It was the run-up to the Summer Ball at the Green Lake Yacht Club when it started. Tony and I were in the changing room showering after our morning's water-skiing. I was shaken out of my daydream by Tony's voice.
"Going to the Summer Ball, Alec? You know the Ski club gets an allocation of tickets."
"Yeah, I know. But who to ask?"
"Yeah."
There was silence for a while, and then we both spoke at once. "Julie Trask!" More silence for a long moment as we realised we planned to ask the same girl, but Tony and I had been friends since first grade and neither of us wanted to hurt the other.
"We can't both ask her ," said Tony.
I started to agree, then had an idea. "Why not?" I said. "Let's finish off here, and go and find her. I think she does a Thursday afternoon in the gift shop during the summer. We'll go together, tell her we both want to ask her, and let her choose. I promise I won't break your neck if she chooses you."
"And if she already has a partner?"
"Plan B," I said, laughing. "We panic!"
Half an hour later, we found Julie in the gift shop. She smiled to see us. Well, that was encouraging, no immediate rejection.
"Hi, guys! Come to buy something?"
"Not exactly, Julie. We wanted to ask if you were planning on going to the Summer Ball at the Yacht Club?"
"Yes, I am," she said. "And?"
"We both wanted to ask you to be our partner. That is, if you haven't already been asked. We thought it fair if we both came, and whoever loses out asks someone else."
She gazed at us for a long moment, then frowned. "You're asking me to choose between you? That's not fair, guys. If either one of you had come and asked me, I'd have said yes. Now, you want me to hurt one of you." She shook her head, then laughed suddenly.
"I think I have a solution. You two are both powerboat types, aren't you? Water skiers?"
"Yeah, I guess," I said, and Tony nodded agreement.
"Do either of you know anything about dinghy sailing?"
We looked at each other, and then at Julie, who was smiling broadly. Uh-oh, I thought.
"No," said Tony.
"Pointy end is the front, same like a powerboat, but it needs wind instead of horsepower," I said, "and that's about my lot."
"Alec just about sums it up for me, too, Julie," said Tony. "So what's on your mind?"
"It's Thursday now. The Summer Ball is a week Sunday, but on the day before there's an open dinghy race, a fun event. It's a handicap, and most of the dinghies in the club are eligible. Borrow a dinghy, enter the open race, and whoever finishes highest, he'll be my partner. So, what do you say?"
Tony and I looked at each other. He shrugged. "Seems fair. Okay with you?"
"I guess. Okay, we'll do it!"
"Thanks, guys," said Julie. "I'm glad it's going to be one of you two. I've turned a couple of previous offers down, hoping someone nice would ask me, but I didn't expect two at once. Good luck, both of you. I suggest your next stop is the Yacht Club, get your entries in now."
Charlie Thompson, the Competition Secretary at the Yacht Club laughed long and loud when we told him why we were entering the race. He shook his head while he entered our names on the list of entries.
"Either of you got a dinghy to race?"
We shook our heads, and he nodded.
"Do you mind if I tell the guys why you're entering? I suspect one or two will be prepared to lend you a boat for the race, given the reason."
"Why not," I said, laughing. "The worst that can happen is we'll die of embarrassment."
"Tell you what," said Charlie, "one of you can borrow my Laser for the race. You'll still need to get someone to show you how to sail it, but at least you'll know what you're racing in." He took a dime from his pocket and poised it to throw. "Tony? Call it?"
"Heads!"
Charlie flipped the coin and we all watched as it fell, spun, rolled a little, and fell. Heads. Oh, well.
"Sorry, Alec. You'll need to borrow a boat from someone else." He glanced out of the window, and nodded his head towards the outside. "The answer might just be going past. Beth Allan. She has a Laser she might lend. That way, you'll both be in the same class of boat, so the race between you will be even even if you finish last and second-last."
"Okay, Charlie," I said. "Hint taken. Tony? Catch you later, okay?" and I hurried out to see if I could catch Beth.
Beth Allan. Little, mousy, Beth Allan. Honor student, a classmate since sixth grade, bright, intelligent, but self-effacing to an extreme. Everyone's friend, no-one's girlfriend, but one of the best dinghy sailors in the Club, a regular event winner. She was ambling along towards the car park, hands in her shorts pockets, head down, as usual. I felt a sudden twinge of sympathy.
"Beth?" I called, and she turned, surprised, smiling slightly when she saw it was me.
"Hi, Alec. You wanted me?" There was an undertone in her voice that I didn't recognise.
"I want to ask a favour," I said.
"Which is?"
"I've entered the open dinghy race next Saturday, but I haven't got a boat. Charlie said you might lend me your Laser. So, any chance of it?"
