welcome to cattlesburg: north beach and the dog in the road
way back in the middle of summer. long ago before school, that ravenous beast that gobbles up all your fun and sleeping time, started . the air smelled sweet and the wind blew freedom. ma had julia, the senior at chs who works at the shop, handle the shop by herself while ma took emily, coral (emily invited her), mookie, charley and i to north beach. its a twenty minute ride from cattlesburg to get there. a storm off in the pacific is causing 6 foot swells, and i, the troublemaker, had to see them.

so on the ride up, ma was silent. em and coral talked about the new guy on the soccer team. charley, mookie and i chatted about what are plans were for when we finally got to the beach. charley wanted to boogie board and mookie was dyin' to surf. when they both asked me what i wanted to do my eyebrows danced towards the chattering emily and coral. they both nodded, as if reading the secret plan that was playing inside my head.

we pulled up to the beach. i stared in awe for a moment or two at the colossal waves that were beating upon the shore. my staring was interrupted by my mom, shattering through the breathtaking silence by yelling, "go to the back and help the others!" i woke up and shuffled in my flip flops to the back ok the truck. we, laden down with towels, chairs, bags, surfboards, and other beach necessities, limped towards the warm beach. finding the "perfect spot" we threw all the stuff down and went in our different directions as my ma set up her beach chair. "be back at 3!" i heard her holler down the beach as she entered the world of her mystery novel.

charley, mookie, and i walked down the glistening shore search for a stretch of oasis that would be just ours, with not a soul on it. we stumbled upon the vacant stretch of beach. mookie with his board, charley with her board, and i with my mini easel and worn out shoulder bag full of paint.

mookie ran into the pacific so fast that you could of sworn the devil looked up and blew his scorching hot breath on the roof of hell, making the sand boil. he paddled out and floated a while as he searched for a wave to his liking. charley came up and sat next to me, we talked about the beauty of this beach as she waxed her boogie board. when she was down she ran down to the shore, flung her board, then careened along the shore before the greedy ocean took the sparkling water away. i soaked up this whole moment along with the sunshine and dipped my paintbrush into the azure paint.

about an hour later, i stood up and stepped back five steps and looked at my drying art. i grinned to myself, satisfied with my hard work. mookie came strolling up, board under arm, and aksed, "picasso how's it comin along?" i said, "great! come back and look at it." he walked back and stood by me, "whoa. good job! i definately like." halfway between telling him "thanks" he shook his still dripping wet hair at me. "hey!!" i yelled. he laughed, "you wanna try surfing today?"

glancing at the surfboard, my foe, i gave it an evil stare telekinetically telling it, "i will conquer you today." i think mookie interpretted my stare cause he said, "let's go!" without me replying first. we walked down to the shore, his board now under my arm, the leash attached to my ankle. as we walked past charley she hollered out, "you show that board who's boss!" i laughed as my toes entered the brisk water. i waded out on the board, eyed the horizon, searching for waves in the distant. then i looked at the shore, charley and mookie were watchin, probably waiting for me to fall off again. so then they could laugh, ah what friends are for.

"go! that wave has your name all over it!" i heard mooklie yell. the swelling beast came thundering towards me. i paddled with all my might, turned the board around, and i was up. i did it! i did it! yells and cheers were coming from the shore. those cheers quickly went to awws as the huge wave gobbled me up.

i came back to the shore, feeling a bit dazed and i know i had some pieces of seaweed in my hair from the fall. i gave mookie his surfboard and as i did he went, "you were doing great....for a while." "yeah," charley back him up as she pulled a stand of seaweed out of my wet, salty hair. i grinned, "yeah, least i got up on the board this time. next time, i'll make it but now i think we need to execute a certain plan before time runs out."

so charley, mookie, and i slinked over to the rusty wave bar and borrowed a bottle of ketchup and mustard. also, a couple of forks, packets of mayo, and napkins. we walked down the shore, our loot in my bag. mookie hummed the james bond theme song, as he shuffled along with his board. we spotted the bright puke pink beach umbrella that coral brought. we all looked at one another, noticing the mischevious gleam in the other's eyes.

