Close Out (20 page)

The contest director held up a large gold trophy. “First prize in the men's short board division goes to Mark Wickersham of Belmar.”

Cheers broke out of the crowd, and the kid who'd been wearing the light blue jersey bounded up to the front to accept his trophy and check for $1,000. Cameras clicked as he held up the trophy. Moments later, as he left
the awards area, the writers and photographers from the magazines converged on him.

Next the contest director held up a smaller gold trophy. “Second prize goes to Kai Herter of Sun Haven.”

Bean hooted and whistled. There was a smattering of applause when Kai accepted the trophy and check for $500. No cameras clicked. No writers surrounded him. In surfing, as in life, there was a big difference between winner and runner-up.

Bean and Kai headed over to the hearse and slid their boards in the back, then got in the front. Kai took a ballpoint pen from behind the sun visor. He turned his check for second place over and wrote, “Pay to Lawrence Balter” on the back, then signed his name.

“Here you go, dude.” He handed the check to Bean.

Bean scowled, then nodded as if he understood. “The tires?”

“What else?” Kai said.

They were driving back through town when Kai thought of something.

“Hey, Bean, could you go up East Street?”

Bean turned the hearse at the corner. “What's up?”

“There's something I need to see,” Kai said. “Shouldn't take long.”

They drove up the block and stopped in front of T-licious. A heavy, balding man in a rumpled gray suit was taping a white sheet of paper to the glass front door.

“Uh-oh,” Bean said. “That looks serious.”

Kai got out of the hearse and stepped onto the sidewalk. The early evening breeze made the leaves on the trees reveal their dull silvery undersides. The air felt light and dry today. Now that it was early evening, the sunlight had a different, clearer slant than before.

The man's round face was red. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead. The white sheet of paper said, in big letters,
CLOSED BY ORDER OF FOURTH CIRCUIT COURT
. Beneath that were several official-looking paragraphs of smaller print. At the bottom were signatures. One by a judge. The other by the county sheriff.

“What's it mean?” Kai asked the man.

“This place has been shut down by order of the county,” the fat man said.

“Why?”

“Guy who ran it is in all kinds of trouble. He got caught selling counterfeit knockoffs of name-brand clothing. And it turns out he's
wanted in other states for mail fraud, tax evasion, and credit card theft. I'm glad I'm not in his shoes.”

“Know where he is right now?” Kai asked.

“County lockup. And from what I hear, he's gonna be there for a long time.”

Kai walked back to the hearse and got in.

“What'd he say?” Bean asked.

“Looks like my father stuck around too long,” Kai said.

“So where is he?”

“Someplace where he can't just pack up and leave,” Kai said.

Bean pulled the hearse from the curb. “We better get back to my place and wash up. We're supposed to be at Spazzy's in half an hour.”

“He still doesn't know it's a surprise?” Kai asked.

“I dropped a couple of hints at the beach before and he didn't react to any of them,” Bean said. “I think he's gonna be blown away.”

Kai smiled. “Good.”

“You get a sense of whether Lucas and his crew are going to show?” Bean asked.

“Hard to say,” Kai said. “Lucas sure didn't look happy there at the end.”

“Yeah, guess you're right,” Bean said.

Back at Bean's place they showered and changed clothes. They got back into the hearse and drove to Spazzy's. The only car parked in the driveway was the black Mercedes station wagon with the California plates. Kai felt a little uncomfortable. Either Jillian and Deb Hollister had done a really good job of hiding cars where Spazzy wouldn't see them, or it was going to be a very poorly attended surprise party.

“So where is Spazzy supposed to be anyway?” Kai asked.

“I don't know,” Bean said. “Shauna and Booger said they'd take care of that.”

Bean parked the hearse out of sight around the corner, and Kai and he walked back to Spazzy's house and up the path to the front door. Bean rapped his knuckles against the door.

It seemed odd to Kai that he didn't press the doorbell.

The front door opened, and Kai found himself looking at a sea of smiling faces in the doorway. “Surprise!” they all shouted.

