Re: Alvin Ever After: Alvin in the Fourth
Day 10
While Jerome had been gone, Meek and I both had taken a shower; I’d gone first because I was faster and managed to get to the bathroom and lock the door before Meek had even known I had moved from his side. I didn’t take long at all and was out in no time which seemed to please Meek. While Meek showered, I slipped into a fresh GoodNite and managed a short nap. It wasn’t a very deep sleep however it was restful all the same. I reawakened when I heard the bathroom door open and rolled over to face the that direction. That is when I saw Meek come out transformed from cute Mindy-Lynn back into regular Meek.
“I kind of miss my big sister, but I guess having my big brother here is almost as good.” I teased which earned me a wet washcloth upside the head.
“EEEEWWWWW!” I moaned as I rolled off the bed, preparing to throw the rag back at him.
However, Meek had been faster and was on me before I had a chance to cock my arm for the throw. He grabbed me under my arms, lifted me off the floor, and threw me is if I were nothing more than a pillow. I hit the bed with a big bounce and before I came down from the bounce, he had jumped on top of me and began to murder me via tickling.
“AAAAAHHH!” I screamed, “No! No! Stop! Get oooooofffffffff!”
“NEEEEVVVVEEERRRRR!” He sang out as he redoubled his efforts with the tickle torture.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I screamed as tears began to flow along with my howled of laughter, “MMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEK! PLLLLEEEEAAASSSE!”
He kept it up for a bit more, making me cry, scream, pee and beg before finally giving me a double titty-twister right before he hopped off me.
“You are a bully!” I cried as I sat up and wiped away my tears.
“Yeah?” he asked as he turned and acted as though he was going to jump on me again.
“NOOOO!” I screeched and threw up my hand and rolled into the fatal position.
He simply laughed and pointed threateningly at me.
“You better not!!!” I said back.
“I need to take the Browns to the Superbowl.” Meek told me and then disappeared into the bathroom.
“I didn’t need to know that.” I grunted.
I was so relieved to hear the door latch and lock.
“You just wait until you go to sleep later!” I said aggressively.
From behind the bathroom door, I could hear him laughing.
I then told him in a softer voice so as not to have him hear me, “Yeah we’ll see who’s laughing later!”
“I heard that!” he shouted through the closed door.
Jerome was gone quite a while, but when he finally walked through the door, his arms were loaded down with plastic sacks of goodies.
“Meek is a booger-brain!” I announced loudly so Meek heard me too.
“Oh? Is Meek back?” Jerome asked while depositing his sacks on the other bed.
“Yes to both!” I answered.
“Why’s that?” Jerome asked and I wasn’t sure to which he was referring so I answered the booger brain one first.
I answered with, “He was trying to tickle me to death!”
Jerome, straight faced asked, “Did he succeed?”
“Uh, NOOOOO!” I laughed.
“Ooooh! That’s too bad. I thought you might be like a sexy little zombie boy.” Jerome joked while removing the contents from the bags.
“You hear that Meek? I’m a sexy zombie boy!”
“He also said ‘LITTLE’!” was Meek’s answer to that as he re-emerged from the bathroom, feeling safe that I wouldn’t retaliate while Jerome was there.
I gnashed my teeth and stomped my feet at having been bested by Meek yet again.
“Can I have my big sister back? I don’t like Meek no more!” I jokingly asked of Jerome.
He simply chuckled.
Jerome had bought us both board style swim suits, cool shirts, flip-flops, sun block, hats, beach towels, sun glasses, and several other beach related items.
“Jerome, this is way too much!” Meek explained with excitement.
From another bag he produced, takeout in white Styrofoam restaurant takeaway containers. Each one consisted of scrambled eggs, two wedges of buttered toast, bacon, and we each had a small OJ to wash it all down.
“Alright, eat up and then we’re going to turn my boys into ultra-tanned beach gods.” Jerome announced with a clap of his hands followed by a double finger snap.
“Huh?” I grunted with confusion because we’d already died Meeks skin.
“You’ll see.” Jerome hummed mysteriously.
“I’m already a beach god.” I said with a straight face.
Meek punched my hard.
“OUCH!” I moaned.
Meek then said with an angry sounding chuckle, “Humble much?”
I gave him my meanest face as I rubbed the spot on my arm he’d hit.
“You mean I am going to get a second dye job?” Meek asked Jerome.
“Boys, when I am done with you, your own mother’s won’t recognize you!” Jerome announced with a triple snap of his fingers in Z-formation.
After eating, Jerome took us to the bathroom and placed shower caps on our heads. He then had us stand naked side by side in the tub as he proceeded to rub us down from head to toe with this stuff that looked like chocolate mousse and smelled like a rabies-infected-coconut-monster had just had a double shot of Prune Juice.
I wish I could say that I didn’t mind it when Jerome smeared the concoction on my genitals quite thoroughly but I did. It made me feel…well like we were doing something very bad. Thankfully, once Jerome announced me as done those feelings went away.
“Dude, I am never going to eat coconut again.” Meek complained with exasperation as he walked out of the bathroom butt naked and sporting his new deep, been on the beach all his life, tanned look and about half a chubby, which he was trying to hide from me.
If he had black hair, he would have passed for Mexican easily.
“Nah man this is like the best smell ever!” I told him, “This is the smell of the beach, coconut, and the smell of the salty ocean mingled in the air.”
It didn’t really smell good at all but I like messing with Meek.
Meek and I returned to the bathroom where the two of us stood, side-by-side and completely naked, before the hotel bath mirror that took up the whole wall behind the double sink.
“Doesn’t look anything like me.” he commented.
“Yeah, that’s the idea, but you were cuter as Mindy-Lynn!” I teased.
“I’m sure she’ll be back.” He hummed as he flexed his muscles.
I turned and admired my backside, “I never would have believed that I could get any darker!”
“Destiny… I mean Jerome. You were right’ we do look like two young beach gods who spend every waking hour of our lives in the tropical sun.” I said very loud.
