san Francisco and Me 2 - embarcadero

As I was drawing this on the pier, a gust of wind rushed by and grabbed the hat off of a fisherman who was standing beside me. I said "oh no", as he looked woefully down at it floating in the water. I considered-what could I say to make him feel better about his loss?

Before I finished this thought, he pulled up the fishing line that was dangling from his hand and tossed the hook out into the water, to try to snag the floating hat. This wasn't going to be a loss for him, hell no. After a few tries, he grabbed a longer fishing pole and cast it in the water. My mouth was agape, I couldn't hide the fact that I was rudely watching him. Finally after three tries, he got it! He pulled up and as his hands took hold of it, I clapped in delight and said "yay!". He was startled by this and almost dropped the hat, but then he smiled shyly and acknowledged the fact that yes indeed, he had just accomplished a pretty amazing thing.