Chasing Hillary Chapter 4

Lunch consisted of a fresh lobster salad, Island summer tomatoes with fresh basil and mozzarella, roasted local baby red potatoes, and salad. Grand Dame champagne was served to wash it all down. Everyone loved it except Marlo, who refused to touch it.


(Random photo with Hillary, Walter Cronkite, Marlo and others)

After lunch everyone resumed chatting, and we went into the kitchen to begin cleaning. Looking out the window I noticed Phil, standing alone in the misty rain on the edge of the lawn. He was staring out at the dragon raft. After some time I decided to go down out and visit him.



"Do you have any idea what that is?" he asked, pointing towards the raft.
'It's my sailing raft houseboat". I answered.
"Sailing?" he laughed. "How on earth do you sail that thing?"
"It has a square sail. It only sails down wind. We have to wait till the weather is exactly right to travel in it".
"How does it float?" he asked.
"It's made of logs and foam". I answered. Phil pondered this for a moment.
"And you actually live on it?"
"Yes, we built it in Provincetown last winter and have lived on it since then".
"How long did it take you to sail from Provincetown?" He asked, eyes sparkling.
"About 5 months".
He laughed, grabbed my arm, and pulled me back towards the party. "My wife has GOT to meet you!"

Phil dragged me into tent. Marlo was talking with Carly Simon and Walter Cronkite.
"Marlo! Marlo ,this is Gretchen, you absolutely have to see her raft. It's incredible!" Phil still had me by the arm.
"Phil, I'm right in the middle of inviting Carly and Walter for lunch on our yacht tomorrow".
"Great, but you've GOT to come out and see this girl's houseboat! It looks like a dragon and she sails it, it's wild!"
"Phil, I'm buzy. We are having lunch tomorrow at noon". Marlo sniped.
Phil still had me by the arm as he and Marlo began to argue full force.
Walter Cronkite, Carly, and the gang all looked like deer in the headlights, as I'm sure I did too. I wanted to run back into the kitchen but I couldn't get away.
"MARLO, THIS SIMPLY WILL NOT DO!" Phil yelled. "We are going to go out on Gretchen's boat today!"
"What time can you take us out, Gretchen?" Phil asked.
All eyes were on me now.



"Whatever time you would like", I answered, hoping this all would end.
"We'll talk about this LATER, Phil!", Marlo said as she swung around and continued her conversation about lunch on her yacht.
Phil set a time later that day, but he never came by.

I heard later on that Marlo spent the rest of the day drinking vodka tonics. She got wasted and went up to Art Buchwald's house around dinner time. Shirley's daughter was there cooking. She sat down in the kitchen (gasp!) and promptly ate an entire bag of candy corn!