Rainy afternoon. I was making a sandwich when the phone rang. It was Michelle. “Are you doing anything right now?” she asked.
“Not really.”
“Could you give us a tow?” She explained that she was on the river sailing with Jerome, and he couldn’t get the motor started, and she was going to be late for an appointment.
“No problem.” I hung up the phone and put on my rain-jacket. I went out to the dock and started the motor on ‘Lue, the sailboat. (‘Lue used by Blue, but now the motor mount covers the B.) As I cast off the dock lines, I looked out onto the river. Through the driving rain, I could see Jerome’s Leda. They made it this far under sail, but they’d need a tow to get back to the Marina a mile up the creek. I motored beside them, and they tossed me their bow line. “Always an adventure, eh, Tom Sawyer?” I shouted to Jerome.
“Sure thing, Huck.”
I tied their bow line off to my stern and gradually turned up the throttle on the motor. As I towed the boat up the creek, Jerome stood at the bow of his boat and explained to me how his fuel line got clogged again. Last week, he borrowed a fuel strainer from me to strain out particles from his fuel tank. I guess he didn’t get all of them out. As we passed by the marina, I let loose their bow line. They coasted into their dock as I motored away and headed back to the lighthouse.