Finally, a break in what was turning out to be one of the worst days of my life so far. And it was only lunchtime. I had no idea how I was going to make it through the rest of the day.
I was sitting on a bench, watching the big beautiful boats bobbing on the water in the sun, hoping it would calm my frazzled nerves and ease the bitchy headache that was clamped down on my brain. Car trouble, man trouble, family trouble, money trouble β it all seemed to be piling up on me and I was ready to choke someone! I scowled and glared, sipping my coffee, lost in thought when someone sat down next to me with a happy "Hello there!" Oh no. It was the tennis instructor from our local yacht club, looking mellow, together and way to cheery for my current dark mood. I managed a smile that felt more like a grimace and went back to scowling at the harbor. I knew him from the club but couldn't say I knew him well. We had spoken several times, but that was all. Everybody who knew him liked him. He was such a nice man, always pleasant and courteous, and I knew it would be difficult to be civilized even to him, that's how bitchy I was. He was the kind of guy you wanted to bring home to mom and dad. He didn't drink, smoke, do drugs, or break the law. He was handsome, in great shape, mild-mannered, endlessly patient with his students at the club and just an all-around wonderful person. Why was he sitting here next to me right now?
After a few minutes passed, he cleared his throat and then waited until I looked up. "Bad day?" he asked gently.
"You wouldn't believe it if I told you, and I'm not going to tell you, so let's just leave it at that" was my grumbled response. I was hoping it was sufficiently crabby enough to deter him from any more attempts at conversation. I was feeling much to hostile to chat.
"Fair enough" says Mr. Nice Guy. We sat for a few more minutes in silence, then he asks me, "How about if we walk? No talking, just a walk. It always clears my head to walk in the ocean air and I was just thinking about taking one. What do you say? Want to? It can't hurt, right?"
"Whatever" I grumped. We got up and started down to the shoreline. It was early afternoon and still warm, with people on the beach walking and playing catch and laughing. I wanted to slug them all. I stomped, he strolled and soon we put some distance between us and all of the carefree beach dwellers. We ambled along, not quite walking together, each of us wandering our own paths, me lost in thought and him, enjoying the day. I stopped and sat to remove my shoes β they were full of sand and quickly becoming another thing that was irritating me. As I stood and looked for him, I caught a glimpse of him up near the sea wall that separates the ocean from the street. He appeared to be looking for shells or something up in the big boulders that pile up along the end of the sand. I was starting to walk away again when he called out to me. " Come here! Look at this! I have to show you something that will make your day better". I heaved an annoyed sigh and wandered over to where he had been, preparing to admire the wonderful shell or whatever it was he had found.