Jerome, appeared in the doorway to the bathroom, then surprised me with a package of swim diapers to wear under my board shorts.
“I thought these might help.” He suggested.
“No way! Thank you!” I exclaimed and surprised us both when I hugged and kissed his cheek.
Jerome then got this disturbed look on his face as he said, “You are good boys and I wish I could stay to watch you win that championship, but I am afraid it is time that I go.”
“Noooooo!” Meek whined, “Can’t you stay? Please?!”
“Sweet baby, I already missed several gigs bringing you boys out here. I have to get back to work.” Jerome explained, “There are sad, lonely men out there that need Momma Destiny to brighten up their lives.”
“I am going to miss you!” I cried and hugged him again. I didn’t even mind when he cupped my two round butt cheeks and lifted me off the floor for a warm goodbye hug.
He hugged Meek much the same way, but this time he didn’t lift him up like he had me. Jerome probably would have strained something if he had tried.
“Now, I’ve paid for this room for the week and I’ve left some money by the TV. Don’t go swimming in the pool as the chlorine may bleach out the dye we used on your skin.” He stopped talking for a moment as he tapped a finger repeatedly against the end of my nose, “Also, remember to us cream rinse on your hair each time you wash it.”
We said our goodbyes; we both cried a little and Meek gave Jerome one last hug. That’s when I saw him push a white envelope into Meeks hand. Since we were naked, we couldn’t walk Jerome to his truck (well I suppose we could have but we’d of probably got a lot of unwanted attention) so Meek and I stood at the front window and watched Jerome and his freshly painted, white truck drive out of the parking lot.
“Are you going to stay naked the rest of the day?” I joked with Meek while closing the front curtain and wiping away my tears at the same time.
“You’re one to talk!” Meek joked back while trying to hide from me that he too had been crying, “You should get that thing in a GoodNite before it starts leaking again.”
I guess I was getting comfortable being naked around Meek because without really giving it any thought, I threw my hands over my head and twisted my hips left and right, making my boyhood swing back and forth.
Meek laughed but then tried to sound stern as he spoke in an authoritative adult voice, “NOW STOP THAT!”
I laughed and my cheeks burned with embarrassment.
While I was pulling on a GoodNite, Meek went to the mirror again and began to pose. I even caught him imitating me when he thought I wasn’t looking by making his own penis swing back and forth.
“Bet Pepper wouldn’t even recognize me.” he thought aloud.
“I bet my Mom and Grandparents wouldn’t know me if I was standing right in front of them!” I added, “Bleached and bronzed! I could get used to looking this good!”
Then, Meek began to fumble with the envelope while asking, “Want to get dressed and head down to get registered?”
I still hadn’t thought anything of the envelope just yet as I began to step into a GoodNite, “Sounds good to me; and we can look at renting boards. Maybe even get some practice in.”
Meek dropped the envelope on the bed nearest the door and then the two of us covered each other in suntan lotion. After I exchanged my GoodNite for one of the swim diapers, I hopped into a pair of the new board shorts.
As we were about to leave Meek scooped up the envelope and said, “Destiny told me not to open this until she was gone.”
He then ripped off the end of the envelope and pulled out a stack of twenty-dollar bills.
Meek counted it aloud, “Two-sixty, two-eighty, three-hundred, three-twenty, three-forty, three…”
He then cussed which Meek almost never does, “Holy shit Alvin! There is three hundred and sixty dollars here.”
“Whoa!” I exclaimed.
“When I get back home, if I am able, I plan on mailing her back all the money she spent on us.” Meek stated resolutely.
“How? We don’t know where she lives.” I pointed out.
“Yeah, huh! I memorized the address from the drivers’ license.” He said with a sly grin.
Outside, walking the streets of Chula Vista I felt like I was back where I belonged. We made our way through town, no one even giving us a second glance. We blended in perfectly.
Then came the ultimate test, I saw someone walking toward us that I recognized. At first, I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was Jenny, my best friend when I lived out here. She looked exactly as I remembered her and for some reason that made my heart flutter with joy. A part of me wanted to run up to her and reveal myself to her, but then again I knew that if she didn’t recognize me, no one would.
“Hey!” I said, as Meek and I passed her.
“Like, don’t hey me surfer trash!” she said and kept right on going.
“You know her or something?” Meek whispered.
I giggled amusedly to myself, “Yeah, but she didn’t even recognize me.”
“Jenny,” I called out and she turned back around.
“How do you know my name?” She asked suspiciously.
“I know a lot more about you than just your name.” I suggested and began to recite fact after fact about her.
“Alright you little freak, like, who the hell are you? You some kind of Ali Baba hocus pocus mind raper?”
Then I saw it in her eyes, the recognition… the light bulb if you will.
“No way!” She narrowed her eyes as if trying to focus laser beams upon me, “Alvin? Alvin Holloway?” she asked; not sure, she believed her own eyes.
I held open my arms as though presenting myself to her like a gift, “The one and only!”
“ALVIN!” She shouted, ran at me, and nearly cracked my ribs as she hugged the stuffing out of me.
“Alvin, I missed you so much!” she squealed.
“Jenny! Can’t breathe!” I managed to moan and she finally put me back down.
I held my sides as I took a deep breath, smiled through the pain, and said, “Jenny, this here is my friend…”
“Minkus, I know! You guys are all over the news!” She said and then looked around to make sure no one heard her.
“Call me Meek please.” Meek said.
Jenny shared everything they had been saying about us, about how the police are looking for us, about how so many people are cheering for us to make it to California.
“No one knows where you guys are right now. Some think you are dead, but I knew you weren’t.” She said and hugged me again.
“Don’t suppose you know if anyone else has been looking for us?” Meek asked.
“Yeah both of your parents are here.” She said first to Meek and then said to me, “And your grandfather and mother are here too. They were interviewed on the news and everything!”
“Mom is here?” I asked because frankly I didn’t believe it. Mom was far too fragile to come all the way out here.
