Shark Lover (3 page)

            “What’s
something that nobody else knows about you? I thought we were sharing.” She ran
her hand through her blond curly hair as it frizzed in the humidity.

            “Oh,
we are still talking about that.” He smirked. “Well my father was a pro surfer.
I was going to be pro too, but I ended up quitting before any of that
happened.”

            “Wow,
that’s awesome your dad was a pro surfer. Do you think I could get his
autograph sometime?” She joked as she poked him in the stomach. “And why did
you end up quitting before you went pro?”

            “Well,
I don’t think you will be able to get an autograph since he passed away almost
ten years ago.” Sadness filled his eyes. “I quit after my dad died. I just
didn’t have the motivation or the strength to do it anymore. He was the one who
taught me everything that I know. Every time I got in the water it reminded me
too much of him and it was just painful. I couldn’t put up with it anymore.”

            “I’m
so sorry. I didn’t know he passed away. I understand what you mean. After my father
was gone, I could hardly bear to go to the beach. It reminded me so much of him
that I avoided it at all costs.” Her faced grew with hope. “Maybe your dad
would be proud of you if you surfed again. He probably wouldn’t have wanted to
you quit.”

            He
stalled for a moment while thinking. “Oh, I know he wouldn’t have wanted me to
quit. He would have wanted me to keep going. I wanted to, I just couldn’t find
the motivation anymore. I’m sorry about your dad too.”

           
“Marc…Marc.”
His father whispered into the night.

            Marc
had been sleeping. He was tired. High school was exhausting. Not to mention all
of the changes that his body was going through that made surfing that much
harder. He woke up after seeing his dad through the crack of his door. He
rolled over in his bed and turned the lamp on. He rubbed his eyes sleepily,
wishing that he was still dreaming about surfing Stinson Beach.

            “Dad?
Is that you? Is something wrong?” He asked his dad as he pulled the sheets off
of his bare chest.

            “Yes,
it’s me. I just wanted to tell you something. Nothing is wrong.”

            “Oh,
what do you want to tell me?”

            “I
don’t want you to ever quit surfing. You are too good to stop. You have raw and
natural talent. I know it’s difficult right now, with your new height and body,
but you can adapt to it. It’s just that I saw how frustrated that you were
today and I worried that you would quit.”

            Marc
closed his eyes remembering his failure earlier in the day. “It was just so
hard to get up on the board. I kept falling down. I didn’t know I would get
this sudden height surge at just fifteen.”

            He
had grown over five inches over the winter, making it hard to balance now with
his added height. Every day he went to the beach and tried to surf, but he
couldn’t catch a wave. He didn’t know what to do. Quitting seemed like the
easiest option, but his dad never let him take the easy way out. He had told
his dad that he could do something else. Maybe wakeboarding, but his father
wouldn’t have any of it. He wouldn’t give up on his only son.

            “You’ll
figure it out Son. It will just take some time to get used to.” He sat down on
the side of the bed. “I have faith in you. You remind me of myself at that age.
I was so clumsy, I could barely walk down the stairs without tripping.”

            “Great
so now I am clumsy?” Marc asked making a goofy face. “But seriously Dad, I
don’t know if I will ever be able to surf again. I lost my talent with my new
body.”

            “You
won’t if you keep thinking like that.” He scolded. “Your talent is still there.
You just have to think of new ways to use it. It may be hard at first, but true
pros never quit no matter what the difficulty is.”

            “I
guess I could try and find some new ways to prop my body up on the board. If I
regain my balance, I should be able to surf again. I just need to figure out
how to do that. Maybe if I go to the gym I can build some muscle that will help
me stay upright?”

            “That’s
it, now you’re thinking Son. There’s always ways around it. Will you promise me
something?” His father said with earnest eyes.

            “Okay
Dad, what?”

            “That
you will never quit surfing. Even if I am gone. I don’t want you to ever stop.
You’re great, the world needs your skills in some way or form.”

            “Alright.
I promise. Thanks Dad. I don’t know what you see in me, but it must be good.”
He looked up as his father got off of the bed and headed towards the door.

            “I
see me in you.” He opened the door and left the room, leaving it open so just a
little surge of light shown through. Marc’s eyes closed as he drifted off into
a silent sleep, thinking about the last words his father spoke to him.

            “I
think you should give it another try. You never know what will come of it.”
Cathy stared intently at Marc, wondering what was going through his mind.

            “Give
what another try?” He asked shaking off a thought.

            “Surfing.
I know it has been years, but if you were naturally talented like your dad said
you were, it would probably be pretty easy to get back into it. I believe in
you.” She softly patted his knee in an effort to give him encouragement.

            “I’ll
think about it. I don’t know if I could face the waves again. I haven’t since
he died, it just wouldn’t be the same.” He glanced away in the distance.
“Anyways, tell me about your family.”

            Cathy
took the cue of the changed subject and decided to let her point go. “I have a
younger sister named Carly. She just started college. She’s a handful. She is
always getting into trouble. I practically raised her myself, we are pretty
close. Then there’s my mom. She’s a dental hygienist. So of course my sister
and I always have clean teeth. I love them both so much. I am lucky to have
them. Things were rough without my dad, but we made it through. So are you an
only child?”

            “Yep,
I am. You’re lucky to have a sibling. I always wanted one, especially a younger
brother. My mom has been great though. She’s caring and understanding. She is
actually a veterinarian. Animals are her favorite thing in the world. She loves
and protects them. You remind me a lot of her.” He started cleaning the food
off of the blanket and put the remainders in the basket.

