Touching Water

for Nin Andrews

Alice would slink into the cold water behind the big boulders on the eastern side of the cove. Her goal was to swim out between the red and yellow buoys. The lobster-men would notice her. It became a game. They'd spot her blond head bobbing up and down and motor over to her. How's the water, Alice? they'd ask when she came up for air. Hot enough to boil a lobster, she'd say, smiling with thin blue lips. They knew she lived in the little gray cottage for the summer, wintering in the big city. She's a cosmopolitan woman, they'd tell each other. They admired her crazy courage to swim in all weather and so they counted her as one of their own. She's earned it, they'd say. She's tougher than us, they'd cackle over their beers. They even felt a little bit responsible for her, knowing she was out there. She always swam alone and she never wore a life jacket, not even a bathing suit. They were concerned for her safety.

Alice learned to swim in the ocean. She'd do anything to be in the water. When she couldn't swim she dreamed she was diving out of moving taxis or tall buildings into puddles. I'd tread water in a teacup, she'd say to anyone who'd listen. Water gave Alice her best ideas, even when washing the dishes. She kept a pen and pad in a basket near the shower so she could grab it and write quick notes with wet hands. The pages were warped and wavy, the thin blue lines blurred.

One late summer day a fierce storm rolled in to the cove. The clouds were dark and roiling. The fishermen yelled to each other liver sky, liver sky! What they saw were clouds green as a lobster's liver.

We better get going to shore, one yelled. Just as they secured their boats and climbed into their rusty red pickup trucks the clouds unleashed a torrent of cold diagonal rain. They spotted her blond head bobbing. Jeez, I didn't know she was still out there, one said.

We gotta go get her. It's bad out there. They could barely see her but they were riveted watching her arms lifting gracefully, alternating. They became hypnotized. There was no use, they couldn't move.

My grandfather told me this story and his grandfather told it to him. When a liver sky rolls in, if you look for Alice you can spot her way out, swimming calmly back and forth.