It was a couple of hours after sunrise. I sat at my regular table outside the Havana Vieja restaurant at South Beach and enjoyed my first Montecristo of the day and my second double espresso. I was up early and had left the hotel before the sun was up. Strolling along the beach at sunrise when the sky and sea seemed to merge, giving the illusion that boats, land and islands were floating in the air. This moment gives my inner landscape a harmony in a way that I have come to understand yoga does for some. Miami Beach is a perfect setting for peace of mind. It is the closest you can get to the feeling of Havana without actually being there. It is almost impossible to understand the change of pace from Miami to the small community out on Miami Beach. Not only is the tempo slower, the beaches beautiful, but the architecture is in a class of its own. It is as if time has stood still since the heyday of Art Deco in the 1920s.
As I sat here by myself philosophising, I became half aware of a figure heading towards my table. I didn’t really fixate on the person until he stopped at my table, flipped up his sunglasses and addressed me; “Uncle B I presume”. Despite the fact that we were not related, he had always called me “Uncle B”. It had been years since we last met. And now we happened to cross paths here! Both far away from home. We had worked together many years ago. Or rather; he worked for me. He just stopped by one day and wondered if I had a job for him. What kind of skills do you have, I asked. None was the answer. Do you have any education then? I have no certificate that I have an education if that is what you are asking. After all, what does a certificate really prove? He was a funny guy, and he had something. Not least charm. Lots of charm. I hired him, and that evening he was already up and running.
The customers liked him even though he was an organisational disaster. It was as if he had a gravity of his own. Everything kind of went in orbit around him. Colleagues, customers, goods and stories. Everyone wanted a piece of him. It was a time with a lot of fun and laughter.
We had both moved on in life since then. And even if you like to think that some friendships should be followed more closely than others, lives slip apart. But now we were both here. He was one of those people you can meet again after 20 years and the connection is still the same. As if our last meeting was recent.
I was here on holiday and he was here to visit an acquaintance who turned out to be one of the foremost Formula 1 drivers. Where their paths crossed we never uncovered, but there was this thing about gravity and him.
We could label this an early lunch, so we ordered mojitos and some snacks. We shared stories from the old days and some new ones that weren’t quite true either. We both had the ability to season a little before serving. That was half the experience, and both knew that it was so.
In the afternoon, after several mojitos, cigars, anecdotes, laughter and stories, it was time to say goodbye. Both said it couldn´t be long until the next time and that we had to keep in touch when we got back home again. He even invited me to his birthday and would get back to me with when and where. We both knew that it was never going to happen. I can say that without any disappointment, because our friendship has always been like this. In the present and without obligations.
He has never been a close friend, but I consider him one of my best.
Billy Bronco is telling you 