More Nights Without Nick.

Today is Tuesday. On Friday, Nick returns to the island. I’m very happy about that.

Not a single day passed without me calling him — even while he was with his family.

This last stay in America doesn’t seem to have done him any good. I could hear the unease in his voice.

I’ve been seriously wondering whether it might be better for him to simply stay here with me from now on.

The risk of him falling back into drug addiction appears to have been real, and there are other things he didn’t want to talk about. We’ll have plenty to discuss in the coming days.

I didn’t ask about his progress with the catechism I gave him before he left, nor did I press him with any questions. I let him share whatever he wanted, in his own time.

Nick is a strong man. He has learned more from his pain and past failures than I have from my own. And yet, he also has a childish side. Behind the strong exterior, there’s a boy who needs to be held, praised, and reassured. Most of the time he keeps that need under control, but whatever happened during this last trip — I still only have the broad outline — seems to have touched him deeply. It reawakened something that had been lying dormant.

I’ll call it “rekindling his addiction,” for lack of a better expression. He didn’t go into details. I’m not completely in the dark, but the light is dim enough that I have to trust my instincts more than what I can clearly see.

I feel some regret for having asked him to go to America on my behalf.

Still, all I can do now is wait and pray for him.

Meanwhile, life on the island remains as calm as the sea over the coral reefs — an eternal summer.

My art pieces are selling slowly but steadily, which I’m grateful for. I have no desire to become a machine churning out clay sculptures or paintings. Having time to build things properly is my real secret. Besides, my life has other important dimensions beyond being an artist, and those also need time and care.

And here lies the heart of it all: it was Nick who first set this whole journey in motion when he went to America that very first time.

For Disney, everything began with a mouse. For me, everything began with a Nicholas.