The space was really whatthis sailing was all about and this evening at a bar next to the dock he hadtried to talk about it to Rigel and Capella. Rigel seemed tired and preoccupiedand uninterested, but Bill Capella, who was his crewman, was full of enthusiasmand seemed to know.

Like at Oswego, Capellasaid, all that time we were waiting for the locks to open, crying about howterrible it was we couldn’t get going, we were having the time of our lives.

Phædrus had met Rigeland Capella when rain from a September hurricane caused floods to break throughcanal walls and submerge buoys and jam locks with debris so that the entirecanal had to be closed for two weeks. Boats heading south from the Great Lakeswere tied up and their crewmen had nothing to do. Suddenly a space was createdin everyone’s lives. An unexpected gap of time had opened up. The reaction of everyoneat first was frustration. To sit around and do nothing, that was just terrible.The yachtsmen had been busy about their own private cruises not really wantingvery much to speak to anyone else, but now they had nothing better to do thansit around on their boats and talk to each other day after day after day. Nottrivially. In depth. Soon everyone was visiting somebody on somebody else’sboat. Parties broke out everywhere, simultaneously, all night long. Townspeopletook an interest in the jam-up of boats, and some of them became acquaintedwith the sailors. Not trivially. In depth. And more parties broke out.

And so this catastrophe,this disaster that everyone originally bewailed, turned out to be exactly asCapella described it. Everyone was actually having the time of theirlives. The thing that was making them so happy was the space.

Except for Rigel andCapella and Phædrus the tavern had been almost empty. It was just a smallplace with a few pool tables at the far room, a bar in the center opposite thedoor and a lot of dingy tables at their own end. It omitted all appearances ofstyle. And yet the feelings were good. It didn’t intrude on your space. That’swhat did it. It was just a bar being a bar without any big ideas.