Smooth Sailing

August 19, 1989

August 19, 1989

Phil Morrison woke up one morning and felt compelled to sail. He had gone sailing the day before, but he desperately wanted to be out on the water again. He wanted to feel the wind running through his hair and water spraying onto his boat. Phil bolted out of bed and turned off his alarm, ready to jump into his sailboat already and glide through the water.

It wasn't until Phil went to the breakfast table and found a bagel waiting for him that he realized that there was a race today. He somehow hadn't even noticed that it was a Saturday. It was so easy to lose track of time in the summer. During the school year, he could at least say what day of the week it was, but he had trouble remembering now. He would go back to college soon - by the end of the month, he would be in Madison, and his sister would be in Portland, and their parents would be alone for the first time in twenty years.

Phil quietly ate his bagel as he watched the clock. He was already running a little bit late, but he was still certain that he would make it to the race on time. He quickly finished off his breakfast, but as he headed outside, Holly entered the dining room.

"Hey Holly," Phil said. "Do you want to go sailing today?"

"Not really," Holly said.

"Why not?" Phil asked.

"I just don't feel like it," Holly answered.

"That's a stupid excuse," Phil said.

"I'd rather read," Holly said.

"You can read later," Phil insisted. Why was Holly being so difficult? She had been like this all summer - it was like she didn't want to spend time with him. Holly and Phil had always been close, despite their frequent sibling disputes, but now, it seemed like Holly was purposely distancing herself from Phil.

"Phil, why should I go sailing with you?" Holly asked.

"The wind's a little bit strong today," Phil said. "I could use your help."

"Phil, you and I both know that you can handle this on your own," Holly said. "Just leave me alone."

Phil gave up on convincing Holly to sail, and he left the house. As he was setting up his sailboat, Theo walked up to him. "Hey Phil," Theo said. "How's it going?"

"My sister's just being difficult," Phil complained.

"That must be rough," Theo said. "I'm kind of glad that I don't have any siblings. You're going back to college soon, right?"

"Holly's leaving first," Phil said.

"I keep forgetting that she's in college now," Theo said. "In my head, she's permanently frozen at twelve."

"Technically, she's not in college yet," Phil said. "She'll be a freshman in a week though."

"It's still weird," Theo said.

"When are you going back to college?" Phil asked.

"In four days," Theo answered.

"Wow, that's really soon," Phil said. "I'm going to miss you, Theo."

"I'll miss you too, Phil," Theo said.

"We'll still talk to each other though," Phil said.

"You know that if you say that, I'll be calling you every day," Theo said with a smile.

"I know," Phil said. "I wouldn't mind that. It's not like I have anything better to do in college."

"That's a lie, and we both know it," Theo said. "Every time I talked to you last year, you were complaining about some absurdly long paper that you had to write."