Sunday, December 05, 2010

Olivier's story- Part Two. Two years after we had met, Olivier sent us a mysterious message requesting us to come to Saint Maartens for a 5 star cruise. He came to meet us at the airport rather undone and with bloodshot eyes, not quite his old self. He had given up his little yacht "Cesar" and was about to buy half of "Mulde", an old and run down East German cargo ship which belonged to a German skipper named Timo and his wife Suzy and to a third partner always referred to as Fucking Joe. Timo and Suzy where extremely sweet and we all got along beautifully. I instantly fell in love with Mulde of course. At first, it was all very joyful and fun and we sailed around the islands quite happily until the day the money that was supposed to arrive to finalize the deal was found missing. It wasn't long before the situation got nasty. I'll save you the details, but paradise turned into hell. The conclusion of this sad story is that Olivier left the board and was found a year after hanging by the neck at the top mast of a ship wreck he had just acquired and was fixing up. He was a friend but I couldn't help him. I hope he has found peace.

7 comments:

  1. Too many nooses, dear Ivan! And the predator's jaws with their trinket. Oof, what a solid blow. Masterly, of course. One has to be glad you told the tale.

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  2. that is a bit of a sad ending...

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  3. ohhh we waited all week for the happy ending

    but life is much more complex than that.

    the little monkey, the beautiful woman doing the laundry,

    the longitude and latitude, the hobo smile, the message in a bottle...

    the rusted paint and the love affair with an underdog.

    we are often more our losses than

    our treasures and gains.

    beauitiful sir ivan, just a sad and beautiful tale...

    B

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  4. Beau et profond.
    Vous aviez annoncé qu'il s'agissait d'une tragédie.
    Il y a des mots à ne pas prononcer sur un bateau, peut-être ne faut-il même pas les photographier...
    Vous êtes un sacré témoin !
    J'ai pensé à Arthur Gordon Pym...

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  5. Oui Valery et je n'en suis pas fier. Cette histoire, j'aurai a en rendre compte. Les souvenirs sont tissés de destins, on ne l'apprend qu'apres.

    J'espere ne pas avoir manqué de tact en parlant ainsi de mon ami, je voulais que l'on se souvienne de lui.

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  6. Manqué de tact ?! Impossible !
    (Cf le commentaire de "Laurent", je suis de son avis.)

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  7. You have channeled a sad personal experience into a thing of great beauty and resonance. The words you end this piece with remind me of the final lines in Mallick's "Days of Heaven":

    "This girl, she didn't know where she was goin' or what she was gonna do. She didn't have no money or nothin'. Maybe she'd meet up with a character. I was hoping things would work out for her. She was a good friend of mine."

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