The first time my friend Charlie came out to Block Island with us, we drove together out to the house. As we came down the final hill approaching Sachem Pond, Charlie leaned forward, squinted maybe a little, and stared intently at the view. “Look at that!” he said.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” we replied. We were feeling warm inside, the way a person does who is coming home after a long absence, and we were enjoying the view ourselves.

But Charlie said, “Yes, it is pretty, but that wasn’t what I was talking about. I was wondering why the water in the pond is so much higher than the water in the ocean. You’d think, with the two of them so close, it would equalize.”

Have I mentioned yet that Charlie has a background in engineering, and he’s very good at it?

In all the years we’ve been coming to the island, we never noticed a difference in the water level. But Charlie was right. You can see it in this picture. Kind of. If you squint and stare intently at it.