The Addiction

Well Surfing Magazine didn't take it so I'm posting it. This was my short story for the mag. The winners got a surf trip!

The alarm buzzes. It’s five thirty in the morning. She stumbles into the bathroom, turns on the light splashes water on face; turns to the black string thing hanging on the towel bar and slowly puts it on. Even though there is effort in every movement from what looks like sore muscles, it doesn’t matter. Silently grabbing the huge fuzzy thing used for drying, throw on an over-sized t-shirt, flip flops, grab a smelly substance that looks like soap and takes it out to the car. Oh, and then there is that black and grey item when put on it looks skin tight, it smells like the sea even after rinsing in the shower.  It’s not however the smells that motivates for one more fix. Walking back in the house she grabs a large white board. It has sticky stuff on top of it- carrying that same weird odor as the ‘soap’ and a single pointy thing on the back, along with what looks like a tail. It’s handled gently and slowly placed in the car with a fuzzy thing around it. The car starts and the drive begins. Any observer can tell the need for a fix is getting stronger. The internet thing had shown something good. She had smiled really big last night after looking at it. The anticipation was starting to fill the car the closer the freeway exit got. Peering out the window the internet was right. The big blue had beautiful curls according to her and I quote, “They look priceless and perfect.”  Speeding to park, the towel and the gray black thing emerge. She had gracefully force on the suit.  Finally, the suit is on and the huge white thing is out of the car after some of that smelly white substance is rubbed all over it. Looking like a penguin with a big white fish, she runs across the street and has to hop down over the rocks to meet the water that churns. Then she waits a minute stretching and the white things tail latches to one ankle. All this is very Weird if you ask me! I would rather have slept-in but she asked/begged me to come with a camera.  All of a sudden the white board is under the black and grey suit and her arms are paddling. She gets so close to the curling water and disappears for a minute. She is the only one out but there will be more soon. From the beach she does a 180 degree turn and all of a sudden she is stuck in a curl of water moving faster and in the end it looks like it eats her. I later ask her what that feels like. I can’t see it but she’s told me the feeling with every ride is the fix. I can see it her ride but I don’t understand. She says when she is inside there is finally relief. The world feels right. There is no pain. There is no suffering. There is just this moment, moving on the water, feeling totally out of control but totally at peace. There will never be another love quite like the one she has with this.  She pops back up looking almost drowned on the outside starts paddling and does it again. There are many more times like this. I snap a few pictures every time she stands. It’s hard to get photos. The water keeps moving and she keeps moving. Eventually, more blue, black and grey bodies join her. They all sit and wait with eyes transfixed on the horizon.  There is almost no verbal communication but they all can tell when a good one is coming. They all start to rotate and some make it and some don’t.  It’s almost like a dance only this dance is an addiction.  What seems like hours later, the water starts to have less curls.  She slowly stands on the white thing again until she reaches shore. She pulls the white board’s tail off.  You can see the huge smile on her face. She has found her fix for today.  I look at her and I can see she is as happy as she will ever be.  When it gets down to the basics it’s pretty amazing that is what makes her happy and I don’t even know how to swim. She sees that I don’t understand and I doubt that I ever will.  She simply smiles and says, “You are either jealous or confused. You should be neither. I hope you find something that makes you this happy. If you don’t perhaps you can see why a little foam, fiber glass, some plastic, rubber, fabric, and water with mother nature’s help can be all I need in life to make me happy. Next time you are going to go surfing with me.” That sentence sounds like she is offering me a gateway drug. I want to kindly decline her right now but I just decide to pray that mother nature won’t make pretty curls in the water when she tries to share her addiction. The craziest part in all this is she is right. I haven’t found what makes me happy but I don’t want to become another ‘surfing’ addict.