Naturally Kai turned and looked back down the path, assuming that Spazzy was coming up behind them. But the path was empty. Kai turned and looked again at the faces in the
doorway. Spazzy was one of them. What was he doing there if it was a surprise party for him? It didn't make sense. Then he noticed that Bean was also smiling at him.

“Surprise, Kai,” he said.

Son of a bitch!

K
ai had been eight years old the last time someone threw a surprise party for him. His mom and Ethan said that for his birthday they were taking him to Zelo's Beach House, a restaurant that was not on the beach, but was a cool grown-up place to go. When they got there, Kai discovered seven of his closest friends already sitting at a big table. They ate burgers and fries, and drank way too much soda. The cake, of course, was shaped like a surfboard.

Now Kai stood on the walk outside Spazzy's front door, trying to figure out why they were throwing a party for him. Shauna came out of the house, slipped her arm
through his, and led him inside. The crowd at the doorway parted to let them in. Only Spazzy remained in front of them, twitching. He licked the palm of his hand, sniffed it, then held it out to Kai, who understandably hesitated for a second, then shook it. The others gathered around them in the living room. In addition to Kai's friends and Jillian, Kai spotted Jade, Everett, Curtis, and Teddy (nowhere near Curtis). Besides Everett, no one in Lucas's crew had shown up.

Spazzy took a wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. Kai realized it was some kind of speech.

“I wrote this for you,” Spazzy said, and began to read: “Dear Kai, Knowing you, you're probably wondering why we're having this party. Well, the reason is that everyone in this room feels that this summer you helped us become better people. You either taught us something important, or made the summer more fun for us, or did something that made us look at life differently. We know it'll probably embarrass you if we start telling you all the good stuff you did, so we won't. Besides, if you think about it, it'll probably be pretty obvious anyway. So we got together and
decided to give you this party for two reasons. The first is to let you know that we appreciate everything you did this summer. The second reason is to say that we all hope you'll find a way to stay in Sun Haven. Because we really want you to.” Spazzy started to fold up the piece of paper. “That's it, dude. Short speech. I hope it wasn't too cheesy.”

“Well.” Kai grinned. “It was pretty cheesy. But I appreciate it just the same. Thanks, Spazzy.”

Everyone clapped. As the clapping died down, a short, awkward silence followed. “Okay, guys,” Spazzy said, “the touchy-feely part of the party is over. Time to go out to the pool and have fun.”

Everyone went out the sliding doors to the back. Those who wanted to swim went into the cabana and changed into trucks and swimsuits. Those who didn't gathered around the food. Once again Jillian had hired the bald guy with the pony tail who'd cooked for them on the Fourth of July. This time he served barbequed ribs and chicken.

Kai found himself standing beside Teddy while they waited to fill their plates.

“I looked at those sketches,” Teddy said. “They're not bad. I'd change the colors a bit.”

“Then you're serious about opening your own shop?” Kai asked.

Teddy shook her head. “Not yet. But I figure I'll put up some signs around town and run ads in the local papers and see what happens. If I can get a business going that way, then maybe I'll think about opening a shop.”

“Great,” Kai said.

“But I'm afraid I'm going to need that thruster back that I gave you,” she said.

That stung. Kai gazed down at the patio. He loved that board. Even if he hadn't finished paying Teddy back for it, he hated to give it up.

“Just temporarily,” Teddy added, “until my assistant has time to sand it down and put my new logo on and re-glass it.”

“Your assistant?” Kai repeated, confused.

“
You,
dummy.”

Kai grinned.

“I wouldn't look so happy,” Teddy warned him. “You'll be lucky to earn minimum wage.”

“Maybe he won't need much more than that,” Bean said, joining them. “After all, he could be living rent free.”

Kai eyed him suspiciously. “How's that?”

“My roomie, dude.” Bean put his arm
around Kai's shoulder. “And since I live rent free, so would you.”

“What about mortuary college?” Kai asked.

