Volume: 2

Ellie

Side-stepping the path to domesticity.

Ellie is the delightful person from Volume One who prepared her small dinghy for display at The Club's Opening Day only to have it keyed by some unknown punk.

August, 1990

I'm reading and converting my 1984 journals to a new format. Back then, I was a holier-than-thou, cocky son-of-a-bitch on my way to a major fall. Sort of like now. Some things never change. I had some things right. Philosophical beginnings I currently hold onto can be found there. But mostly I was self-consumed, self-important and everyone else in the world was doing it wrong. There is one letter to Margo in there that emphasizes the importance of remaining free and turning corners with optimism and open eyes. At least I'm still doing that.

This attitude led me to arrange a tennis date with Ellie for Sunday afternoon. Ellie races dinghies at The Club on Wednesdays and rarely does better than last. Usually, her father crews for her but one day Dan crewed for, disappointing me. Dan has already ruined one life and Ellie, who looks to me to be of the Leslie-type, very nice person mold, shouldn't have to deal with the likes of him. But I don't know their history.