“Yeah, she looked really worried too.” Jenny told me.
I turned to Meek and moaned, “Ah man! Why did she have to come out here?”
“Oh and guess who I saw yesterday?” She asked and before I could guess she said, “Remember that old guy that ran The Surf Shack?”
“GARY’S HERE?” I almost screamed.
“Yeah, did you know he got married?” She asked.
“Yeah, talked to him not to long ago.” I shot back quickly.
“Whatever you do, don’t let him see you.” Jenny said.
“Why?” I asked.
“He’s totally and completely pissed at you! He was interviewed too and he told the news lady that if he sees you that he’d going to beat your ass before God and everyone!”
Meek was giving me a mixed expression of fear and confusion.
“If it were anyone other than Gary, I wouldn’t be the least bit scared;” I told them boy, “but I happen to know full well he’ll do it and not care who’s around when he does.”
Meek then changed the subject. He thumbed over his shoulder toward the distant beach as he said, “We’re going to register under fake names. Think we can get away with it?”
“Oh totally! You guys don’t look anything like the pictures they have been showing of you two on the news.” Jenny told him.
“How’d you get so dark so fast?” She asked Meek while stroking his bicep with a single finger.
“Furniture polish!” she asked and I couldn’t help but to laugh with a laugh.
Her eyes went wide with surprise.
“Nah, some sort of skin bronzer from a drug store.” I Meek said.
I saw something in Jenny’s eyes as she looked at Meek and knew I needed to say something before she got any ideas. “Jenny, he’s gay.”
“Ah bummer!” she complained while shifting her weight to one leg, “Why are all the really cute guys always hungry for cock?”
Meeks eyes were wide with shock.
“Well, if you ever switch teams, let me be first up to bat.” She said and I knew then that she was teasing Meek.
“Alvin’s looking for a girlfriend!” Meek added quickly.
I swear I thought Jenny was going to blow chunks right then and there. “Th-that’s just sick!”
“Hey!” I objected.
She continued as if I hadn’t made a sound, “Kissing Alvin would be like kissing…”
“H-E-Y!!!” I objected more fervently.
“MY BROTHER!” she said strongly toward me.
“OK, that’s better.” I said.
Changing the subject back to our folks, I told Meek, “I dunno; I think I should go see my mom. Make sure she is alright and explain everything.”
“I can do that for you?” Jenny offered with a bit more excitement that I would have thought her capable of. “I won’t say a word about seeing you guys either.”
“You won’t mind?” Meek asked.
I was apprehensive with that idea and said so. “I don’t know. Mom’s been pretty out of it since Dad die…”
Instantly I became aware that I’d just said ‘Dad’ instead of ‘John’ and had to stop speaking or I would have begun bawling.
Again, Meek missed the facts of the moment as he pleaded with me. “Alvin we’ve come this far! Let’s not give up.”
Jenny didn’t miss that I’d choked up as she placed a reassuring hand on my left shoulder, “I’m real sorry about your Dad. I liked him most of the time.”
She didn’t really like him. Actually, she hated him; but it was nice of her to say it.
“Let me see how your mom is. Maybe she is just here to watch you win.” Jenny suggested.
Everything inside of me was telling me to run to my mother and take care of her, but I gave into Meek and Jenny.
Completely out of character for us both, Jenny and I hugged again and I thanked her before she left.
Jenny left us to go check on my mom (if she could), while Meek and I went to register for the competition. We were in line for quite a while before we got to the registration table, which had been set up inside The Surf Shack.
While in line, Meek and I did our best not to make eye contact or convers with anyone. We both kept our ears open and heard lots of speculation concerning the two of us, some of which was just completely outlandishly blown up!
“I heard that Meek guy is the head of one of the biggest, meanest gangs in Maine.”
“If he’s smart, Holloway won’t come near this place!”
“Alvin should run for President! I’d vote for him!”
“I heard they killed some guy and ate his body ’cause they were so hungry!”
Every so often, Meek and I would glance at each other and try to hide our amusement.
Once we finally reached the front of the line, we were both handed a clipboard and a pen, “Fill this out, have your parent or guardian sign it and then return it here. NEXT!”
Meek and I stood to the side looking at the sheet of paper and wondering how we were going to solve this problem.
“I totally forgot about the parental permission!” I sighed with concern.
“So we’re sunk?” Meek moaned.
“You don’t know the half of it!” Came a familiar man’s voice.
I turned and nearly screamed when I saw my old friend Gary standing behind me. In the space of a single second, I went from surprise, to immeasurable joy, to out-and-out fear.
“G-g-gary!” I stammered and actually took an apprehensive step backward.
“You can change your hair, sleep in the sun for a month, and get nice and fat, but you cannot hide that voice of yours.” Gary said with what I took to be a smirk.
Gary looked good, better than I had ever seen him and I wanted so badly to throw my arms around him but Jenny’s words of warning were replaying repeatedly in my head.
It wasn’t until Gary threw open his arms in a welcoming gesture that I realized there was no need to fear my old friend. Apparently, his threat on TV to beat me was to allay any suspicions that he might help me.
“Gary!” I cheered and ran to him.
“You’ve been causing a hell of a lot of trouble.” He told me.
“Yeah we heard.” I agreed.
Gary held out a hand to Meek, “So this must be Minkus.”
“Yes sir!” Meek said as he took Gary’s hand, “I’ve heard a lot about you sir and might I say it is an honor to meet a real live war hero.”
“Sir? Hero?” Gary said with a wink in my direction, “I like him already.”
I then punched Gary in the gut. Of course, my punch did little to him but to cause his left eyebrow to rise questioningly.
“What do you mean fat?” I asked angrily.
He laughed and pinched my left cheek as he said, “Oink Oink!”
Meek let a chuckle slip out and I shot him a warning glance, which he did not fail to miss.
I then turned my attention back to Gary, “Have you seen Mom yet?”
“No, but I imagine I will very soon.” he said as he pointed to the far side of the beach and up on the boardwalk.
