Grandpa’s Globe of the World

When Grandpa’s family saw the adverts for a young and budding Marco Island Florida, the November snowflakes were flying. Michigan was good at shedding snow in the spring, but when old man winter began to arrive even before Thanksgiving; palm trees, sandy beaches, and sunshine were looking good - even to the freezing kids in the front yard who were building a snowman.

The move began with snow on the ground and the north wind howling. The movers were working quickly because of the wind chill, and when Grandpa’s big globe of the world fell from the front steps and escaped from the cardboard box that was holding the antique and family heirloom, it rolled along the snow like a bowling ball until it crashed into the brick post that was holding the mailbox.

Mom and Dad and the kids were still inside for a last-minute look around before the big move to Florida and did not see the mishap with the box, the rolling globe of planet Earth, and the crack that opened along the equator when Grandpa’s gift to the family hit the bricks.

The Michigan family came to Marco when the only traffic light on the island was a flashing yellow caution signal at the crossroads of Collier Boulevard and Bald Eagle Drive. The new family home was a ranch on a canal with a boat dock, and when the Midwesterners settled in for their first Florida winter, they were quick to make friends with everyone else who was also newcomers. 

Fashions in Florida were very different from old northern standards, and the décor inside a Florida island home was special. The new lifestyle was to reflect the colors of the tropics, and many of the old family heirlooms and dark furniture simply did not work in the new and modern environment.

Grandpa’s Globe of the World was a perfect example of what did not work in a Florida home. The globe was too big and it rested inside a large round stand of dark wood that was even bigger and even more out of place. Garage sales were common when the snowbirds came in November, and when the Michigan mom was ready to impress her new island friends, she decided Grandpa’s Globe of the World had to go.

The globe was about to sell for $20 as it sat in the driveway until the Michigan dad came home and was aghast that his grandpa’s globe was up for auction. After much discussion, Grandpa’s globe found a new home on the screened lanai with a few other Midwestern relics. Mom knew what was best, and she knew her husband was stubborn and nostalgic.

What mom and the family from Detroit did not know was that Grandpa had once been a gangster. When the prohibition of alcohol began in 1920, Grandpa was a very young man and worked in a bar in Detroit. After the Volstead Act, all liquor, wine, and beer were illegal in the United States. The new liquor law in America, however, had nothing to do with the manufacture of Canadian whiskey and other imported liquor from around the world. 

Soon after the bar in which Grandpa worked was closed because of the new legislation, almost everyone went to work for an undercover gang of smugglers.

Grandpa’s first job was to be a decoy. The Detroit River has always been a busy watercourse, but after prohibition, the boat traffic on the river was incredible. After a few trial runs, Grandpa was on the river every night with a forty-foot cabin cruiser and a vast multitude of other boats.

In the beginning, Grandpa’s boat was empty except for his crew of three, who also formerly worked at the bar. When the customs agents on river patrol stopped Grandpa, his men, and the forty–footer, Grandpa explained they were fishing and that the Canadian side of the river was much better for catching fish. They also explained - to the soon-to-be friendly custom agents - that the fishing was so good, and they had plenty to spare. This was when Grandpa and his crew would offer the custom men fresh fish on ice.

In the beginning, the customs men were suspicious, but Grandpa’s boat was always empty except for some rusting fishing gear and the coolers that were holding the fresh fish that was always on ice and wrapped with fish-market paper.

After a time, the customs men knew Grandpa and his boat and were quick to stop the familiar forty-footer only when they knew the fish wrappers might contain something more than fish. Grandpa’s boat was soon traveling up and down the river between Canada and Detroit and was full of liquor the Canadians were providing from everywhere on the globe.

When prohibition was over, Grandpa was rich. He made more money smuggling and befriending customs agents than anyone he knew, and before he passed away on a boat ride down the Detroit River, he stuffed his giant and very expensive Globe of the World full of cash.

The mover that dropped Grandpa’s Globe of the World on the snowy day the family made the move to Florida knew the old relic was very heavy when it fell, rolled, and cracked when it hit the bricks and the mailbox. He never looked inside but merely pushed the equator back together before placing the pain in the butt into the truck.

Mom tried to get rid of the globe several times, but Dad was steadfast until a hurricane blew in the lanai and opened the old crack from the movers. When Dad found the money, he thought of Grandpa and his gangster river stories, and then he smiled, especially when he paid off the house, the cars, and both kids to go to college.