Meeting Max (33 page)

When they got inside the shanty restaurant, they saw Foxy Callwood, the owner and most famous man on the island, walking around on his bare feet, his body filled with energy as he played upbeat calypso songs on his guitar and talked to the guests.

Foxy was a flamboyant man. He had dark brown skin, a black mustache, and straggly black hair coming over his ears. His gray beard only covered his chin, and his big, round, brown eyes gave him a constantly surprised look. He was dressed in a spectacular multicolored shirt and wore a well-worn red cap.

Foxy himself greeted them. He showed them to a table as he strummed his guitar and sang without missing a beat.

Rick felt that the excitement in the room ignited Max’s imagination. His face was lit up and he appeared to be immersed in the dancing and singing that surrounded him. He had never been to a place like this before.

They feasted on a seafood dinner, enjoyed the festivities, and then walked along the beach until they came to the Soggy Dollar Café,
which had a
large hammock out front, attached between two trees. They sat in the hammock and looked out at Great Harbour with its dinghy dock full. Sailboats were lying peacefully at anchor as the white anchor lights atop their masts blended with the stars.

Rick closed his eyes, laid back in the hammock, and dozed off to the soft sound of the small waves that gently touched the beach. Max shook him and said, “Grandpa, let’s play charades.”

Rick sprang to life and wiped his eyes. “Sure, Max. Okay, you go first.”

Max indicated it was a movie.

“Okay, how many words?” Rick asked.

Max held up three fingers and went through descriptive motions. The first word was difficult. When Max gestured that he was riding an animal, Rick thought it was a horse, but then, after some more of his gyrations, he realized it was a camel and guessed at
Lawrence of Arabia.

“Hey, you’re pretty good at this. How did you get it?”

“The way you were riding made me think you were in the desert,” Rick said as his desert remembrances flashed by. “Why did you pick that movie?”

“I knew it was your favorite.”

Rick did a movie too. It was a film he’d never watched, but he’d seen the trailers on TV. It was a vampire movie and Max got it in about thirty seconds, which was okay with Rick because he was really tired.

Max practiced motoring the dinghy back to the boat. Once onboard, they were quickly lulled into a deep sleep by the gentle rocking of their home on water.

The next morning, they went ashore to visit Christine’s Bakery and bought freshly baked coconut bread to take back to the boat to have it with eggs and coffee.

What followed was a week of peaceful sailing, dreamy days, and starlit nights. They were blessed with good weather and favorable winds. Max absorbed his sailing lessons like a sponge and continued to amaze Rick with the intelligent, thoughtful questions he asked.

On their last day, they took a long sail upwind along the north coast of Tortola. They passed Cane Garden Bay, and then cut through the narrow Great Camanoe Passage to Marina Cay, where they anchored for lunch and talked.

“Grandpa, this is a paradise. How did I do steering the boat upwind with our rail almost in the water?”

“You did great. You’re a natural sailor. It was good to sail completely around Tortola so you could have an idea of how to handle a sailboat when it’s at different angles to the wind.”

They shared a papaya, made tuna fish sandwiches on coconut bread, and sat in the cockpit.

“You’re Jewish, right?

“Yes, I am.”

“Does that make me part Jewish too?”

“Well, we are what we want to be. You know, when you’re young, you take on some of the things your parents believe. But when you get older, you can make up your own mind about those things.”

“What do you believe?”

“You mean about religion?”

“Yes.”

“Each religion believes it is the right one. I thought they were all wrong.”

“You don’t practice your religion?”

“Well, it’s a funny thing, Max. I enjoyed the traditions of my religion when I was young: the holidays, Passover, Chanukah. I was religious and thought I believed in God, but I was never sure. Those were warm feelings, and I still cherish them. I had to use my brain to examine my beliefs and see if they passed the test of reason. They didn’t, so I decided not to believe in God.”

“Do you believe in God now, Grandpa?”

“Now, I’m not sure. When I was in India, I walked with a man on a beach. It was a dark, starry evening, and we talked all night about these things. He was a spiritual man, and when we parted, I was left with a space in my thinking that I still don’t understand, but I know it’s there. I have a feeling that space is spirituality and I may have to explore it again.

“You have to make up your own mind about these things, Max. And remember, you’re unique. You don’t have to believe what everyone else does. Just because billions of people believe something, doesn’t make it right. You must find your own truth.”

“I’m not sure about God, but I don’t say anything to my mom. I know she believes, and we go to church at least on the holidays.”

“I think it’s good not to say anything about certain doubts to your mom. I’m sure she has tender feelings on the subject.”

“Okay, so we’re talking about two things,” Max said, “one is God and the other is religion. Is it like emotions versus reason?”

Rick couldn’t believe Max said that. He nailed it.

“Yeah, Max, it does narrow down to those two things. God and religion and how we think and feel about each.”

“I learned about evolution in biology.”

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s interesting. My teacher has a big poster in the room. It shows how we evolved. You probably believe in evolution. You’re a professor.”

“I believe it.”

Rick showed Max how to weigh anchor without using the engine while hoisting the main at the same time. He explained to Max that since a boat at anchor was already facing the wind, releasing the mainsheet and hoisting the anchor would let you tack across the anchor line, pull it up, and sail off. Max was a fast learner.

Under Captain Grandpa’s direction and guidance, Max sailed
Gone With the Wind
to Cane Garden Bay. When they arrived, Max set the anchor.

Within minutes, they got a call on their VHF from David complimenting them on a good anchoring job. He and Daniela had watched them from their deck.

Daniela brought pasta, bread, and wine down to the boat so they could all have dinner in the cockpit and enjoy the sunset.