She stared at me for a long moment. "You, Alec? You've entered the open dinghy race? You, an avowed powerboat man? Whatever for?" There was astonishment and curiosity combined in her voice, in her look.
I shrugged. "Tony and I both asked Julie Trask to be our partner for the Summer Ball, and she said she'd go with whoever finished highest in the open race. Charlie is lending his own Laser to Tony, and he spotted you going past and suggested I ask you, because that way, we're racing the same class of boat, so the race will be fair, even if we're the last two to finish." I shrugged. "So, Beth, pretty please, may I borrow your Laser for the race?"
"Do you even know how to sail a dinghy?" said Beth.
I grimaced and shrugged. "No, I guess not."
"Let me see if I have this straight, okay? Not only do you need to borrow a dinghy, but you also need instruction on how to sail the thing? Is that right?"
"Yup. That's it in a nutshell, Beth. So can I borrow the Laser or not? Because if I can't, I need to find someone else with a boat I can borrow."
She gazed at me for a long, long moment. "You're serious about this?"
"I guess."
"Meet me at the basin tomorrow, nine o'clock. We can use my brother's fourteen-footer. Jeff won't mind, since he's in Europe on honeymoon. It's a nice stable boat. Not a racing boat, but it has everything we need to get you started, and there's room enough for two. Time enough for the Laser when you can sail Jeff's boat."
It was my turn to stare. Beth's head came up and she frowned. "Well?" she demanded.
I grinned. "Aye-aye, ma'am!" I saluted, and Beth laughed, transforming her usual solemn look for a moment, before it returned. "Nine o'clock at the basin. Thanks, Beth, you're an angel!"
"More likely a fool," I thought I heard her say, before she turned away towards the car park. She looked back. "Nine o'clock, or it's off!"
I gazed after her. Oh, well, that was my Friday lie-in off the agenda.
I was on time, but Beth was there before me. Shorts, a cotton sweater, sneakers, and a life vest, another in her hand. She handed it to me.
"Put that on. I know you can swim, I've watched you in the high school competitions often enough, but it's easy to get hit by a boom coming over, or hit your head if you slip and I don't want you to drown."
I bit back the quip I was about to make and took the life vest. A quick adjustment on the straps and Beth pronounced herself satisfied.
"Okay, I have Jeff's boat tied up near the bait shop. It's quieter there, we won't get in anybody's way, and I can find out how much you know about dinghies."
Which wasn't a lot. Almost any boat has similarities to others. A -- usually -- sharp bow, a -- usually -- blunter stern, and a rudder to steer with. I was more used to wheel steering on powerboats, but I grasped the dinghy essentials soon enough. When it came to rigging and sails, there I was in uncharted waters, if you'll pardon the expression. It took a while, and remembering that 'sheet' meant a rope, not a sail, took a while longer.
Eventually, after an hour or so, Beth pronounced herself satisfied for the moment, and we climbed aboard. The breeze was light, but Beth hoisted only the jib and out we went.
It was magical. I was so used to powerboats that the much more intimate interface between a sailing boat and its environment almost awed me. The usually solemn Beth came alive, and even when she was reprimanding me, there was a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye. Thursday went by in a flash, Friday too. Saturday and Sunday were family days, but we were out on the water again on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was different. Wednesday, Beth let me try her Laser. Not a new boat, by any means, but she kept it in superb condition. Wednesday, my bubble burst, as I learned how much different it was sailing a single-place out-and-out racing boat. Beth had borrowed an outboard motor and fitted it to Jeff's dinghy, so that she could track me without having to look after her own sails at the same time. Not only track me, but, carefully keeping downwind, call out advice, instruction, and the occasional derogatory reprimand. Her sense of humor was refreshing, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself, even as I ended up in the water for the zillionth time.
If Wednesday was bad, Thursday was even worse, but on Friday, it all came together and I was able to tackle the course Beth set me successfully, without making any serious blunders, without falling in the water.
"You're as ready as I can make you, given the time we had," said Beth as we packed up on the Friday afternoon. "The race is at ten tomorrow morning, and it will be all over by eleven. You'll know if you're going to be Julie's date or not," she added. The solemn, unsmiling Beth was back. I preferred the other Beth, the one she became out on the lake, but I said nothing. I said nothing, because I was thinking about the following day, and not just about the race.
We'd seen Tony out on the water as Beth educated me in dinghy sailing. Tony's tutor was an older Club member called Chuck Owens, and Beth remarked that in a Laser race, she worried about Owens more than the other competitors.
"We've both won, both lost. I think the score is about five-four to Chuck, but I'll beat him again, I know I will. Tony is getting some good teaching."
"It can't be better than mine, Beth. No way," I said, and she gave me a half smile.
"See you in the morning, Alec," she said, and she was away.
