“Are you here alone?”
Alex asked me sitting in his golf cart which had stopped in front of my tiny studio. I was sitting admiring the morning and sipping coffee. Alex is perhaps 70 with a bowling ball of a head with a short crew cut. Glasses rested upon a flat nose. He is from Belgium and is one of the first people that I ever met in St. Martin.
“I am,” I sighed.
“I understand,” he sighed back, “my girlfriend dropped dead three years ago.”
What does one say? I just looked at him.
“Why don’t you come to my place at six o’clock for cocktails?”
“OK,” I told him. And he slowly rolled away.
So at six while everyone else congregated somewhere else, I walked over to Alex’s place. He was there alone staring at his watch. As soon as I got inside it started raining hard. When it rains here, it really rains. The roofs are metal so it was impossible to hear whatever the soft spoken Alex was telling me. But he was telling me something and I just watched his mouth move.
I did learn that he was expecting others and he kept looking at his bright yellow watch. The room reeked of sadness.
After half an hour I told Alex that I had to go and meet Conner and Hania. He sighed heavily. The rain continued to poor.
I thanked him and put my arm on his shoulder. He looked lost.
Then I made a dash through the rain to Paul and Nancy’s place. As soon as my feet hit the tiled patio they went flying and my head slammed into the hard surface.
When I opened my eyes there was an Asian doctor staring at me. “Your eyes look focused,” she said then her hands probed around my forehead. “My husband is an OBGYN,” she laughed, “in case you have other issues.”
I stood up and looked at Conner looking at me as though I’m an idiot. Hania came over and rubbed my shoulder. Paul handed me a band aid. Peter who is this 7 foot tall British friend towered over me and softly patted my back. “You sure you’re alright?”
The rain stopped and we all made our way into the warm night sloshing through mud puddles in the sand. Alex remained alone in his tiny studio with the doors opened wide, still staring at his watch waiting on his other guest.
After we ate, Hania grabbed my hand and said, “Come on you! It is time to dance.” And we did song after song after song.
At one point I was soaked with sweat so I walked to an outdoor shower and let the cool water rinse me, The Milky Way was brilliant in the sky and the roar of the waves were hitting the reef. Laughter was in the air from inside. Happy music floated towards the heavens. Glasses were being raised.
And I stood there taking it all in. Not quite alone.
