Slow Dance

A last minute remembered appointment prevented us from witnessing the arrival of the Windjammer fleet. I had looked forward to seeing their wind filled sails, the tall ships maneuvering toward moorings along the Wooden Boat shore in Brooklin, Maine. The celebration of the Fall Gathering was well underway when we finally turned onto the long approach that is the site of the popular magazine, school and boat building enterprise.

It was a warm afternoon, low sun shining on tawny gold meadows. The weight of ripe apples bent the boughs of ancient trees by the shore. Music by Flash in the Pans drifted toward us and grew sharper as we walked from our car to the throng of sailors and spectators. The angle of the sun left the fleet in silhouette, their masts and rigging etched against a pearly sky and silvery water.

The staccato notes of the steel band thinned to a gentle rocking melody while a young couple with their small barefoot child joined hands, gliding in sync with the music. He was tall and lanky and surprisingly graceful in his clunky work boots. Together, the man and the young woman, in her retro print dress, swayed to the pans. Calendar pages fanned to a distant past as I watched the little family in their slow dance by the sea.