Or
The Secret Spot
When I was younger I lived on a stretch of craggy, windswept coastline in California. It was picturesque and beautiful, but rather sparsely populated. I was used to having to hitch a ride to visit people as I still didn't have a car. If I'd worked more at it, my parents always said that they would help me out with one, but I was more interested in surfing as much as possible and holding down a regular nine-to-five would have been torture for me. So it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for me to go thumb a ride down south a little ways and find some waves on another beautiful Nor Cal day.
I had my surfboard and my backpack containing some food, water and my wetsuit and started walking Cliffside along the road. I had already walked a couple of miles with only two cars passing by. The proposition of catching a ride was beginning to look bleak. It helped that I was clearly just a simple teenage surfer trying to get into some waves and not some bearded vagrant, yet still there were no bites.
Suddenly a black BMW came around the bend toward me. He was traveling the opposite way, so I didn't stick out my thumb, but he looked at me and our eyes locked as he passed. Likely sensing I needed something, he rolled to a stop and backed up as I stopped walking. He rolled his window down to speak as the gravel crunched beneath the slowing tires.
"You need a ride or something?" he asked. He looked to be about fifty years of age and had quite a bit of gray hair mixed in with the remainder of his receding dark locks. He wore aviator sunglasses and had a look of an executive type that probably was lucky enough to live in one of the mansions along the coast.
"Well, I was just trying to thumb a ride down south a little ways to get to a surf spot. It's about 10 miles from here," I responded. I felt my heart race at the prospect of a ride. Though it was still morning, it was heating up quickly. I could practically feel the air conditioning and leather seats already.
"Well, I'm heading up a couple miles to grab a coffee and a newspaper, but if you want to join me, I'll take you the rest of the way after that," he suggested.
"Yeah, that would be great!" I said, and darted across the road toward his waiting car. He had bicycle racks on the roof, and I always carried straps in my bag in case I was lucky enough to get a ride with racks, so I wouldn't risk having the wax of my surfboard get on their seats or have to stick the nose out the window as we drove. Securing the board to the racks, I hopped in the passenger seat and felt the blast of the a/c hit me, cooling me instantly. "Thanks a lot! I hadn't seen anyone out for a while," I said, buckling up.
"No problem. You know, hitching a ride isn't usually the smartest idea. You never know who you might meet," he said. "Jim," he said as he extended his hand toward me.
"Michael," I said as I shook his hand with as firm a grip as I could muster. He wore a pair of shorts with flip flops and a button-down Hawaiian T-shirt. His car was clean and free of any clutter. He was darkly tanned and had some classic rock playing softly on the radio. I placed my bag on the floor between my feet and lifted up my shirt a little to let the air get at my sweaty torso. I didn't want to sweat on his leather seats.
"Yeah, well I'm a pretty good judge or character. I've been doing it for years. I'll get a car one of these days," I responded. He drove off down the winding road. "You live around here?" I asked.
"Just a couple miles back," he said. "My house is actually right on the beach. I try to get out and bodysurf as much as I can, but the water temperature just kills me." He looked me up and down as he drove. "You look hot," he said. "Have you been walking long?"
"For a couple miles. The air feels great in here. Thanks again for picking me up," I said, still shaking out my shirt for the sake of ventilation.
"Don't worry about it. I just need to get a little coffee and a paper over here. They never seem to want to deliver to my house. It's not the easiest place to get to, I guess," he said. "So, are you in high school, then?" he asked.
"Well, I just finished, but I'm not ready to start college yet and get a job. I'm more interested in surfing as much as I can while I still can. My parents want all that, but I'll start when I'm ready," I responded, having heard this line of questioning many times before. People always made me out to be the archetypical California surf bum, which was probably not far off the mark. I was used to it.
"That's understandable. Just remember that if you apply yourself and make time for both you can have more when you get older instead of just working all the time. That's what I did, and now I'm retired and can do whatever I want," he said. It made sense, but I was young and didn't want to think about retirement age issues. "So do you have a girlfriend or anything?" he asked, continuing to make conversation. I thought he might have looked down at my crotch when he spoke, though it was difficult to tell with his dark glasses on.