Max heard the message on the VHF radio and said, “Can we get some Conch fritters? I heard they were good.”

“Really? From who? I like conch fritters.”

“Remember? Jena said they were delicious, that Rhymers has the best.”

“Okay. Why don’t you dinghy in and get enough for the four of us. It would make a great appetizer.”

Rick watched Max motor the dinghy toward the beautiful half moon beach, and it wasn’t long before he returned with a grease-stained brown bag that contained a white box full of hot conch fritters.

The sun was getting ready to perform its evening ritual and provide them with new, colorful artwork. The cockpit table held a large dish of Rasta Pasta, a BVI specialty, coconut bread from Christine’s, bottles of Perrier, red and white wines, and a plate piled high with Rhymers spicy conch fritters.

David and Daniela told them about their plan to sail to St. Croix for a few days. It was their turn to be “gone with the wind.”

It was a beautiful evening. They watched the sun inch its way into the sea, leaving a sky full of fiery orange and yellow streaks that reflected on the water. Max spoke with confidence and enthusiasm about their sailing adventures and how Foxy had showed them to their table while he sang and strummed on Jost Van Dyke.

“You’ve learned a lot,” David said. “Did Grandpa teach you how to make knots?”

“Well, that’s the one thing Grandpa didn’t teach me too much about, except how to tie up a dinghy with a round turn and two half hitches.”

“That’s a start,” Daniela said. “David and I could teach you a few more tonight, or you can look up the important knots on the internet, get a piece of rope, and practice. A few of the good ones are the bo’lin knot, reef knot, clove hitch, stopper knot, and the half hitch. That should keep you busy at home. Learn them and practice them.”

Max wrote the names down in his logbook.

Daniela and Max stayed in the cockpit and talked while David and Rick sat up on the bow.

“I know you still think about Eric. You’ve carried this weight all these years,” David said. “I still think about what you’ve gone through. My heart goes out to you.”

“Yeah, we lost an important person in Max’s life and in our lives,” he whispered. “It wasn’t easy for me. You remember how it was with Julie and me.”

“Yeah, it was beautiful. I always felt I had the same closeness with Daniela as you guys did.”

“You do, I can feel it.”

“I’m sad about Elena too. Dying under such a horrific circumstance.”

“Thank you. Losing her overwhelmed me, and I still think of her. I imagined myself sailing with Eric, Elena, and even Julie on this trip while I was with Max. I live in my dreams too much.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Rick. Maybe another woman will be in your life.”

“I don’t think so, but you’re right, it all depends on who crosses my path. You never know when it will happen. With me, it was in a library and again on a plane. Yeah, you never know where. Luck still plays a big part.”

“I want you to come to the islands more often and bring Max and another friend, if you wish.”

“Max is moving to California with his mom and her husband. I’ll miss him, but we’ll see each other.”

“When is he leaving?”

“In the fall.”

“And what are your plans after that?”

“Not much. I don’t have anything scheduled over the summer until the new term begins. Now I will
really
have no one in my life in New York, so it will be kind of lonely.”

“You’re welcome here anytime. Oh, did I tell you Daniela and I were offered an opportunity to be guest lecturers for ten days at Kochi University in India next January? What do you think?”

“Wow! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You guys will love India. You’re the right kind of people to go there. India is not for everyone. Kochi University is in south India, in the state of Kerala. Let me know if you decide to go. I’ve been there and have gone to the Synagogue in Kochi, which was previously called Cochin. If you go to the synagogue, wear long pants.”

“Long pants? Uh, well, maybe I would anyway, but why?”

Rick laughed. “It’s a long story. We’ll save it for another time.”

David looked puzzled.

Everyone felt good about being together, but sad about leaving
.

The next day, Rick and Max gathered their gear from
Gone With The Wind
and loaded it into the inflatable dinghy to go ashore.

In the morning, David drove them over the mountainous road into Road Town, where Rick bought a bottle of Pusser’s rum, t-shirts for Max, and a set of Caribbean spices for Sarah and Stan. He also bought her a beautiful silver bracelet from a fine jewelry shop. Rick and Max knew she would like it.

***

The ferry took them to the airport in St. Thomas, where they boarded a flight to New York. Rick brought Max back to Sarah.

They planned to get together before Sarah and Max left for California. Max suggested the zoo, so they agreed to meet the following Sunday at the Bird House at the Bronx Zoo, a short walk from where Rick grew up.

The week passed quickly, and Rick arrived at the zoo almost two hours early so he could walk around and think. He called Sarah to tell her he left tickets for them. Stan was not able to join them.

Rick walked toward the butterfly garden to enjoy the beauty of the
Lepidoptera
. He couldn’t take his eyes off their fluttering wings as the colorful butterflies filled his vision. When a woman attempted to avoid a large group of running children and a tired looking man with a double stroller, she bumped into Rick and uttered a soft apology. He nodded in acknowledgment, then looked away.

“I suppose it’s a good day for people to bring their kids here.” The woman laughed uncomfortably. “I mean, not that I mind kids, but I wish they would keep a better eye on them.”

“Yeah, they can get out of hand, that’s true.” Rick turned and smiled politely. She was attractive, in her forties, he guessed, and had straight brown hair with blonde streaks cut in uneven lengths. She was smoothing out the hood on her folded windbreaker and shifted the jacket to her other arm.

For a moment, they both turned and watched the rambunctious crowd of children as they yelled and ran across the path, nearly knocking down an elderly couple. The man with the stroller yelled and ran toward them, his face red with exhaustion and annoyance.