Okay, I will confess that the first wave I took caught me by surprise and I went down but after that I didn’t fall any more.
There was an older guy there, maybe fourteen or fifteen but I am not sure. He was kind of lanky in build, lightly tanned and had kind of brownish and shortly cut hair, though it was difficult to be sure when it was wet. Around his neck he wore an all-white Puma shell choker and he could have passed as a California surfer had he not had a gold stud earring in each ear and been wearing a bright yellow Speedo which left very little to the imagination. A true California surfer would rather surf naked than be caught wearing a butt-hugging Speedo.
He paddled up beside me as I was about to take my last wave before lunch time. He politely introduced himself and asked for some surfing pointers. He said his name was Meek and I later learned that was short for Minkus. To me, the name Minkus sounded stupid, but I didn’t tell him that. I can only imagine how bad it must have been for him growing up with a name like Minkus. I am sure he was beat-up on a regular basis in school. Naming a child Minkus? You might as well tattoo ‘Beat Me Up’ on their forehead. Conversely, the name Meek sounded cool and was the perfect name for a surfer.
“We’re about to have lunch,” I told him as I got ready for the next wave, “but if you want we can catch-up afterward?”
He even sounded like a Cali-surfer when he said, “Righteous!” and gave me the hang loose hand gesture that only tourist and movie surfers use.
We both took the wave at the same time but he was tossed from his board almost instantly. I would have ridden the wave all the way had this stupid little girl not paddled herself right into my way.
Jacquelyn skipped over to me as I was hulling my board out of the water. She hugged me from behind, “That last one was so cool when you dove off your surf board to miss that little girl.”
I looked at Meek who was paddling his board up to us and I asked, “See ya after lunch then?”
“Yeah man. That’ll be choice!” He responded before heading for another wave.
“Who was that?” Jacquelyn asked.
“Just some guy asking for points.” I told her.
“What are points?” She asked.
“Points is short for Pointers; you know, like tips on how to do stuff better. He wants me to give him some surfing points.” I explained.
“Oh…” Jacquelyn said and I could tell that she wasn’t really too interested. I guess she was more hungry, than anything else.
“We are over there,” she pointed to a picnic table over on the boardwalk area.
“Well then, lead the way my beautiful princess!” I said trying to be overly dramatic.
