Bile Bay

When Sloan first introduced the bay we would be living on she pronounced it, as would I, the way it's spelled - "bile" - as in the bitter pea green soup that lives in your gallbladder. The bay was a landing site for the Japanese troops in World War II (1941) and forty six Chamorros were brutally slaughtered by grenade, bayonette and saber in the town of Merizo (see Guampedia entry). So I wasn't too happy with the name-sake implications of the bay we would be viewing our sunsets over.

Fortunately, a chance meeting with an old family friend of Sloan's at the University of Guam quelled my fears. This friend, who we will call Dr.D to protect his pleasant insulation here on Guam, is a master of verbal wordplay and my new hero. He manages to insert quips like "arsenic laced comments" and a devout knowledge of astrology into everyday conversation. I can't remember some of the more flavorful details of our discussion but I imagine it was a little like talking to Charles Dickens, if he was alive and a scientist. Anyway, this is how it went down:

"We're living in Merizo, on Bile Bay," said Sloan.
"You mean Billy Bay?" said Dr.D, his head tilted and eyebrows raised.
"Yes, Billy Bay," said Sloan.

Whew, sunsets saved. And as you should be able to tell from the pictures, they're gonna be pretty great.