Larry the Lobster

About 30 years ago I found myself a single dad. My boys Lou and Marko were about 6 or 7 years old. We got together quite often and ate out at a few nice restaurants. We also cooked together in my large kitchen. We all lived in Connecticut at the time. I had an apartment in an old style three family house second floor. When we felt like "fast" food, one of their favorite's was Lobster Roll. I did not encourage them to eat at the usual fast food establishment we have all come to know. I would usually drive down to the waterfront to a place called Jimmy's in New Haven Connecticut. They featured the usual burgers, hot dog, and fries. But, being a private owned joint it was pretty good. The seafood was the specialty; clams, oysters, shrimp and the Lobster Roll. The boys really liked the lobster rolls. The Lobster Roll is a very simple lunch. A hot dog roll with a generous helping of Lobster Tail, shredded or cut in long lengths, the whole thing is slathered in butter a little salt and pepper and wrapped up in wax paper. I have not seen this treat on the West Coast as yet. One weekend over night visit from the boys I thought I would have a special treat and cook up a live Lobster. I brought the Lobster home and started up my large pot of water when the boys arrived. Lucky for me I made a few sides and a large green salad as well. While I was busy with my prep the boys were letting the Lobster walk around the kitchen (crawl) they named him Larry the Lobster. Now Larry was a handsome Lobster as far as lobsters go. I actually started to take a liking to the doomed guy myself. When the water was at a brisk boil I fetched Larry. When the boys realized what was next they dragged two chairs over to the stove to get a better look at Larry's fateful plunge. As I slid him in the water, Marko's eyes widened and both of them yelled out, "he's still alive dad"

We all sat down to eat and a reminder, these guys ate very well and were not picky kids. Marko looked up at the magnific presentation of a cooked Larry and said, “Dad WE don’t like lobster any more.”
I asked them, ”why not?”
“Because we like it Dead!”
To this day, Marko and Lou never ate Lobster again.