A Life Afloat (Maybe)

Chapter 13

Was it only the day before yesterday, when Pete last visited the boatyard? It seemed a lot longer, he was becoming a little concerned that he had not heard from Alec since their trip down the river on his yacht. All he could do, he supposed, was to wait patiently for Alec to contact him. He knew that what his friend was suffering from, could be a life-destroying experience for him. The apparent loss of a wife he worshiped and adored to a disease that had no cure and literally devoured the very life and being of the person that it attacked. He did not envy his friend one bit, for the horrendous position that he found himself in. All he could offer him was, understanding and friendship. An ear, to listen to his friends' fury, and to become a beating post for him, to beat up on. So that his friend, could vent his anger and fury at the inhumanity of it all. It would be better for a friend to accept that sort of treatment rather than the doctors and nurses who were doing their very best for his ailing wife. With those sobering thoughts in his mind, Peter decided to take a stroll over to the boatyard. To make sure that all was well with his friends' yacht, to have a chat with the workers in the yard and maybe have a bite to eat in that bistro that he had become very fond of.

To this end, he once more dragged out his rusty old bike and started to pedal his way over to the boatyard. As he was making his way along the back country roads as ever, he gave his usual greeting wave to the ramblers as they flocked by, in greater numbers than usual, fleeting random images and thoughts kept popping into his mind, although not for very long, a second or so and they had gone, dot, dot, dash, dot, yellow black yellow, black yellow black, there's two IALA's, green red green, two long one short, he thought he was going mad until it slowly dawned upon him that these were all part and parcel of the information that Alec had been trying to force into his slow lumbering mind, they were all to do with sailing, the dots and dashes were Morse code, the colours were on the buoys, so were the flashing lights, he couldn't remember what the initials stood for but he did know there were two of them, one European and one Pacific and they were mirrors of each other, glory, glory, he muttered when he realised that he was actually learning something, not a lot but enough to make him pleased with himself, his mind so far off track that he had ridden into the boat yard and unwittingly was halfway down the jetty just about to take a ride into the river when he heard a heavy and deep voice bellowing 'STOP! You damned fool, you'll be in the water STOP!'. It had screamed, it was Nobby, the yard foreman, who was actually stood at the end of the jetty directly in Peter's path, frantically waving his arms.

Suddenly realising what he was doing Pete braked hard as he had almost ended up on top of Nobby but did, in fact, stop in time, just in time 'what you trying to do you old fool, kill us both' Nobby demanded. Breathless and totally embarrassed at making such a fool of himself, all Peter could say was that he was so very sorry, muttering all the apologies that he could think of, saying that his mind was miles away and that it will never happen again, 'you do anything like that again and I'll have banned from the yard, Alec's friend or not' stormed Nobby as he stomped his way back down the jetty. Feeling utterly stupid, Peter made his way back down the jetty, followed Nobby and parked his bike by the fence in its usual place, he then just stood there waiting and waiting until Nobby had cooled down a little, then plucking up his courage and in the hope that all quiet, he finally went into the office to face Nobby, once again offering his deepest apologies saying that he would find somewhere to park his bike away from the boat yard, with a bit of a bleak smile Nobby said 'no, no, you don't have to do that, just for safety's sake don't do anything so stupid again' pausing 'had Alec on your mind then have you?' 'Yes very much so, I'm getting really worried about him' said Pete 'I don't suppose you have heard anything from him' 'no it's been quiet as the grave on that subject, like you, no one seems to have heard anything, I think we're all of us are in that boat' was Nobby's dejected reply, looking up and straight into Peter's eyes 'you'll let us know if you hear anything' 'that I will' indicated Pete, 'I'll be on my way down to the village now, see if I can find out anything' finally taking his leave Pete, said quietly, 'I'll see you in a bit then' and left the office heading for the bistro.

As he made his way down into the village, Pete once again noticed that there was still no sign of Alec's car in his driveway, slowly making his way into the bistro, where he received his usual warm greeting and saw a little sadness in the eyes of the girls when he said that he was not there to eat this time, even though he was beginning to feel the pangs of hunger, with a smile he told them of his adventure in the boatyard which caused gales of laughter with which, he joined in this time, 'you don't by any chance to take outs do you' he asked 'not normally' Sandy replied 'but we might make an exception for you, what do you want'. 'Well, if you have four of those lovely meat and potato pies' 'yes' she said 'what else?' 'A nice large selection of your cakes and pastries' he said somewhat sheepishly', 'emptying our shelves are you then?' And a little more sheepishly, 'err!! You couldn't do me four coffee's as well could you', 'I'll just bring the bistro up there to the lads then shall I', with a smile she countered, 'I could just go back and bring the boys down here if you like, give you that earthy style and smell', 'Oh! Oh! No you don't, we'll have it done in five minutes, black coffee with milk supplied I suppose' was her final remark as she made her way smiling into the kitchen, as usual, more laughter , as promised Sandy came back, this time, both Sarah and Amy accompanied her, with a couple of bags in her hands, in an almost united chorus which included much giggling, two fodder bags with four black coffee's with milk to go, count yourself lucky that we like you', 'you'd better be back sometime soon we need customers not take-away's, it is a bistro you know' still laughing they relieved Peter of not a small sum of money and still laughing bid him a fond farewell, smiling himself, he took his leave of the girls with no further comment but holding his head high, damn, he thought, I just love the camaraderie around here.