"Well, I've dated a bit, but nothing regular. I'm more interested in getting in the water than getting in some dumb girl's pants, I guess. Plus I don't have a car, so that's kind of a necessity with the girls around here," I said.
"Well, that's a necessity with most girls anywhere you'll find, but I agree - girls can be a complete pain the ass. I'd rather not be tied down as well. I'd much rather do what I want with whomever I want, you know?" he said, and he reached over to pat my knee for a moment, looking down at me through his aviator glasses. "You're a good looking guy, I'm sure there are plenty of girls lined up to meet someone like you," he continued. He smiled at me as he spoke and he didn't leave his hand there. The brief touch set me on my guard, but I let it go. He was a good looking guy, and though he had to be about fifty, he looked to be in pretty good shape. It's always difficult to tell when someone is sitting, but he didn't even look like he had much of a belly on him. We pulled up to the coffee store, and he said, "I'll be right back. Do you want anything?"
"No thanks," I replied. I didn't want to impose further than I already had. He hopped out of the car and ran inside. I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes, letting the cool air wash over me. His compliments toward me seemed a little funny but he was probably just being a nice guy. The sound of the door suddenly opening startled me and I sat back up. We drove off down the road where we came. Soon, we approached a section of road that I knew pulled away from the cliffs, and he stated, "I live right down here. Do you want to see it? You might have a surf spot you don't even know of yet."
I thought about it and said, "Sure, I guess so." Maybe I would find something I didn't know about. He seemed nice enough, too. It would be great to have a more local spot that wasn't such a hike to get to. He pulled off the road and we headed down a series of switchbacks, passing through some dense trees and then angling toward where I felt the beach should be. Suddenly a modest, modern appearing home appeared and we stopped on the side of it. It wasn't huge, but it was certainly bigger than mine. There were tall windows in the front, and a nicely manicured landscaping around with stones, grass, and flowers thoughtfully placed in a faux-Asian motif. We stepped out, and leaving my board on the roof, we walked to his front door. "I can see why they don't want to deliver down here," I said. He smiled back at me as we approached the door. Even from the front, the large windows afforded a view straight though his living room to the ocean behind. He opened the door and we entered a very open home, tastefully decorated with ocean photos and paintings. The furniture was very modern and contemporary. I would have been afraid to sit down on it lest I ruin anything. We walked through to the back and entered the equally landscaped backyard.
I gazed out on the ocean and noticed the waves were quite good here. The swell direction was working well and the north swell seemed to be wrapping around a large series of rocks to the right of the beach we were so close to. "What do you think?" he asked.
"Wow, it's incredible! You live here? It's beautiful here!" I responded. He even had a small pool to the left side of the house. This place was just paradise.
"Yeah, I like it. You can go out here if you want. I'm not doing anything today, so I don't mind. I'll probably just lay out for a while anyway," he said.
"Sure! Thanks!" I said, and I ran to get my board and bag from the car. Collecting the items, I came back though the house and set them on the grass. I rummaged through my back and pulled out my wetsuit and towel. I stripped off my shirt and wrapped the towel around my waist. He pulled up an Adirondack chair into the sun and kicked off his sandals. He pulled his shirt off as well, revealing a tanned body with sparse chest hair. He had a small belly that one would expect a fifty two year old retiree to have, but overall looked quite fit. I started to pull the Velcro closure around my boardshorts and remove them with the towel securely around me.
"You've got a real nice body, there. You must surf all the time," he said.
"Yeah, as much as I can. Thanks," I responded. I was becoming more and more aware of his eyes on me as I started to pull down my shorts. I wonder if he's gay, I though to myself. Then, looking out at the water, I didn't much care right now. I pulled the shorts off and began to try and manipulate my feet into the wetsuit. Getting one foot in, I started to attempt the other, lost my balance and fell on my side. This dislodged the knot in my towel and made it fall to the side. I quickly tried to cover myself, but it was difficult with two feet stuck in 4mm of neoprene around my ankles.