            She
looked down and blushed. “Well, thank you.” She glanced around the park looking
at the trees all in bloom. The leaves were huge, green and overcoming their
branches. Off in the distance there were couples walking and holding hands,
strolling through the grass without a care in the world. Marc laid his head in
her lap as she stroked his brown hair. She glimpsed down and gave him a smile, enjoying
the playful look on his face.

            “Cathy,
where’s Daddy? I looked all over the house for him. I can’t find him anywhere.”
She called through the hall.

            “I
don’t know Carly! I’m busy. I have to write this paper it’s due tomorrow. Can’t
you ask Mom?” Cathy answered in annoyance. She was tired of her little sister
constantly bugging her when she had an assignment due. She stared back at her
computer in an effort to concentrate harder on the paper for her English lit
class. After staring at the same line over and over, she realized that she
couldn’t focus on Hamlet any longer; not with her seven year old sister
scanning the halls and calling her name. She closed the document and got up
from her desk. As she pushed back the chair, Carly came bombarding in her room.

            “Cathy.
I can’t find Mom either.” She looked at her with a serious, grim expression.
“And all of Dad’s stuff is gone.”

            “What
do you mean it’s just all gone? I don’t understand. Let’s go take a look.” She
grabbed Carly’s hand and ran with her down the hall to her parent’s bedroom.
She pulled open a few drawers. Everything was missing. “Well that’s strange. I
don’t know where he would have put it. Let’s check the closet.”

            “It’s
all gone Cathy. I told you. It’s all gone.” Carly repeated.

            “It
can’t be all gone Carly. You must have been confused or not looked hard
enough.” She threw the closet door open and dragged Carly in with her. “See
Carly it’s all…here.” Looking around she only saw her mom’s clothing, shoes,
purses and accessories. “Well maybe it’s hidden under mom’s stuff. Let’s look.
It has to be in here. Where would it have gone?”

            “Cathy.
Let it go. It’s all gone. It’s not under mom’s stuff. It’s gone. He’s gone.”
She peered over at her sister looking for comfort.

            “But
this can’t be right. Why would he just leave us like this? I don’t understand
why he wouldn’t even tell us. He knows that we would have wanted to know first.
I thought we meant everything to him.” She said as sadness crept into her
voice. She continued searching through her mom’s stuff hoping to find one sole
belonging that belonged to her dad. She came up empty handed.

            “Maybe
it was easier for them to tell us this way, so that we wouldn’t worry so much.”
Her sister said thoughtfully.

            “It’s
not easier. It just made it harder!” She threw down one of her mom’s purses to
the ground in anger as Carly clutched on to her legs.

            “Stop
Cathy! You’re just making it worse!” She screamed.

            “He
was supposed to tell us! I can’t believe he didn’t tell us! Did he just think
that we wouldn’t find out? I don’t understand why he just left. We could have
been there with him.” Grief threatened her voice as tears came to her eyes.

            “I’m
sad too Cathy! He didn’t just leave you. He left us all.” She shrieked as she
started crying fiercely.

            “I
don’t know why he would do this to us.” She cried between sobs. She pulled
Carly into her arms, hugging her tightly as they sat on the floor together and
wept. “Now we don’t even have anything to remember him by. What are we going to
do Carly?”

            “I
don’t know Cathy. You’re older. You tell me. Maybe we have to be stronger. For
him. What if being strong helped him.” She wiped the tears off of her swollen
cheeks.

            “It’s
so hard to be strong. I don’t think I can do it.” She helped Carly off of the
ground, realizing that they were both still in their parent’s closet. She
couldn’t bear the sight of it anymore and hurried out. She didn’t want to think
of this house without her dad in it. He made the family complete. Without him
they wouldn’t be a family anymore. She sobbed to herself as Carly followed her
back to her bedroom.

            “You
can do it Cathy. He needs you to be strong. I know you were the daddy’s girl,
but you have to be a tough girl too.” She said with sympathy in her tone.

            “Come
lay in bed with me.” Her eyes still filled with tears. “I’m too depressed now
to do my homework and I don’t want to be alone. I just want to sleep and forget
that this ever happened. When I wake up I want dad to still be here. I want our
family back.”

            “I
don’t know if it works like that, Cathy. I think things will still be the
same.” She went into her sister’s bed trying to comfort her. She laid her head
in Cathy’s lap while painfully watching her cry. She lifted her hands up and
wiped her sister’s tears before they hit the bed sheets.

            “I
know, but I can pretend right? It makes me feel better. I just don’t want to
believe that this is my reality right now. I don’t want to live in a house like
this. All broken and scarred.” It was times like this that she felt lucky she
had her sister by her side. She almost felt as if Carly was the older sister.
She was the one who was supposed to be comforting Carly, not the other way
around.

            “You
can pretend if it makes you feel better, but at some point you’re going to have
to face the truth and then it will hurt even more. Let’s just try to be strong.
For Daddy.” She said with a half-smile.

“I’ll
try. Thanks Carly.” She plopped her head down on the pillow next to her sister.
She closed her eyes in an effort to block out the present and escape to some foreign
dream world that would treat her better. Thinking of happy thoughts, she slowly
drifted off vastly into sleep. As she laid in bed holding Carly and with tear
soaked cheeks, she prayed that tomorrow would be better.

            She
leaned down and kissed him as he lay in her lap. She never felt this calm. Her
mind was always racing, thinking that she had to be busy all the time to escape
her thoughts. Cathy hated taking time out for relaxing. Giving her mind time to
think was a dangerous situation. She didn’t want to have to think about the
past. She wanted to forget it all and pretend that it had never existed. As she
sat blissfully watching the trees slowly blow in the wind she remembered why
she felt the need to compress her contemplations.