Walking quickly back to the boat yard he found luckily that Nobby and the men all in the office at the same time which he thought must have been a bit of a rarity, giving the bags over to Nobby he told them that he was supplying them with lunch and it was a way of once more of saying sorry for his misdemeanor and stupidity earlier in the day. Diving into the bags before Nobby could say any different Ben, Jacko and Barney helped themselves 'don't know about your boss but were having an early and maybe longer lunch than usual,' 'beats sandwiches and tea', 'thanks a lot Pete but you shouldn't have done this', 'a pint in the pub would have been fine' but chortling they cried 'but this is better' with that the lads all made their way out of the office to go and sit on the trestles down by the jetty, picking up what they had left behind Nobby also smiled saying that it was a very nice gesture but wasn't necessary, 'you'll be their best friend for life now I would think' and he himself picked up his own free lunch and wandered over to join the lads by the trestles, where the conversation quickly turned to last night's football on the telly and with that, it his own cue to make his way back to the bistro. Having smelled the boys' lunches, his own stomach started to growl letting him know that it was time to eat.

Gamely, he trudged his way back wondering what sort of welcome he would receive, he hadn't needed to worry, things seemed to be back to normal with both Sandy and Sarah giving him warm smiles, their first question was of course, 'how did our pies go down, with his own smile and chuckle 'wolfed down faster than you ring up your till' they thoroughly enjoyed the pies and were getting stuck into the cakes and pastries even faster, ' so if you don't mind, seeing as we have fed the workers, I will have some of that delightful quiche or anything similar if I'm too late', 'I'm sure that Amy will have set some aside for you, we all thought that you would be back', 'you seem to be getting to know me very well' he said as Sarah grinned at him, 'see right through you we do' as she guided him over to the table that had not only been Alec and Rose's favourite but which the girls had realised had become important to him as well. Before Sarah left him and after she had made sure that the table was clean, she quietly asked if he had heard anything of either Rose or Alec, she could see from his face what his reply was going to be. Taking his time over his lunch, the quiche being as good as ever and lazing his way through the coffee Pete realised how content with life he had become, the challenges of his studying sailing techniques and other boating matters did not seem such a burden, he was really beginning to enjoy the challenges that he was facing, it brought some zing and zest to his days the only thing that was really bothering him was the unknown state of Alec and his wife. The tranquility of the afternoon was rudely destroyed when a group of young and boisterous day tourists came bouncing into the bistro, time for me to move he thought, quickly and quietly he went over to where Sandy was standing by the check-out, paid his bill and told her that as soon as he heard anything about Alec he would let them know and with a quiet 'see you later' took his leave of them and made his way back up to the boatyard.

As he walked back through the village he noticed with some sadness that there was still no sign of Alec's car meaning of course that he still had not returned from wherever he was visiting, on a half-chance he changed direction and walked up to Alec's home entered through the gate and quietly walked around the house looking for signs of life or activity, with a sigh of relief he noted that there was no damage to any of the doors and windows just as he turned to walk back to the front of the cottage he saw a movement to his left, glancing across he saw that it was Alec' neighbour 'mornin' Bryan' he called, 'ah! tis yew' 'yes, it's been a time since I saw Alec, so I thought I'd have a quick check to make sure all is well', 'ah! 'tis awright, bin keepin' eyes on't place fer him I 'as, now't happ'n, 'tis quiet, Nah one bin round her' aboot 'cept yous just anow', 'that's good to know, thanks for keeping an eye on the place for them', 'have you heard from them as to when they will be coming home' asked Pete, 'he's up wiv tha' son o his, nat 'eard nowt sa'll us 'noz', 'OK then and thanks once more, take care of yourself' was Pete's final word as he made his way out, funny old codger he thought, I'm not sure I understood him, still all seems well. Finally, making it back to the boatyard, and seeking out Nobby. He told him, that according to his neighbour, Alec was up at his son's. That was all he had been able to find out. 'I'm surprised' was Nobby's reaction, 'walks around with his nose in the air, that one, as if we all smell, didn't take to him at all' was his only comment.' Right, that's it for me today, his cottage is secure, his yacht is still floating, so I'm going home' he told Nobby. 'You do that' Nobby quipped, 'I took a look around her this mornin', all looks ship shape and secure', 'Cheers! I'll see you later in the week then', and with that, he wandered over to his bike, climbed aboard, and made his way out of the yard. Slowly he made his way home. Happier than he had been, earlier in the day. Still feeling a little apprehensive as to what the future now holds.