Even though they were a good distance away and partially blocked by what seemed to be a couple hundred people, I recognized Grandfather and my mother and they were walking purposefully toward The Shack. There were two other people with them and I assumed those were Meeks folks. One glance toward Meek and I knew I’d assumed correctly. His eyes were the size of dinner plates.
“I otta turn you over my knee and then take you both over to ’em right now!” Gary threatened in a familiar tone, which I knew meant he wasn’t joking at all. Then he looked to Meek as he added, “And don’t think for a second you’re too big to go over my knee too young man!”
I glanced at Meek who had gone blank in the face and I bet under that die job, he was white as a ghost!
Thankfully Gary then said, “But God help me, I want to see you try to win this hoopla and silence all the naysayers. Soooo,” He rubbed his hands in a thoughtful and pensive manor before adding, “I’m going to sign your papers and then make myself scarce. I suggest you both do the same.”
I shook my head, “Gary, we don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“Son, I’ve been in trouble up to my eyeballs most of my life. This would not even register on my Deep-Shit-O-Meter. Now give me those clipboards before I change my mind and beat both your asses’ right here!”
Where his first threat to whip us came across as serious and genuine, this time I knew there was zero change of that happening. Meek on the other had still looked scared to death.
Gary helped us fill out the paper work, and we shared with him our fake names.
His reply to learning our fictitious names was a loud laugh and, “Is that the best you could come up with?”
As soon as our paperwork was filled out and signed by Gary, he slapped my face (not hard) and told me, “That’s just the start of it! You better pray I don’t see you again when this shindig is over or so help me you’ll be unable to walk for a month!”
That time I knew he meant it too.
He looked at Meek like he was about to smack him too and I swear Meek was seconds from bursting out crying. All Meek received was a stern glare as a warning.
Gary then rushed us back up to The Shack where we paid our entry fee and turned in the paperwork. We were given numbers and that was that. We regrouped a few yards south of The Shack.
“Now you boys get yourselves out of here and don’t come back until the competition starts.” Gary told us and then asked, “You got a place to stay?”
Meek and I nodded.
“Good. Are you two doing okay on food and money?”
Again, we nodded.
I then said, “But we don’t have boards yet. We’re going to rent a couple from The Surf Shack.”
“The hell you are!” Gary shouted about as loud as I have ever heard him and this time when he slapped me it wasn’t soft. It was a teeth rattling slap like I’d just cussed in front of him. The slap was not only hard, but loud too.
I cupped my hand over my cheek and looked up at Gary through tear-filled eyes as he said in a disdainful and profound sort of way, “I better never catch you renting the shit they’re using now. Come on, I can hook you up.”
Gary then put an arm around both of us and led us from the beach. As we were walking together, I looked back and saw, walking north, away from ‘The Shack’ were Grandfather and Mom and Meek’s parents. Mom was walking arm in arm with Grandfather, leaning on him the way only a daughter could. I exhaled a breath of relief as I mimicked my mother by resting my head against Gary’s forearm.
We continued walking up the boardwalk to where Gary had parked. He had four surfboards strapped into the back of a brand new white Jeep Wrangler and one in the passenger seat.
Noticing the two of us admiring the new Jeep Gary stated, “Got a heavy lump of cash when I sold the business!”
“Wow!” I was all I could say to that.
Gary eyed Meek up and down then stated as if thinking aloud, “Long legs and a short torso. Below average upper body strength,” and then asked in a thought filled way, “You’re probably a long board man. Am I right?”
“Yeah, he’d do great with that one.” I pointed to the red and blue board.
Meek didn’t have a clue what Gary was talking about. I could tell by the blank look on his face.
“And where the hell is the board I made you?” Gary asked me.
“Hey!” I said with indignation, “We started out on a dirt bike; couldn’t very well strap that on now could we? We would have taken flight.”
“What do you mean you started out on a dirt bike?” Gary asked as he was stretching a rubber bungee cord over a lime green and white striped board.
“The bike was stolen along with almost everything we had. We rode a train a good ways and then got a ride from . . . someone.” I hesitated a moment there and felt a twinge in my heart as I wished Destiny could have stayed and watched us compete.
Gary shook his head.
“You are either the dumbest or luckiest little shit I’ve ever known.” He said while taking down one of the other boards and handing it to me.
I smiled gleefully at the feel of another of Gary’s creations in my grasp. My skin tingled with excitement.
“Now you boys make yourselves invisible. If you want to get some practice in, head up to the point beyond the Naval port. It shouldn’t be too crowded and I was serious about what I said before.” He grabbed hold of the left side of my blond locks, “Keep your trap closed, or someone is going to recognize your voice just as I did.”
“Gotcha!” I said and then used an imaginary key to lock my lips shut.
We thanked Gary and then began walking the long way to the Point where Meek and I spent the rest of the day getting used to the boards.
“Man you weren’t kidding.” Meek said with excitement.
“About what?” I asked.
“Surfing in the real ocean is so much different than at the water park.”
“Yeah.” I chuckled.
We had been at it a good while and were back out a good ways waiting on another wave when I spotted something off in the distance.
“Meek, do like I do.” I said and pulled myself up on my board so that I was sitting on it with my feet and arms out of the water.
“Why are we doing this?” Meek asked after taking the same action I had.
“Look over there?” I pointed north-west of our position.
“Oh crud! Is that what I think that is?” Meek asked.
“That is why you hardly ever see anyone surfing the point.” I told him.
Off in the distance I had spotted not one or two or even three but at least five Lemon shark fins cutting the water. They were still a good ways from us, but the chances were good that there were many more we couldn’t see at that moment.
“What do we do?” Meek asked.
“Just chill out,” I said, “don’t make any splashing noises. When a wave comes, catch it and ride the sucker all the way in.”
“This one?” Meek asked when a wave was coming toward us.
“It will do. Keep your feet out of the water. Just jump up and ride it.” I said, “And whatever you do, don’t fall off your board!”
