UD will now relate the events of yesterday in a series of sentences and paragraphs organized in terms of beginning, middle, and end.

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“I’d be too scared to do that.”

The wife of the retired dermatologist (they’re renting the apartment next to UD‘s) sat poolside watching UD emerge from her morning swim.  UD‘s neighbor had been thinking about UD ‘s plans for the day.  “So you’re going snorkeling.  And kayaking too.   When I was younger, maybe.  But when you get old you only think about what could go wrong.”

UD pulled some water out of her hair and decided it was time to get a cut and color somewhere in Key West.

Then she decided it wouldn’t be in the free, free as the wind spirit of Key West to do that.

“Oh, snorkeling is for sissies.”

UD immediately felt guilty for saying this, so she covered it over with a big fake laugh.

“How long will you be on the sailboat?”

“Five hours.”

“See… I’d worry about getting sick way out on the ocean or whatever…”

UD had focused on only one thing to worry about.  One teeny teeny very particular thing:  Getting from the boat to the kayak.  Doing that while not falling into the water.  Doing that while not capsizing the kayak, into which her partner would already have settled her butt.  Everything else seemed doable.

“How do you manage to do laps in that thing?” asked UD‘s neighbor, pointing to their rather small pool.

“I do small little breast stroky movements… It seems to work.”

“We bought all these bottles of wine and we’re not going to be able to finish them before we go.  Will you come over tomorrow night and have some wine with us?”

“Of course!  Thanks.  I won’t be able to put away too much of it, but I’d be glad to have some with you.”

On her walk to the marina, UD reflected, as she so often did, upon Gore Vidal‘s words of wisdom: “It is not enough to succeed.  Others must fail.”  It is not enough to spend the day on the ocean snorkeling and kayaking.  Others must be afraid to do so.  It is not enough to be walking on a palm-lined street on yet another day of full sun, mild wind, and temperatures in the high seventies.  Others must endure hailstorms.

She took Elizabeth Street, her favorite among the sunny sumptuous streets of Key West, and she smiled and paused when she got to her favorite Key West house.

At the dock, she paid for the outing. The woman in the kiosk also reserved a trip for UD on Thursday to the Dry Tortugas.

UD loves the name Dry Tortugas. For some reason, it always reminds her of how, when they were kids, she and her siblings used to say Tough Noogies.

end of part one