Treasure Ch 7 A - In line with the series but not a Timeline we have visited.
The previous story was supposed to be last and then I created the prequel. I must admit I am having too much fun in this Genre. Apologies IF I am screwing with minds.
Remember my limited understanding of Timelines. Infinite number according to Steven Hawkings.
So as each of us moves forward we make decisions. Do I turn left or right? Do I go to the grocery store or the local hardware store first?
As a romantic, 'Do I continue to love someone that does not feel the same intensity towards me?' In my case, at 65 years old, I have come to my own understanding...that I love her and 'that...is that'. Being an old-style romantic has its difficulties.
I have no idea how long it will be, or what twists and turns might develop. THAT is the magic of life and multiple timelines.
All humans and creatures are over 18 years of age. All humans and creatures are figments of my mind and are not meant to represent any creatures that walk our earth. If one does, please send me an email with a picture or video attached.
What do you do in a timeline?
You would not know about the others, so...what and who cares!
***
Months before his 65th Birthday...
Drew pushed off with his paddle from the sands of the launch beach at Port, Avila Beach. He was alone on the water once again. Being the morning person he was, he was always on the water a bit after Daybreak.
Therefore alone...AGAIN.
He had only dated one woman that would go Kayaking with him. Her response when asked to get up at dawn to see nature's bounty of wild creatures, smooth water, and quiet serenity of the harbor...well her profanity laced diatribe, was not pleasant. Admittedly, her being 10 years younger and doing the diatribe with 'been fucked real well hair' softened the blow of her words.
This time of year, the water was glass this early. The sea creatures would be out looking for breakfast. He had seen otters feeding on crab, sea lions sitting on the docks, pods of dolphins close to the pier, and harbor seals.
The winged rats (sea gulls) would be out looking for an easy steal, fisherman's bait, trash can fodder, or dead fish washed up on the sand. He knew the pelicans would still be gathered on the flat rock. Keeping warm huddled together as the sun burnt off the haze.
It was not until afternoon when the Los Osos breeze kicked in that things got interesting. Too many times, he had helped play 'search and rescue' when the winds created the swells and pushed the tourist idiots towards the tall cliffs. They would panic and then begin to understand that gym muscles did not translate into practiced paddling muscles.
Drew turned right after the small tourist launch breakwater and headed for the pier. As he cruised by the low breakwater, he started to notice the sounds. Every place in the world has sounds. From the shifting of ice in the Antarctic to the sounds of a hundred creatures in a rainforest.
Sounds, he was trying to hear the morning sounds and there were none.
Yes, sure, he could hear the slapping of waves, but where was the barking of the seals? Where was the cawing of the gulls?
He had paddled out one before under strange circumstances. The last time of quiet was caused by a Great White cruising through the bay. He knew when he launched that it had been spotted the previous day. He was not worried then and not now. 'Bruce" from Jaws was not real and his kayak did not smell or mirror the shape of a sealion.
As he neared the pier, he looked at the pier deck railing and was shocked.
There, sitting wing to wing, was something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Seagulls, with a few pelicans interspersed, stared at him as his kayak slid through the water. From his angle, he could see part of the railing on the other side of the pier, and it too was littered with sitting foul.
The birds frightened him more than the silence of the seals and sealions. Birds could care less if a shark were nearby. But here they sat, silently watching his pier approach.
He slid through the legs of the pier and still the sounds, or lack of them, brought his senses to a heightened state. As he cleared the pier and did his left turn to take him to the 'flat rock,' he paused.
Drew was your regular guy. Not an ex-navy seal, or some buff piece of 65-year-old masculinity. He was your normal guy with normal intelligence. He was just a retired, 'work part time at the hardware store' type of guy.
He paused and looked around. He just floated and listened to the lapping of the water at the pilings and the distant splash of the minor waves at the distant beach.
'Why am I so spooked' he asked himself mentally.
He lightly spun the kayak in a gentle 360. looking to see if there was something, some glint into why it seemed so odd. His looking up did not help. Here he was on the opposite side of the pier, being quietly watched by the matching set of feathered denizens that watched him from the other side.
'Ok...we either pussy out and head back, or pull the big boy shorts up and head to the small beach by the flat rock' he thought to himself again as the kayak completed it 360.
With its nose pointed at the flat rock across the bay he decided. 'Big Boy shorts it is,' he thought as he dug in his paddle and the kayak slid forward.
And that decision defined a split in the timeline.
***
A few months before his paddle.
Drew was out sitting on the porch enjoying this early morning on a cool summer day. His lover Jeanne was still sleeping in his bed. No matter how old he got, it made him smile until it hurt. To know she was sleeping next to him the previous night, just made his heart skip beats.
He was lucky. He could still make love to her for hours and the thought of her orgasms fed his ego, and his libido. He was tempted to go wake her with a kiss on the butt cheeks that poked out from bed covers when he skipped out to the kitchen this morning.
He only got to enjoy this thrill every couple of months. He was persona-non-grata with her family for breaking up her marriage. So, in a way they were back to sneaking around like when they were having the affair.
It was not something Drew was proud of. This one affair was the only time he had ever approached a married woman. But they had been lovers for many years before her marriage. She was his first true love back at the beginning of adulthood. His romantic soul never forgot her, nor of the magical force she had within him. It was no excuse for him starting and participating in an affair, just a brunt fact now.
For Drew, she brought a light into his soul each time he looked into her eyes. Even now, when she had time and could sneak away to savor a time with him, he took in every second.
He heard his dog give a short playful bark and knew Jeanne was up and moving about the house. A vision of loveliness came to the screen door in her robe with a demure smile. She used her index finger to call him over.
"Come inside, I want you inside me again," she whispered through the screen.
Drew may have been slow at times, but he knew that making love to her had always been one of magic for him. There was never any option for him. Just being close to her had him rock hard in a second.