We both caught the wave. It wasn’t a very big one, but it did the job of getting us back to shallower waters where we didn’t have to worry as much.
“Alright, I think my heart is going to explode.” Meek gasped and the two of us continued to paddle toward shore.
“That’s nothing. Did you know sharks have taste buds on their skin? I’ve had them brush up against me just to see if I was tasty. Now that is scary.” I said.
Meek was green in the face as he said, “I think I’m done for the day.”
“Ah man, don’t let a couple lemons scare you off.” I said.
“Lemons?” He asked.
“Yeah, those looked like the fins of Lemon sharks.” I said.
I smiled at Meek who was looking very sheepish.
“What?” I asked.
“I-I messed my suit man.” He said with tears in his eyes.
I wanted to laugh, I really did, but I didn’t. Instead, I told him to just slip into the water, pull off his trunks, clean them out in the water, rinse them and himself good, and pull them back on.
“I’ve done that before too.” I said, “I remember once when I was out with John. The waves were huge and I got into one that pulled me under. I got so scared I ended up drunk on Neptune’s Cocktail and crapped myself when I couldn’t figure out which way was up.”
“Neptune’s Cocktail?” Meek asked.
“That means I swallowed a bellyful of seawater.”
“Make sure you get the poop off your backside too or it will start to itch something fierce.” I told him.
“Did you get sick?” Meek asked.
“I was selling Buicks for a day and a night.” I said with a grounding chuckle.
“Selling Buicks?” Meek asked in this funny high-pitched voice. Actually, I think he was trying to imitate the way I talk. If he was, he did a lousy job of it.
“Puking.” I explained.
“We’re going to have to hold class when we get back so you can learn more of the surfing language.” I said half joking.
“Yeah it is getting harder and harder to understand you.” Meek commented.
“I think it’s being back here. It’s all coming back to me kind of like moon to coral.”
“Moon to… oh never mind! You’re hopeless!” he started to say but gave up on the whole language lesson.
“So you going to get in the water or you hanging on to that load?” I teased.
“Think the Lemons are gone?” he asked with a rattle in his voice.
I had a sudden idea.
“Hang on! I’ll be right back!” I said and slipped off my board and into the water.
I dove all the way down, felt around for a couple fist sized stones and then headed back up.
When I broke the surface Meek was looking worried, “Did you see any?”
“Can’t see more than a couple feet down there but that’s not why I went down.” I said and I hefted the two big rocks onto my board.
“What are those for?” he asked.
“Scare away the sharks and anything else that might be within a miles or two.” I said with a evil snear.
Meek scrunched his nose in confusion.
I climbed up on my board, being careful not to let the rocks roll off. I then laid face down, taking a rock in each hand and dropping my fists into the water.
I began to clap the rocks together but we being above the water could hear nothing.
“Okay, you can go in and I’ll keep ’em away.”
“What are you doing?” He asked again.
“Just put your head under the water and you will hear. But I should warn you, it will be loud and will hurt your ears a bit.”
He reluctantly dropped into the water by simply sliding off the tail of his board which was stupid of him.
“Not like that!” I shouted but I was too late.
The nose of the board rose up and back, whacking him in the head. It sounded exactly like one of those plastic bats kids play with striking a tree.
I laughed, “You alright?”
“Didn’t hurt!” he lied and commenced to clean put his head under the water.
He came right back up and exclaimed, “WOW THAT IS LOUD!”
I chuckled, “Told you so! Sharks hate that sound!”
Feeling safe that my rock clicking was keeping the sharks away, Meek commenced to cleaning himself.
After getting back on his board he said, “I think I’m done for today man.”
But then he saw the grin I was trying to hide as I dropped the two rocks and sat up on my board.
“What?” he asked.
Unable to hide my grin anymore I let it spread across my face as I asked, “What about what?”
“ALVIN!” he said in a threatening sort of way.
I began to laugh, “Okay! Okay! I can’t stand it! That rock thing does nothing to keep the sharks away. Actually, if anything it will bring them in to see what all the noise is about.”
“ALVIN!” Meek whined.
It was all I could do to stay seated on my board because I was laughing so hard.
“Come on! I want out of this water like NOW!” Meek ordered.
“Yeah, alright. We can come back out tomorrow.” I said, still laughing.
However, as we were paddling in we were close enough to notice that there were people on the beach but only so much as to see that whoever it was they weren’t in typical beach clothes. That meant one of two things, cops or our folks. We were still too far out to be sure, but to me it looked like the beach patrol.
“Crud!” I said with a punch to the water.
“What?” Meek asked and by the sound of him, I think he thought the sharks were back.
“We’d better head back out for a while.” I told him, “If that is who I think it is, we don’t want to have anything to do with him.”
“Ah man, are you serious?” Meek asked as he looked back and scanned the surface for any sign of the sharks.
“I’m serious. Come on.” I ordered and did a kick out to turn the nose of my board away from shore.
We paddled out until we couldn’t see the coastline anymore. The waves were getting bigger as the day wore on and we had to duck dive to keep from getting in Neptune’s spin cycle.
“Why are the waves so big here?” Meek asked.
“See that soup out there?” I pointed to an area where the water seemed to churn for no reason.
“That’s the reef opening. Don’t get pulled into that or you’ll head out to sea and never been seen again.”
“Now what?” Meek asked sounding tired and desperate.
“We paddle parallel to the shore line.” I pointed north, “That way.”
“I can’t see the shore.” Meek complained with a bit of panic in his voice.
Trying to calm him, I spoke in a composed voice, “Relax. I promise we are fine.”
It didn’t work. Surrounded by nothing but blue has this effect on people sometimes. Their minds just cannot handle how vastly huge the ocean really is and how equally small we are. When you add that we’d just had a run in with a school of Lemons and had to make a run from the law, Meek was on emotional overload and his brain was crashing.
“No man, really I can’t see it.” He whimpered.