the girls were out in the ocean floating around on their rafts that were equally obnoxiously colored like the umbrella. four guys walked by them and they started chatting. so now their attention is on them and i know that we wont be seen. we quietly unrolled their towels and got out the materials from my bag. we squirted mayo, mustard, and ketchup all over the towels. there was a fork here and there and a couple of wadded cold, wet balls of naplkins. we sprinkled a bit of sand on them and mookie pulled yet another stand of seawood from my long hair and tossed it on a towel. we grinned at each other, signaling that out towel masterpieces were done. carefully rolling up the messy towels so that the gunk wouldnt be visible and so that it would be on them when they went to dry off.

we ran back to the rusty wave to return the now empty mustard and ketchup bottles. then running back to the vicinity of where they were. good, they were still in the water and their towels were untouched. mookie, charley, and i hid behind a cove. quietly chuckling to ourselves, we anticipated the key moment of the plan.

the guys walked away and em and coral started heading towards the shore. the smiles on our faces grew a mile longer. they talked as they walked up towards their spot. impatiently we waited. still chatting to one another and not paying attention they picked up their towels and wrapped them around them. two piercing screams were heard down the beach.

the towels were quickly flung to the ground. each girl a light orange from the mixture of ketchup, mustard, and mayo. coral had a fork sticking to her arm and there was a napkin ball above emily's knee. behind the cove we were all dying of laughter. emily picked it off and threw it to the ground. the fires of hell raged in her eyes and my name was spelled in the flames. as they scurried to the bathrooms to get the gunk off, my accomplices and i quickly walked to our oasis. we wouldnt be at the scene of the crime but my ma would still know it was me.

we were there for about twenty minutes when mookie looked at the sun, "we should start heading back, it's almost three." coral and emily walked back at about the same time we did. "she did it," emily pointed at me with her slightly still orange finger. my ma's eyes drifted from emily and coral to the still messy towels and to me. she let out a sigh and opened the trunk.

silently we packed up all of the beach items in the trunk. emily and coral hopped in the third row of my mom's black excursion. charley and mookie were sliding on to the second row and as i had my sandy right foot on the foot-rail my ma tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the passenger seat. i gave mookie and charley my "oh crap" look and shuffled to the passenger seat, my solitary confinement away from my chums.

the car ride was silent. not just silent but a deathly silence, where it seemed that if they spoke up they thought the grim reaper would come and swipe their life away. the silence was killing me so i started tinkering with the radio. went through the rap, country, heavy metal, jazz, and 80s staions still i finally stopped on an ol beach boys song. i stared out down the neverending road.

we were cruising along, the oldies staion still playing. seems the tension in the car had let up for em and coral were talking and i would occasionally turn back and join in mookie and charley's converstaion. i looked at the blue navigator infront of is and laughed at the FUN N SUN license plate. all of a sudden mr. fun n sun hit his brakes. my ma hit her brakes, trying to avoid slamming into the back of the navigator. tires screeched and CRASH!

my mom asked frantically, "are you alright?!!", we all nodded yes. she backed the car up and got out to look at the damage. a brunette woman got out of the navigator and exclaimed, "I AM SO SORRY! THERE WAS A DOG IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AND I HAD TO HIT MY BRAKES!" my mom nodded and they exchanegd insurance information. i held my head in my hands, the jolt from the crash made me hit my head on the dashboard. the police came and were filling out an accident report as they talked to my mom and the lady.

i got out of the car to go see the damage and how everything was going with the cop. both the front of my mom's car and the back of the lady's car's fenders were smashed in a bit . when i walked out by ma i noticed a guy standing next to the woman. i assumed it was her son. when the woman saw me she went, "hi, im mrs. cartle, i am so sorry. are you okay?" i nooded yes and looked back at the cars. the guy walked up to me, "hey i'm dash. thats quite a bump on your forehead," he quietly laughed, "you know you have a bit of seaweed in your hair?"

1 | glimpsed a bat with butterfly wings