Blue Water: A Novel

74 Pages·2006·0.93 MB·English

by  A. Manette Ansay

A . M A N E T T E
A
NSAY
An e-book excerpt from
For Jake Smith;
for Genevieve;
for the cruisers we met along the way;
for my longtime editor, Claire Wachtel, who waited for this one so patiently;
and with thanks to the people involved in making my new life possible and
whole: Arya Nielsen, Surendra Patel, Deborah Schneider, Dr. Erika
Schwartz, and Oprah Winfrey, whose kindness set in motion the
experiences that launched Blue Water.
Thanks to Ted Doran for Top Billing, to David Hartmann for the table
saw, and to KD for a story that affected me deeply. I’m indebted to Scott
Rost for his legal expertise and to Diane Goodman for a swift fi nal read.
Extra special thanks to “no rules, no fear” Sylvia J. Ansay for last-minute
babysitting.
And enduring love and gratitude to Ann Patchett and Karl VanDevender.
Y
ou can spend a year at sea waiting, but one day
it becomes impossible to endure even another
hour.
—The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor,
GABR IE L GARC Í A MÁRQ U E Z
Contents
Epigraph
Part One: Chelone 1
One
Forget what you’ve read about the ocean. Forget white
sails on… 3
Two
We left Portland harbor on the Fourth of July, entering
the Gulf… 23
Three
For the first days after the squall line passed, Rex and
I were… 45
Four
We ate dinner at the round teak table: hamburgers,
canned green beans… 62
Part Two: Houndfish Cay 81
Five
Imagine a woman rising on a dark, December morning,
cursing beneath… 83
Six
Three weeks in Bermuda while Chelone sat on the hard,
scorched electronics… 105
Seven
There were three places to meet friends for a drink on
Houndfish Cay. 130
Eight
Imagine a woman stumbling along a solitary trail,
the eastern horizon dark… 152
Part Three: Blue Water 175
Nine
The Echo Island airport was roughly the size of
a living room. 177
Ten
Amy Kreisler opened the door to find a barrel-chested
man in an orange… 206
Eleven
It was dark by the time I arrived at Twin Lakes. 236
Twelve
The day of the wedding dawned bright and clear,
but just before… 257
Thirteen
The whisker poles were not long and straight, as
I’d imagined. 268
About the Author
Other Books by A. Manette Ansay
Credits
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