Still trying to sound calm and in control I said, “That’s a good thing. If we can’t see it, then anyone on shore can’t see us.”
I dunked my fingers into the ocean then flicked the water into his face as I told him to, “Just start paddling north. We’re going to be fine.”
The splash of water to his face only distracted him for a millisecond before he again tried to focus his eyes toward where he thought the land should be.
He croaked out, “Alvin I don’t know about this.”
“HEY!” I shouted loudly to get his attention, “Chill out dude! You have to stay inside your head out here. We are not going to die out here. I promise.”
Meek nodded and the two of us stretched out on our boards and began to paddle north.
“There see.” I said pointing ahead of us, “The tide is taking us in. There’s the shore.”
“That doesn’t look like where we came in.” Meek complained.
“It’s not, but that is cool because I actually know this part. We’ll probably start seeing more swimmers soon.”
“Why here?” Meek asked.
“This is a popular swimming area. Plus when we go in we can probably catch a ride back.” I said hopefully.
“Catch a ride?” He asked, “You think that is wise?”
His skittishness was starting to grate on my nerves but I forced myself to continue to talk calmly to him.
“Positive. I used to do it all the time. You have to remember, up until a year ago, I used to surf all up and down the southern coast of California. I’ve gotten tons of rides from people I’d never seen before and never once did anything bad happen.”
Sure enough, we paddled right into swimmer territory and up onto the beach. Meek seemed to be back to his normal self now that we were on dry land again. However, I knew I needed to get him back out soon so he could get used to the big blue.
“Yo bra.” An older blonde haired surfer greeted us as we came out of the water.
“Yo,” I said back, “Any chance of hitching?”
“Yeau bra.” Was his answer.
I glanced at Meek as I heaved my board into the back of the dude’s old white station wagon. Meek did the same and we climbed into the back seat along with a couple even older guys. They all looked to be in their early to mid-twenties.
“You’re a big gunner?” One of the dudes asked Meek.
“He’s asking about your long board.” I told Meek.
“Uh, yeah.” Meek agreed.
To cover for Meek’s obvious greenness I explained to the other guys. “He’s my bra. In for the competition.”
“Righteous.” The guy who’d offered to give us the ride said.
“Name’s Jimmy.” I said pointing to myself.
“Staunch,” the driver pointed to himself first then to the other two, “Boner and Bill.”
“Nice to meet you.” Meek said, sounding like an easterner.
“He a Hodad?” the driver asked.
“Nah, just green on the scene, but he hangs the heavies.” I told the guys.
After being dropped off downtown and lugging our boards back to the hotel, Meek asked me, “What is a Hodad?”
I chuckled, “A non-surfer. You know, like someone who just hangs around the beach all day, but never goes out in the water.”
“Oh, and what did you tell him about me?” Meek asked next.
“I told him you are an east coast stoner that was looking for some butt loving.” I joked which earned me a playful elbow to the ribs.
Meek chuckled, “No seriously.”
Laughing a bit, I answered with, “Basically, I told him you are new to California, but you’re a great surfer.”
“Really?” He asked as he puffed up a bit at being referred to as great.
“Yeah, and I meant it too.” I said while playfully pushing my shoulder into him.
Back at the hotel we both showered off the salt water, covered each other with a fresh slathering of suntan lotion and I put on a GoodNite before slipping into another pair of shorts. Then the two of us went to the poolside, downed a couple soda’s each while I began to educate Meek in the fine art of the surfing language. He was already semi-well versed, but he needed some polishing.
“After a while we decided to walk around town. I had in mind to find a pair of Huarache Sandals for each of us and knew the perfect place to go. I had to explain what Huarache Sandals were. However, before we left I had to have another change. That’s the problem with GoodNites; they don’t hold a lot of pee when you’re moving around a lot.
“They are leather and rubber sandals made form old tire treads.” I explained to Meek as I was pulling my shorts back on.
“Alright and why do we want Huarache Sandals?” Meek asked.
“They are infinitely more comfortable to walk long distances in. Flip-Flops are great for the beach, but murder to walk any distance in.” I said.
“Oh good. I thought it was just me because my feet are killing me.” Meek said.
“Yeah, mine too, but then again I’m out of practice. I used to run all over this town either barefoot or in Flip-Flops.”
We found the place I was looking for. It was a hole in the wall shop run by a blind woman and her two daughters. Each pair of Huarache Sandals are made by hand, by the three of them, but none are sold until the blind woman has inspected them herself using her hands to go over everything.
I didn’t bother to translate for Meek as I walked in and began spewing what must have sounded like complete gibberish to him. A few minutes later and twenty-seven bucks poorer, the two of us walked out wearing perfect fitting Huarache Sandals.
Remember what Gary said about keeping my mouth shut? Well this was one of those occasions. The old blind woman recognized my voice instantly but she smiled and told me that I didn’t smell like I used too. She was a good fifteen feet from where I was standing, and the shop reeked of rubber, leather, and oils. Therefore, the fact that she could smell me was rather amazing. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to know that so many people were looking for me. She simply remembered me from before.
“You’ve not been in for some time.” She said to me in normal English.
“Figured since my best friend is here to visit, I’d get a new pair while he’s getting some too.”
That seemed to satisfy any curiosity the old blind woman might have had.
“Oh man, these are much better!” Meek commented as we stepped out of the shop and onto the hot concrete sidewalk.
“Yeah I’m stoked.” I said, “And famished.”
“Me too.” Meek agreed, “I could eat a whale!”
We grabbed some grub and headed back to the hotel to hide out for a while.
“Too bad we couldn’t wear these in Maine.” I declared.
“Yeah,” He agreed, “Maybe warm enough by the time we get back but won’t be for long.”
“But we could wear them at the water park.” I suggested.
“You know, that place isn’t going to be the same now that I’ve been in the real ocean.” Meek stated with a rather heavy sigh.
“Well, it is better than not getting to surf at all.” I maintained, “Besides, we’ll be lucky if we ever see the light of day after this; let alone the water park.”
