I was banging around Facebook and wound up answering a variation of the question:  “What gun for hippopotamus”*, which kind of sent me down a bit of a rat-hole.

That map should be of the old SEDCO site that my father cut out of the Nigerian jungle. It is where my father launched a man-pig (and the tree he was laired under) into orbit with a backpack full of gelignite; where the engineers gave us the best 4th of July ever, and where we watched Brigadier-Captain Azikiwe drift down the river in a sinking boat.

The island marked “Ultralog Global Control” is where we released Squeaks the Battle Mongoose after we found out we couldn’t take him to the States; and the river around it is where we freed Electro the electric catfish, for the same reason.

I realize that nothing lasts forever — particularly in the jungle — but there’s nothing left of what dad built.

And that really sucks right now.

I’m given to understand that the AdCAP site on Saadiyat Island is even worse — apparently Abu Dhabi turned the whole island into a playground for the ultra-rich — but I never really had the same fondness for Abu Dhabi that I did for Nigeria.

Little punch in the gut to see the SEDCO site covered over with a suburb.

LawDog

* The answer starts with ‘4’ and ends with ‘Rigby’ or ‘Nitro Express’.