Alice and Bill...A Love Story

Alice is beautiful. She cuts a gorgeous figure, especially when she's in the water.

Glistening, sunlit, svelte. Alice is just beautiful.

And my friend Bill is deeply in love with her. He's known her for quite some time and has been carrying on a love affair with all of the passion that one could imagine.

Bill is a sailor and a captain of big boats. For many years, he has made his living piloting yachts up and down the Eastern Seaboard and throughout the Carribean.

He and Alice have visited some wonderful places together. Ports like Key Largo, Sag Harbor and Northeast Harbor. And he and Alice have sailed together on the calm seas of Long Island Sound where Bill grew up.

Bill called me the other day to tell me that he and Alice were about to break up. After all of these glorious years together, there was another man. Alice wasn't to blame. Bill said that it was his own fault. He just thought he needed a change. He's a bit older now and thinking of retirement and wasn't sure if Alice would have a place in his "new" life. He had introduced the new guy to Alice in the hopes that she'd have a good home with him.

I was very sad and upset. I ranted and raved (Bill's description of my mood on the phone...)and told him that Alice was one of the most important things in his life. I reminded him of all of the times that he and Alice would head out on a beautiful Florida Keys late afternoon with a few cold beers to gently sail along into the sunset.

I reminded him of how Alice could soothe all of his hurt and, like almost nothing else, make him feel whole again. She could take all of his worries away, often along with his breath.

I told him that whatever he might spend on Alice, letting her go wouldn't save him any money at all. He'd be spending that money at the doctor's office treating some malady that Alice could have cured simply by being in his knowing, gentle, capable hands.

We hung up. I wasn't sure if Bill had "heard" me. He said he'd think about it and let me know.

Then, yesterday, the phone rang and it was Bill. He had changed his mind and decided to keep Alice! He told the other guy that Alice was no longer available.
He said he couldn't imagine seeing Alice going down the road trailing behind some other man.

He had called me to thank me for my words of encouragement. He realized that Alice was, in fact, as important to his health and well being as I had made her out to be.

He and Alice were still together and, hopefully, forever.

This was great news! Especially in view of the fact that I just got a 1968 Dyer Dhow. She's a nine foot sailing dinghy with lovely lines, a lot of bright work, brass fittings and a blue sail. She's stunning.

Bill and I agreed that we'd try to connect over the summer, he with Alice and I with the new dinghy, which we've christened "Little Buddy."

Alice and Little Buddy will look beautiful together, rafted up in the Connecticut summer sun, Little Buddy with her blue main and Alice with her white one.

Alice has bright work too and is a bit larger than our dinghy but no less adorable.

You see, Alice is a sleek Catboat and one of the loves of Bill's life...along with his wife Anna and his little dog, Mia.

Little Buddy is named for the love of my life, my wife, who is also named Mia, for whom Bill's cute little dog was named.

The picture of it in my mind brings tears to my eyes.

I can't wait!