Meek moaned, “Oh man, I don’t even want to think about that.”
“Grandfather is probably going to throw me down some rickety old staircase and lock me away until I am thirty!”
Meek covered his ears and complained loudly, “I said I didn’t want to think about that!”
“And Pepper’s probably going to tie you to the bed and have his way with you… oh wait that might not be a punishment.” I teased.
Even with his ears covered, he still heard me and laughed.
Out of nowhere he asked, “Do you miss your girlfriend from Ohio?”
I groaned, “Well I wasn’t but thank you for reminding me! Want to give me a nice deep cut and pour lemon juice on it while you’re at it?”
Of course, I was only trying to make him feel bad. I wasn’t pining for Jacquelyn in the least bit. Well that is what I kept telling myself anyway!
Despite having two beds in the room, Meek and I curled up together in the bed nearest to the window. I was lying on my right side with him behind me and his arms wrapped around me. Neither one of us thought anything about it as we drifted off to sleep.
Our little nap turned out to be longer then we intended. According to the clock on the table between the two beds, it was 7:23 p.m.
“Wow we must have been tired.” Meek commented and then made a funny gurgling sound.
“What?” I said as I started to move.
“I think one of us leaked.” Meek said.
“Ah man!” I moaned.
“When I sleep on my sides that happens with these dang GoodNites!”
“Maybe we should take some of the money and get something better.” Meek suggested.
The idea that we had to go shopping for real diapers made me sick to my stomach, but in the end I agreed that it was probably a good idea.
Meek and I also decided we needed another shower and to save time, we decided this time to shower together like we’d done before. It turned out to be a bad idea this time.
We were sure to use cream rinse like we were told and were washing the pee from our bodies when something seemed to be stirring in Meek if you know what I mean. Now, Meek and I had seen each other naked a few times now, but this time… well things seemed to get weird!
“What is that?” I exclaimed loudly while pointing at his rising erection.
I’d seen him chub up when Destiny had been dying our skin, but I attributed that to Meeks attraction to Destiny and nothing to do with me. When I shouted Meek became embarrassed, however, seeing how we were both dyed a dark shade of brown it was near impossible to tell if he was blushing, but he sure was acting like he was. He covered himself with his hands and I don’t know why, but I did the same thing.
“I don’t mean for it to happen!” he cried out!
I didn’t mean to say what came out next, “Do you have the hots for me?”
“No!!!” he said very convincingly, “It happens sometimes when I take a shower!”
“Yeah well now you tell me!” I said kind of mean like. I actually felt bad for saying it the way I did.
“Maybe I should just wait until you are done.” He said and started to get out of the shower.
“Noo! You are already all soapy. Let’s go ahead and finish.” Then trying to lighten the mood I added, “Just keep your gun pointed away from me.”
We kept our backs to one another for a while, but then something started to happen to me too.
“Oh crud!” I moaned.
“What?” Meek asked with concern.
“Don’t look!” I snapped and quickly jumped out of the shower.
I wrapped a towel around myself, ran from the bathroom, sat down on the dry bed, and covered my lap with a pillow.
Meek came out of the bathroom naked, dripping all over the floor, and still sporting a raging erection. In his right hand, he was clutching the corner of a towel that trailed on the floor behind him.
“What? Are you alright?” He asked with genuine concern.
“Aaaahh!” I cried out and covered my eyes.
When I dared to peek through my fingers, he was wrapping the towel around himself, which didn’t help a whole lot because I could still see his erection tenting the front of the towel.
“What happened?” He asked.
“Leave me alone! I don’t want to talk about it!” I snapped back.
“Come on Alvin!” Meek begged.
Angrily I yanked away the pillow and towel to reveal my bronzed, three-inch, ridged pole.
I snapped at him, “See! You happy now?” and then covered myself with the pillow again.
Meek moved to sit down on the bed near me and I moved a few more inches away from him.
“Alvin, it is normal for guys like us to get erections.” Meek tried to tell me.
“Nooo it’s not!” I argued.
“Seriously!” He said, “It happens to me all the time at school, in the shower, at church, on the bus… everywhere and all the time!”
“Yeah, but you are gay and I’m not.” I declared with emotion.
Meek tried to explain, “It doesn’t have anything to do with being or not being gay. My dad explained it to me that when guys start puberty we start getting erections all the time for no reason at all.”
When I didn’t say anything, he continued talking. I think talking helped him deal with the moment, but it did nothing for me.
“Erections aren’t necessarily connected to puberty or even sex. Even babies have them. And sure, sexual thoughts can trigger them, so can being naked, skinny dipping, the sun, breezes, certain materials against the skin, and sometimes NOTHING at all… which my dad said was called a spontaneous erection.”
Looking him in the eye AND NOWHERE ELSE I asked in as normal and none threatening manner as I was able just then, “Could you at least cover that thing up?”
That time it was apparent that he blushed as he realized his towel was open in the front and his package was sticking proudly out.
He quickly apologized and readjusted his towel.
Holding my towel in place I rolled and stretched out face down on the bed burying my face into the pillow, which seconds before had been covering my shame.
“You alright?” he asked softly.
I couldn’t respond. I was just too humiliated.
A few seconds later I felt him stand up and then he said, “I think I am going to go sit by the pool for a while.” Within seconds, he was gone. I can only assume he put on his board shorts before leaving.
I too got dressed, which included a GoodNite, shorts, shirt, my Huarache sandals, and sunglasses even though I didn’t need them as it was already getting dark. I wasn’t running away, I simply needed to get away and have a bit of a think so I headed back into town.
Everything seemed so similar and at the same time different. Somehow Chula Vista felt, well smaller…I cannot explain how, it just did. I walked until I found myself hungry and tired. Upon returning to the room, I found Meek already in the bed furthest from the window and half a medium cheese pizza sitting on the other bed. I also didn’t fail to notice that the bed nearest the window had been stripped of its wet sheets and remade with crisp, clean sheets.
