vehicle in what the drug dealers were looking for. The police office said that they had been tracking this group of drug dealers for over 6 months but had not been able to catch them doing anything illegal and arrest them. So I had done this department a great favor in taking them out. The only highlight of this entire event was that the responding police officers and the detective were very impressed with my shooting skills and how I was able to maneuver around and not get hit. In fact, they said that all of my rounds were accounted for and on target and there were no off-site stray bullets from my weapon. I just answered I practice at the range and that I studied situational awareness videos and have learned a lot as to what to look for in certain situations. When that situation presented itself that day, my memory of many of those videos kicked in. Those videos saved my life that day for sure. I really felt horrible that I had taken four lives that day but was relieved that no one else was injured with all of those bullets flying.
Hymie and I again sat down to discuss those events of last week and came to the conclusion that even though I may have taken out 4 of the players in that group, there might have been others watching, and that they might still be looking to get revenge and that I need to be more vigilant than ever. So I decided to cover up the identification numbers on my plane so that I could not be tracked down back home. We were not sure if they may have followed Hymie and me back to his house. These people have all of the time they need to seek revenge if they choose to do so. Hymie said to not worry to much about that as he would take care of it. I thought that sounded a bit strange coming from him. I asked what do you mean, and Hymie said I have friends.
I was able to fly back home at the end of the week after I had covered up my plane's identification numbers but still needed to be available to answer further questions if and when they came up.
Several weeks went by and now the time was at hand…the dinner party at Hymie’s was in 2 days and I had planned on flying up the day before to be on hand. I asked Ken if he wanted to attend and he said sure. So I flew to Tamiami and picked him up early the next morning. I told him to bring extra clothes, as we were not flying back until the day after if that. I knew that some of those people at that dinner party would definitely have questions about large aquariums that he could answer…it was his business as unusual. I was correct... we didn’t leave for another 2 days and possibly three more aquarium jobs in hand. Ken said that was a good trip for him. I also knew that I would be selling many of my photographs as well.
There were a couple of people that Hymie knew that also had businesses and after seeing the aquarium display at the Blue Marlin, and that there might be some interest in that avenue as well. I’m still negotiating a large Florida panoramic landscape for the Blue Marlin restaurant.
I had asked Hymie if he ever had any more problems with those drug dealers. His comment to me was that they are no longer in business. Another odd statement by him that had me wondering. Maybe one day Hymie may come clean with me about his friends.
Over the course of several years of Hymie’s friendship and meeting some very prominent people in the town of Destin, and attending dozens of monthly dinners, there were about 10 additional custom aquariums that Ken and “The Living Reef” had built for those people. I accounted for over 30 canvas framed photographs and 6 additional panoramic Florida landscape photos in both Color and in B&W sepia-toned. Destin, Florida turned out to be a very good town for me, as I had literally dropped in out of the blue so to speak that day when I saw a small grass airfield. I continue to visit Hymie with occasional fly-in’s. He is indeed a very good friend.
I have been able to get two of my planes to land on his private airfield. I have never tried to land the twin-engine plane there. The airfield is long enough but just haven't tried it as yet...maybe one day I'll fly it up there and land it. It is a scaled-down replica of a WW2 P-38 Lightning attack fighter. This plane at one time held the world air speed record of 548 mph. The second plane that I built, also a WW2 fighter, is a scaled-down version of the P-51 Mustang attack fighter, which now holds the world air speed record of over 600 mph. Both of these planes use the same French all-aluminum supercharged V8 engines that puts out incredible horsepower. Both of these WW2 fighter aircraft utilize military-grade aluminum lightweight framing members with lightweight/stronger than steel carbon fiber panels covering the entire fuselage, wings, and tail feathers. Without Hymie’s incessant help on these two aircraft projects, they would have never been constructed and flying today. Life is all about developing and maintaining good friendships.
Note: This is a fictional story.
