Then on a Sunday, while I was sitting out front of my Grandparents house, waxing my surfboard for the zillionth time, I heard a twig snap. I looked up and there he was, standing less than twenty feet from me. He was looking right at me, leaning on a hockey stick and sucking on a lollipop.
At first, I didn’t say anything. I think I was somewhat shocked to see, that he had finally got up the nerve to approach me.
He was wearing blue jeans again, with the knees ripped out and that same jersey, which had the name CHRIS across the front in large midnight blue, Roman style block letters.
“Hi,” I said.
He gave me a jerk of his head as a greeting.
“You Chris?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Cool, I’m Alvin.” I said.
Chris looked up at the front of my grandparent’s big home as though he was studying it.
“It’s my grandparent’s house. My parents and I are staying with them. We just moved here.” I said.
Chris only shrugged.
“So do you talk much?” I asked.
Chris again shrugged and then nodded, causing the stick of his sucker to bob up and down like a music conductor’s baton.
He looked at me intently, then to his hockey stick and then back to me. I got the feeling that he was asking if I played hockey.
“No, never played.” I patted my surfboard, “Surfing’s my thing.” I said and when I said it, I felt a twinge of longing in my heart to hit the waves again. I’d been feeling that way for a while now and it didn’t seem to be going away. Actually, it was getting so bad that I was dreaming about surfing nearly every night now.
Chris surprised me, when he timidly walked up to me, knelt down and placed a single finger on my board.
“You ever do any surfing?” I asked.
Chris shook his head slightly.
“My folks and I used to live in California, not too far from the ocean. I used to surf all the time, but here I can’t, because the water is too cold.” I said solemnly.
Chris stood back up, waved and walked away.
“Ok, now that was weird!” I said aloud, once Chris was out of earshot.
The following morning, as I was walking to school, who came walking up behind me? Yep you guessed it, Chris.
“Good morning.” I yawned.
Chris gave me a small wave and half a grin. He then yawned really big too, which caused me to yawn again. Chris gave a silent chuckle at that.
“So you live close by?” I asked.
Chris simply shrugged and pointed over his shoulder.
I stopped dead and put it right out there, “Come on, what’s the deal? Why haven’t you said anything?”
Chris got a concerned look on his face and gently shook his head.
“Wait, can’t you talk?” I asked.
Chris shook his head.
“You can talk?” I asked next.
Chris nodded.
“But you don’t want to talk?” I felt, like I was getting somewhere with him.
Chris shook his head.
“Okay, that didn’t make any sense!” I said, not really meaning for it to be so abrupt.