SUMMER... August, sailing (Part 87c)
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In trying to write this portion I'm having trouble with what I call "time lining", meaning putting events in chronological order. So, I've gone back to adjust the description in the first two posts of this part (87). I've done this a time or two in the past choosing to go by subject. I'm presently on "Sailing". Sorry for the late change...
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You have to be asleep to have a nightmare. That night was a total nightmare as both Elle and I were awake more than we were asleep. She couldn’t get comfortable and kept rolling around which kept me awake. At one point, when we were both wide awake, she asked if I was still going to race. I hadn’t verbalized the subject even though I’d thought about it. I’d even gone over the possibilities for a crew but hadn’t come up with anybody. The club members who weren’t racing all had their wives as crew and I just knew that none of them would be interested in sailing with me. So I told her that I wouldn’t be racing. Being dark I had no idea of her facial expression but she didn’t answer. After that we both went back to trying to get some sleep.

By morning the swelling in her wrist had started to go down. The biggest problem that she had was in getting her panties up and down with only one good hand. I’d helped her right until it was time for me to go to work. She experimented with having our oldest daughter help her and it was laughable. I told her that, worst case, she she should just go through her panties while sitting on the toilet. She rolled her eyes at that suggestion but I told her I was serious.

I came home at lunchtime to check on her and the pain had finally subsided. She had called her mother to come and get the kids so that was one less thing for her to have to handle. She told me that she was going to try and sleep after I left so I helped her put on a regular night time “package” and headed back to work. I’ll admit that even though I’d told her that I wasn’t going to race I was still trying to come up with some way to pull it off. It was in mid afternoon while I was really struggling with the Dog Catcher exam questions that a thought came to me... Bobbi.

By the time I left work I’d come up with a “game plan”. First, I’d call Peggy, her mother, to see if it would be OK to ask Bobbi. If the answer was “yes“ then I’d try to sell her on the idea. I’d even worked up a ”spiel”. But... I had to run it past Elle first.

At home I found Elle in relatively good spirits. She’d been able to sleep most of the afternoon. She, of course, was wet and I helped clean her up. However, she wasn’t in a good enough mood for me to get a little “frisky” though. Just as I was about to broach the subject of sailing she said something about how sorry she was to have ruined my chance to defend the championship. I was about to respond but she continued by asking if there wasn’t some way that I could still race. Sensing that I could escape without being selfish and hard hearted I asked if she was sure that she’d be OK if I did. I remember her giving me one of those “loving” looks while nodding her head affirmatively.

I had to be careful not to have her realize that I’d pretty much scripted a plan when I called Peggy. That, in itself, was a bit of a struggle. I’d not seen her to talk to in many years so after the initial contact had to do the reminiscing bit. I’m guessing but it was probably a good fifteen minutes before she said that she’d get Bobbi to the phone. Getting her to say “yes” was actually easier than getting past Peggy. I told her that I’d do the exact same thing she did when she was teaching her junior sailors and that she should look at the experience as if they were lessons. The hard part came when I told her I wanted to come and pick her up within the hour.

As I’ve written in prior posts, the host sailing club for this championship series was located on a small island serviced by three small ferry boats. My reason for wanting to pick Bobbi up that night was that I wanted to tow the boat over to the island and get it set up so as to avoid the “crush” in the morning. As I drove down her driveway I saw the same clothes line that had been there back in the days I delivered newspapers on my bike. There were a few towels blowing in the early evening breeze. I hoped there would be some panties the next day.

Pulling up in front of the garage I was surprised that there were no longer any doors and that the space was filled with a picture window and a normal door. Bobbi was waiting for me and I liked the outfit she was wearing It was a light blue checked shorts set very similar to the one that Elle had made the first Summer after we’d returned. Once on our way she was being shy so I decided to ask about the transformation of the garage. When her grandparents had died the place had been left to her mother and aunt. The aunt, unmarried, didn’t want to live with her sister and her family so converted the garage to a cottage. I remember that Peggy had a brother so, trying to keep the conversation going, I asked about him. Bad move!

Bobbi turned away from me and just stared out the front window. I was smart enough to realize that I’d hit a sore spot so just kept my mouth shut until we got to the ferry slip.
There was a short line so we had to wait. We got out of the car and walked down to the boarding ramp. It was hard to believe when Bobbi told me she'd never been on the ferry or over to the island as she'd spent all of her sixteen Summers in the area. Once on board she immediately went up to the front for the trip over. In writing this I'm somewhat reminded of Kate Winslet in the movie Titanic as Bobbi seemed transfixed.

When we got to the sailing club it was starting to get dark. I wanted to get the mast in and the stays attached before it got dark. My goal for the evening was to go over some things that Bobbi would need to know before we set sail on Saturday. Never having sailed in a boat with a cockpit it was going to be all new for her but she seemed eager for her lessons.

To be continued...