Post by waldo emerson bell on Jun 7, 2011 16:30:36 GMT -5
“One last wave,” Waldo promised to his younger sister, Princess, who nodded. It was a Saturday morning in early June and Waldo and Princess had woken up at the crack of dawn, changed into wetsuits and left from their house to walk to the beach. The beach was within walking distance from their house and taking their car was hardly worth it. Besides, Princess and Waldo were lucky to live so close to the beach and not walking there would have felt like a crime. Despite the fact that their house was small and Waldo shared a room with his brother, Falling, just the the house’s location was enough to make all other surfers green with envy.
Now, the pair of siblings were in the lineup, waiting for decent waves. So far, the day had been absolutely awful and the waves at all been mush, but surfers were patient when it came to catching that perfect wave. Waldo watched as one of the other surfers, a tall, tanned blonde girl who was really more of a guy on the inside than a girl, caught two foot wave, riding it for as long as she could. Watching the girl, Waldo had a vague memory of sleeping with her years before, when he’d come to this beach daily. Her name wasn’t easily recallable, though it had started with either an M or an N. Not that it really mattered, though if it did, Waldo could easily ask Princess later. Princess had been surfing here for years, even through the point in time when Waldo was off at boarding school and catching waves at a beach a little farther north. In fact, this was Waldo’s first time out since he’d returned home and he was still slightly worried that his mother would come storming down to the sand like a hurricane, angry as a shark. He was technically allowed to surf until the school year ended because flunking out of two separate private schools was not considered a good thing to Waldo’s mother. Even when his older sister, Presley, had gotten pregnant and had a daughter with cerebral palsy, she’d at least stayed in school and tried. To Waldo’s mother, her youngest son had no excuse and he was just plain lazy.
But Waldo wasn’t lazy. He just had better things to do than homework or studying or sometimes even attending class. It hadn’t been rare when he’d attended the boarding school for him to cut first period for an extra hour of surfing, even after he’d been kicked out of the surfing club for lack of decent grades. As far as Waldo was concerned, he just had to tough out the rest of the year, sneaking out when he could and doing just enough classwork to barely scrape by. It’d been so long since Waldo had tried, he hardly remembered what he was even capable of.
Now he was waiting for his last wave so that he could spend the rest of the day walking up and down the beach, waiting for his wetsuit to dry and watching Princess catch all the waves that Waldo himself should have been catching instead.
As he waited, a wave appeared and Waldo judged it to be at least three feet. He could live with that. In fact, he was more than okay with that being his last wave on this day of mush waves. He rode the wave all the way in, stepping off in the white water and trudging onto the sand. He always hated having to stop for the day, but he wasn’t planning on pushing his luck. If he came home with a sopping wetsuit and a smile the size of a tsunami, Meadow would have no trouble guessing what he son had been up to. Instead, Waldo set his board down in the sand, peeled off his wetsuit and began walking across the sand, shaking his long, blonde hair out like a dog, hoping to get it dry quickly. Already his missed the waves, even though they’d been subpar and he turned his eyes to the ocean just in time to watch a pretty girl with hot pink hair and a tattoo across her shoulders of a sea turtle whom Waldo recognized as being nineteen years old and named Emma, catch a wave that was less than perfect and crash. All of Waldo’s instincts screamed for him to run back into the surf and go at it again, but he knew better. Maybe he’d get more courageous as the days went by, but for now, he’d have to play it safe and not risk getting caught by his mother.
Instead, Waldo sighed and sat down on the sand, turning a smooth stone over in his hand and trying to forget that he was missing out on one of his greatest loves.
Now, the pair of siblings were in the lineup, waiting for decent waves. So far, the day had been absolutely awful and the waves at all been mush, but surfers were patient when it came to catching that perfect wave. Waldo watched as one of the other surfers, a tall, tanned blonde girl who was really more of a guy on the inside than a girl, caught two foot wave, riding it for as long as she could. Watching the girl, Waldo had a vague memory of sleeping with her years before, when he’d come to this beach daily. Her name wasn’t easily recallable, though it had started with either an M or an N. Not that it really mattered, though if it did, Waldo could easily ask Princess later. Princess had been surfing here for years, even through the point in time when Waldo was off at boarding school and catching waves at a beach a little farther north. In fact, this was Waldo’s first time out since he’d returned home and he was still slightly worried that his mother would come storming down to the sand like a hurricane, angry as a shark. He was technically allowed to surf until the school year ended because flunking out of two separate private schools was not considered a good thing to Waldo’s mother. Even when his older sister, Presley, had gotten pregnant and had a daughter with cerebral palsy, she’d at least stayed in school and tried. To Waldo’s mother, her youngest son had no excuse and he was just plain lazy.
But Waldo wasn’t lazy. He just had better things to do than homework or studying or sometimes even attending class. It hadn’t been rare when he’d attended the boarding school for him to cut first period for an extra hour of surfing, even after he’d been kicked out of the surfing club for lack of decent grades. As far as Waldo was concerned, he just had to tough out the rest of the year, sneaking out when he could and doing just enough classwork to barely scrape by. It’d been so long since Waldo had tried, he hardly remembered what he was even capable of.
Now he was waiting for his last wave so that he could spend the rest of the day walking up and down the beach, waiting for his wetsuit to dry and watching Princess catch all the waves that Waldo himself should have been catching instead.
As he waited, a wave appeared and Waldo judged it to be at least three feet. He could live with that. In fact, he was more than okay with that being his last wave on this day of mush waves. He rode the wave all the way in, stepping off in the white water and trudging onto the sand. He always hated having to stop for the day, but he wasn’t planning on pushing his luck. If he came home with a sopping wetsuit and a smile the size of a tsunami, Meadow would have no trouble guessing what he son had been up to. Instead, Waldo set his board down in the sand, peeled off his wetsuit and began walking across the sand, shaking his long, blonde hair out like a dog, hoping to get it dry quickly. Already his missed the waves, even though they’d been subpar and he turned his eyes to the ocean just in time to watch a pretty girl with hot pink hair and a tattoo across her shoulders of a sea turtle whom Waldo recognized as being nineteen years old and named Emma, catch a wave that was less than perfect and crash. All of Waldo’s instincts screamed for him to run back into the surf and go at it again, but he knew better. Maybe he’d get more courageous as the days went by, but for now, he’d have to play it safe and not risk getting caught by his mother.
Instead, Waldo sighed and sat down on the sand, turning a smooth stone over in his hand and trying to forget that he was missing out on one of his greatest loves.
