Cupid's Lead Arrow Ch 2. - Euphoria
(Florida - memories of two years earlier )
It was the first day of my vacation. My plan had been to chill out and recuperate after an extensive period of working too many hours. I walked from my rental apartment to view the beach. Under some scraggly sea grape trees holding back the sand dunes, I'd found an old wooden bench. I'd recognized that this would be a good place to just sit in the shade and allow the tranquility of the natural world to rejuvenate me. As I recalled the scenery, it was as if I was back there living the experience.
The tide was out, revealing an expanse of sand to where small breaking waves were the only disturbance on an otherwise placid sea. It was only the squawking seagulls that disturbed the peace. The gentle breeze made the warming morning almost perfect. Although I'd brought a book to read, the scenery captured my attention.
Further to the right along the beach there was a multi-story beach resort. Indicating the lines of demarcation were rows of coconut palms which had supplanted the mangrove and sea grape trees. The adjacent beach had also been claimed by rows of white plastic chaise lounges. The resort staff had regimentally placed between each pair of lounges a navy blue umbrella.
Many of the lounges were occupied but the only other people on the beach were hundreds of yards away to my left. With little other distraction, the appearance of four bikini clad girls caught my attention as they walked down the wooden ramp from the resort to the beach. I carefully followed their progress.
While bikinis are meant to be stretchy to cling to the body, on these girls they really showcased their natural assets. It seemed somewhat incongruous that while baring so much skin, they still shielded themselves with sunglasses and a variety of broad brimmed hats. With their svelte figures and long flowing hair, my immediate thought was they were a bunch of models parading about to be recognized.
The group was led by a platinum blonde wearing a mint green bikini. While they were all reasonably tall, she was the tallest. She led them to a pair of lounges where she and a brunette in a maroon bikini placed their tote bags. The group then walked down to the water's edge.
I was compelled to watch their progress. For a while they exuberantly played a game closing in on the water before sprinting back to avoid the waves creeping up the beach. They then slowly strolled to my left keeping to the hard sand near the limit of the wave surge. This gave me plenty of time to study them all. In truth I was trying to find the perfect damsel for my fantasies.
The platinum blonde, obviously the self-appointed leader, appeared haughty. I mentally tagged her as the 'Ice Queen'. My impression of the brunette was that she eagerly followed at her beck and call. I pigeonholed her as the 'Lady in Waiting'. It was the other two I decided were worth more attention. Unlike the 'Ice Queen', they were acting naturally and not attempting to be flamboyant. This pair spent much of the time talking together; they were the 'Friends'.
The light ash brown haired beauty was wearing a blue and red floral bikini. The sandy blonde was, if possible, even more stunning in her aqua blue bikini. They were both shapely in just the right places, but the blonde exuded an extra air of gracefulness. I think it was her walk that was purposeful, but also enticing. As they laughed together it was obvious that they were close friends with a shared spirit. I decided that either of them would do for my fantasy.
Of course I would never share my wicked thoughts. I recognized that I was guilty of those stereotypical male attitudes towards beautiful women. My mother would've been shocked as she'd brought me up to be better than this. Perhaps my hormones and the lack of recent close female company were to blame. Despite my bravado in my fantasies, in reality I was naturally shy and could never be offensive to a woman.
The girls had turned around and were now retracing their steps towards me. I now realized they weren't teenagers but more early twenties. Perhaps I should be less disparaging and refer to them as young women. That meant that any age difference shouldn't be a problem.
While my eyes remained focused on the sandy blonde, my brain had wandered. Consequently when a sudden gust of wind blew the hat from her head, I observed without reacting. She'd turned instantly and started running after the straw circular flying saucer. It had been caught by a zephyr and spun in a fashion that it rolled along its brim over the sand... towards me.
It was like viewing slow motion as I focused on her bikini top struggling to contain her bouncing breasts. I was so enthralled it was only at the last moment that I reacted to her hat headed directly at me. Belatedly I stood up to catch the item before it passed by. Just after it bounced off the dune, it remarkably landed in my outstretched hand. I was stunned at the result of my instinctive reaction.
I held the straw brim to confirm that my frantic grab hadn't damaged it. Everything looked intact, although the navy blue band appeared to have slipped.
The pleasant sound of: "Thank you. That was a great catch... I'm most grateful," brought my attention back to the young woman. She'd chased with long strides over 30 yards and her breath appeared unaffected. She was smiling her appreciation at me while I dumbly just stared back.
Eventually my faculties recovered enough to allow me to say: "You're welcome. It was a lucky catch as I wasn't paying attention."
She continued standing there silently. I wondered if she was casting her eyes over me and then embarrassingly, I realized she was waiting for me to return the wayward possession. Somewhat flustered, I held it out for her as she again thanked me.
I wanted to say something to continue our interaction, but my thoughts became incoherent. A whole lot of fatuous pick-up lines raced around my mind; but thankfully I was at least smart enough to say nothing.
I was about to accept that I'd blown my opportunity when she amazed me by asking: "Are you enjoying the book?"
Totally unprepared for the question, I had to remind myself by looking back at the bench to see the novel: 'The Physician' by Noah Gordon.
"Yes." I hesitantly added: "I'm intrigued by the whole concept of how advanced the Persian world was compared to Europe regarding science and medicine at that time. We tend to honor western developments without fairly noting achievements in the Muslim world. During the 11
th
century the West was constrained by superstition and strict Christian mandates." I instantly chastised myself for being boring.
"I recently saw the film starring Ben Kingsley. What you just explained was a surprise to me also."
Tentatively I continued: "Ben played the philosopher and physician Avicenna. The movie does divert from the novel, however Avicenna, as he's known in the West, was a real person called Ibn Sina. He's often been credited as the father of early modern medicine."