“I'll be home on the weekends,” Bean said. “I've kind of gotten used to having a live body around.”

Kai didn't know what to say. Suddenly he had a job and a place to stay.

“Guys, I'm really touched,” he said. “Truly. You'll understand if it takes a while for all of this to sink in, right?”

“Take your time,” Bean said, and went off to speak to Jillian.

For the next few hours Kai partied with his friends. Later, in the dark, he walked down to the beach with Curtis. It was another moonless night, and the black sky was speckled with shimmering stars. They stood at the waterline.

“Think you'll stay?” the older man asked.

“Don't know,” Kai answered. “Not sure I'd have anyplace else to go, even if I wanted to.”

Out past the breaking waves half a dozen small white terns with black-capped heads and pointy wings dive-bombed the surface, often emerging with a wriggling silver-sided shiner in their black-tipped yellow beaks.

“What about you?” Kai asked.

“'Fraid it's time to close up shop, grom.”

“You're selling the motel?”

“It's the only way I can pay off all those back taxes. But the truth is, I'm ready to go. I'm tried of the whole damn thing. Tired of getting grief from the damn town. Tired of being harassed. They want to get rid of the Driftwood that bad, let 'em.”

“But then they're going to win,” Kai said. “This place really will become Buzzy Land.”

“Not quite,” Curtis said. “See, there's this organization called the Shore and Beach Preservation Association, and it turns out that they don't want all this beach land being developed any more than you or me. They have special funds set aside to buy parcels of seashore when they become available. Problem is, they usually can't come up with the kind of money guys like Buzzy can. On the other hand they can make special allowances for the property that guys like Buzzy would never make”

“Like?”

“In return for an agreement to preserve the dunes and beach and land near the beach, they might be inclined to allow for a parking lot and picnic area up near the road. They might even be inclined to allow for the construction
of a small shack to rent surfboards and other stuff people going to the beach might need.”

“So it would be like a park?” Kai asked.

“Like a park run by a private nonprofit organization,” Curtis said.

“But that still means surfers would have no place to stay around here,” Kai said.

“Not right on the beach,” Curtís said. “But after I pay those back taxes, I should still have enough left to be able to get a place back on the other side of town, where I could run a small rooming house. Like one of those bed-and-breakfast deals. I admit it wouldn't be within walking distance, but surfers could stay at my place and then drive down to the beach in the morning.”

Kai and Curtís watched the terns feed on the shiners.

“I guess what I'm trying to say, grom, is you can't stop progress,” Curtis finally said. “But if you're smart about it, you might be able to make progress take a detour.”

They walked back up the beach. It was late by now, and people were starting to leave. Kai thanked them one by one, and told them he'd see them soon.

Then it was Jade's turn. They faced each other in the doorway.

“So, I guess I'll see you around,” Kai said.

“Don't forget, you still owe me big-time,” she said.

“I'll make it up to you,” Kai said. “I promise.”

Jade gave him an amused look. “I've heard that before.”

“Let me know what I can do, okay?” Kai said.

Jade leaned forward and pressed herself against him. Placing her lips close to his ear, she whispered, “I think you can figure that out by yourself.”

Kai felt her tongue brush his earlobe, and then she was walking away into the night.

Kai turned and found Shauna waiting in the hallway.

“I hope you plan to wash your ear,” she said.

Kai smiled at her. But she surprised him by stepping close and kissing him hard on the lips. Then she backed away.

“I know you don't like competition,” she said. “But I think some things are worth competing for.”

“In this case I'd have to agree,” Kai said.

“Good.” Shauna kissed him again, then stepped past him and down the path that led from Spazzy's house.

Kai closed the front door.

Finally they'd all left except Bean, who was helping Jillian and Marta clean up.

Kai and Spazzy sat on some chairs next to the pool, gazing at the sparkling aqua-blue water lit by the underwater light.

“This was great, Spazzy,” Kai said. “Thanks, dude.”

“Were you really surprised?” Spazzy asked.