“Good you’re back.” He said and did I detect a bit of panic between those three words? Perhaps he had been worried that he had scared me away or perhaps that I had been found and taken back to Maine.
“I called housekeeping and they took care of the bed while you were gone. By the way, where did you go?” Meek asked as he rolled up onto one elbow.
“Just walking around town.” I answered while intentionally leaving out the rest of what happened.
Stupidly I asked, “You ordered pizza?”
His answer surprised me, “Nope,” he smiled wide and pushed himself up into a cross legged sitting position, “Some surfers are staying here as well and they were having a big party. They invited me to join them. When I told them I was here with my brother they sent that back for you.”
“Wow!” I said with genuine surprise, “So you were at a party?”
“Yeah but I wish you would have been there.” Meek answered.
I grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite.
“It’s probably better that I wasn’t. I mean in case anyone recognized me.” I said with a mouth full of pizza.
He made a humming sound followed by, “Yeah that makes sense.”
“So are we good?” he asked outright.
“On one condition.” I said, “You never tell anyone about what happened earlier.”
Meek smiled, “Deal! But same goes for you.”
“Like I’d ever tell anyone about me getting a boner around another guy.” I said like a smart-aleck.
Right then there was a knock at our hotel door, which scared me so bad I squealed like a girl and jumped about three feet away from the door. I then pointed at Meek and forcefully demanded, “And you cannot tell anyone about that either!”
Meek chuckled as he climbed out of bed to see who was at the door. As he walked past me he gave me a shove onto the bed while hissing through his teeth, “You’re just lucky I didn’t have a camera right then!” then mumbled, “And people say I act gay!”
“I heard that!” Laughing I rolled off the bed as Meek opened the door. It turned out to be Jenny.
“How’d you know we were here?” I asked her.
“I followed you.” She said like I should have already known that. That is one of the things I always loved about Jenny, she is totally real about everything. What you see is what you get with her. She also doesn’t pull her punches.
“You need to go to your mom.” She said flatly.
Shaking my head I came back with, “You know I can’t do that until after the competition is over.”
That set off an argument that only ended when Jenny stormed out of the room after threatening to tell where we were.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked Meek.
He ran all his fingers through his bleach blonde hair.
“I’m assuming you intend to compete still?” he asked.
“You better believe it!” I announced with conviction, “What about you?”
He nodded, looked around the room, and declared, “Then we can’t stay here.”
With that, we both began to scramble to get our stuff together and within five minutes of Jenny leaving, we were walking out of our room.
“Where are we going to stay?” Meek asked.
“I know some places up and down the coast that we can sleep under the stars.” I said.
Meek was right on my heals as I led us to a cave I knew about that, during the school year, is popular at night with High School kids for drinking and making out. However, in the summer it was virtually forgotten about.
“Smells in here.” Meek commented off handedly.
I let out a silent chuckle, “Better get used to that, because this is home for the time being.”
We set up our home away from home, and made it as homey as possible but it soon became apparent that we hadn’t thought about one thing…bedding.
“Aah-man!” Meek groaned, “Will it get cold tonight?”
“Nah, we can sleep on our towels and use our extra clothes as pillows.”
Long before the sun was completely lost over the ocean’s horizon; it began to get too dark to see inside the cave. That’s when I surprised Meek with a stash of candles from deeper inside the cave. The candles were stuffed into the necks of sand filled beer bottles that had years’ worth of wax built up on the outside. However, what I wasn’t able to provide was a way to light them.
Since I knew my way around town, Meek stayed behind to keep an eye on our few belongings as I went in search of matches or a lighter.
I was at the 7-Eleven gas station; buying a lighter, a couple Cokes and munchies when something happened that absolutely blew my mind.
There I was standing in line waiting to pay when behind me I hear the unmistakable voice of my grandfather talking with another man. God help me I turned to see who he was talking to and instantly panicked when I saw MY FATHER standing there with his back partly towards me.
I was shocked, scared, panicked, confused and probably would have given myself away had I not smelt myself. The shock of seeing John standing there talking with Grandfather had caused me to soiled myself. The stench was powerful enough to wake me up just in time to hear Grandfather say, “You do know Melody would be overjoyed to see you again? What-What!”
My father then spoke and I would know that voice anywhere. “No, I don’t think after everything she’s been through… She’d never forgive me.”
I was about to run to my father when I heard Grandfather say, “I understand. Well Gil, if you see your son, or that other boy again, please give us a call. We’re staying at…”
I didn’t hear the rest of what Grandfather had said because all my emotions had fussed into one big black mass, which clogged my ears and squeezed my heart to near bursting. With tears rolling down my face, I looked around hoping to find somewhere to hide.
I nearly passed out when Grandfather looked right at me, but I guess with my bleached hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, he didn’t recognize me. His ice-covered heart didn’t even seem the slightest bit phased by my flood of tears, which I was sure he could see.
He turned away again and I didn’t wait around for him to figure out who I was. I literally ran out of the store while screaming in my head.
I didn’t stop running until I was about five blocks away. Only then, did I slow down and look behind me to see if I was being followed.
“Oh crap!” I said as I bent over and placed my hands on my knees while gasping for air.
I huffed and huffed until I managed to catch my breath.
“What the hell?!” I said aloud.
Only then did I realize I was holding the lighter, the Cokes, two packages of mini-donuts, a bag of chips, and two Snickers Bars. I hadn’t paid for any of it.
“Now I really am a criminal!” I howled while wiping away my tears with the backs of my arms.
“HEY YOU!” Someone yelled from the direction I’d come from.
I didn’t wait to see if they meant me. As soon as I heard the “HEY YOU!” I took off running again and this time I didn’t stop until I was back with Meek.
I arrived at the cave only to find Meek already asleep outside the cave opening. I deposited the stolen items in the cave, but did not stay inside. That night I didn’t sleep much at all. Instead stood near the water’s edge and thought. When sleep finally did take me, I dreamt about John and my mother.