Sunday afternoon Abby was in her room watching a Clark Gable movie. Though she had the TV's volume up loud, it still didn’t drown out the sound of Chester playing his stupid guitar. He was working on another song, and it did not seem to be going well. The front door banged open. Abby groaned. It had to be David. He never knocked. He considered Grammy's house an extension of his own. The guitar playing stopped. Abby muted the TV. She heard Chester ask, "Are you Lila's youngest?"

"Yes. That is a beautiful guitar."

"Thanks." Much to Abby's surprise she heard the unmistakable sound of a guitar being handed from one musician to another. What? He said, nobody touched his precious guitar but him. "Will you play me something? Ma tells me you are quite a wonder."

"Sure." With one quick strum, David launched into a song Abby had never heard before.

When he finished, Chester asked, "Did you write that?"

"Yup."

"Man, you are pretty good."

"Thanks." The guitar was passed back. David asked, "Is Abby here?"

Silently Abby prayed, Please say NO!

"I think she is upstairs."

Crap!

The guitar music began again.David's flip flops slapped up the stairs. He knocked on her door and opened it before she could respond.

"How many times have I told you to NOT walk into my room until I say come in?"

The light in David's eyes turned to that unmistakable spark of mischief. "O speak again bright angel-"

Abby cut him off. "Leave. Now."

He didn't. He walked over to her TV to see what she was watching. "My mom likes that old dude too." He looked out her window. "Want to go sailing with me and Ryan?"

She wanted very much to be out on the water, to be part of something bigger than she was. If only she could go alone, without the Spenser boys, but she didn't know how to sail and Grammy didn't have boat. "I guess."

*

The road to the yacht club was twisting and tree lined. Shadows fell across Abby as she pedaled. David was in front of her showing off, riding on one wheel. He was doing it to impress her, but she was not impressed. She yelled, "You are gonna kill yourself. Stop it."

He leveled his bike, cast a glance backward and said, "See you do care about me."

It was true, but she didn't say so.

Ryan was riding his mother's old lady bike. In the basket was Mr. Nick. Where Ryan went, Mr. Nick went if he could. They had some kind of mysterious inseparable bond. He pedaled beside Abby. When David rounded the corner in front of them, Ryan said, “This morning Mom was talking to Dad about being on the pilings with Chester. Dad doesn't seem the least bit worried."

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"Does he know Chester kissed her?"

"Uh, no." Ryan became suddenly angry and said, "My mother wouldn't do anything."

Abby wasn’t so sure, but she said, "Yeah, but we both think Chester might."

Grimly, Ryan nodded. They rounded the corner. Dazzling light scattered across the water, sailboat masts thrust long fingers into the blue sky. There wasn't much wind. David was waiting for them at the gate. He was talking to the guard, Mr. Henderson.

When Abby pulled up beside him on her bike, David said, "Juliet, thou art slow."

Abby punched him in the arm, "I wish you would quit calling me that. Besides Romeo would never say that."

David rubbed his arm. He looked at Mr. Henderson and said, "She called me Romeo."

"I did not." Mr. Henderson smiled at Abby. He motioned them through the gate. They parked their bikes. Mr. Nick mewed loud so Ryan would carry him. Down the wooden pier, they walked. Near the end, the Spenser's little white sail boat, Sanity, bobbed up and down. Without hesitation, Mr. Nick leapt from Ryan's arms onto the deck of the boat. He jumped up beside the captain's seat and stretched out his fat body. Taking a giant leap David bound onto the boat. The whole thing tilt crazily back and forth. Mr. Nick hissed at him.

Angry, Ryan said, "How many times have you been told not to do that."

"Apparently not enough." He grinned and held out his hand to Abby. She did not take it.

Going from solid to wavering always scared her, Abby made the climbed without assistance. She sat down quick on the first seat. Ryan untethered the boat. Without rocking the boat even a little, he stepped on board. David unlashed the sail, grabbed his binoculars and clambered over the cabin to the prow. Ryan took the captain's seat between Mr. Nick, and Abby. Skillfully he maneuvered the boat out of the marina and into the bay. Seagulls swooped and squawked overhead. Abby felt her worries slide away from her. A school of fish skimmed the water, their bodies caught the sun and shimmered silver. The wind picked up some and the sail puffed taunt. Their speed increased and it was glorious. At some point in time Ryan put his arm behind her. He didn't touch her but she could feel the closeness of him.

Though Abby had put her worries behind her, Ryan had not. His worries came crashing into her fragile peace. He asked, "How much longer do you think Chester is going to be here?"

"I don't know. He won't leave soon enough for me."

"Me either. Find out would ya?"

"I can try. Chester doesn't talk much and what he has to say, I don't care to hear."

David called, "Come look at this Abby.”

She did not want to think about stupid Chester, much less talk about him. She got up. Ryan lightly brushed his hand along the length of her arm as she stood. Her arm tingled where he touched her. That had never happened before. As she crawled over the cabin, she looked back at Ryan. He was watching her. His eyes were telling her something, she did not want to know. Quickly, she turned around.

Binoculars planted over his eyes, David studied a distant ship. "It's flying a Spanish flag." He handed the binoculars to her.

Though the binoculars were sweaty, she pressed them to her eyes. That odd moment when far becomes near, made her feel nauseous, then it passed. She saw the beautiful gold and red flag flutter in the breeze. She wondered what it was like to be so far from home. She had never even been out of Texas.

"I'm going to Spain someday," David said. "I'm going to travel the world with my Juliet by my side."

"Good for her." She handed him back his binoculars.

"It will be, you just wait." David lifted his binoculars up to his eyes and scanned the horizon. "Your daddy-"

"Don't call him that."

“Sorry. Chester's traveled a lot hasn’t he?"

"Yeah," Abby said. She thought, on Grammy's money.

David put down the binoculars and looked her directly in the eyes. He lowered his voice and said, "I’m not sure he will be going many more places."

"What makes you say that?"

Before he answered David flipped the binoculars, so he could look through the bigger lens. "I think there's something wrong with him."

"No there isn’t."

"When you get home, look at him. Really look. You'll see what I mean." David handed Abby the binoculars. "Look through them backwards. Its weird."

Stunned by David's words, she did as she was told. Through the big lenses everything that had been close seemed far away.

*

That evening when Abby got home, Chester was on the front porch. Pages of sheet music littered the floor around his feet. He glanced up at Abby. For the first time she saw how pale he was and the dark circles under his eyes. She could clearly see the bones and veins in his hands as he held his guitar. His thin fingers moved across the strings. Abby remained where she was and listened to him play. He stopped. "I can't seem to find the chord."

Abby didn't know what to say, so she nodded.

He went through the cords again. He bent his head and stared at the strings. A small smile spread across his lips, his fingers began to move. They looked like they were dancing up and down the guitar neck. He had found the chord he was looking for. It sounded like a lone gull crying above the ocean’s waves. His discovery transported him to another place and time. Quietly, she went inside.