Beach Bums

T'was a typical morning with the family; breakfast, morning chats, and the bright Brook sun lit up the day. Rory and Randy were drinking coffee at the back porch on the old cedar deck of the beach house as usual. Tac was about ready to head back to his apartment before he got a call from Travis.

"Ahoy there, mate. What you up to," Travis began.

"Wild night. Better than beast, but not better than parents. Yep."

"Oh, sure. Got ya. Anyway, yo so you're heading this way at all? If so, let me know because I'm hanging out with… guess. Friggin' Trent's brother Parker. Yeah, duude. He's cool. We were talking about our little gathering yesterday with his bro. He is like way over all that stuff from when we were kids. You know Parker, though. But, yeah, he's my neighbor now. He just moved in next door with his wife and kids. We're throwing back a few and heading to the beach with his fam and a few of our friends. You remember Jan, right? Yeah, her, and homefry Lorraine, and I are all meeting up at Pacific Beach Park at 11. Wanna meet up?"

"Sure. Sounds wicked. I'm just eating breakfast right now. The parents are being all Bourgeoisie on the porch. I'll be over in an hour at the most if anything, yeah?"

"Rad, bro. So like, just head to the beach because we're already packed up. We're all going in Parker's Humvee. It's this big black beast, yeah. So, see ya then. Oh, and bring swim clothes because like, Jan and Lorraine are likely going to want to get in, and no I'm not doing it alone; unless of course you agree to call me king Travis for a year and bow in my presence because that's wack. Otherwise, I need backup. I'm digging Jan a lot. Since that beast party, we've really been hitting it off."

"Sure, homie. I got your back. Don't worry. I'm pretty sure me and Lorraine are just going to argue about feminism and liberals."

"K, brah, see ya," Travis said as he hung up.

Nonstop it was in Brook Harbor, and another adventure was emerging in their wake. It was to be a good day. There were almost never bad days in Brook Harbor, as most of the people who lived there were very formal, mature, and mostly healthy; which says a lot about people in Brook Harbor. That Vitamin D probably set them all off on a nutrition tangent, but that was the harbor life; low carbs, low fat, medium calorie, medium protein diets. A lot of bourgeoisie, but not so much as to be sociologically appropriated toward grandiose class warfare. Everyone in the town did their fair share and helped at the local town hall, schools, hobo jungles even, you name it. The consensus was that, America was the land of the free, and that was a social fact. Everyone was relatively beach bum slash hard worker. The two only mix in Brook Harbor, but stay like oil and water. Tac arrived at the beach five-till and saw Travis, Jan, and Lorraine, Parker and his family near the Humvee unloading. There was a canopy setup, a big bbq grill, a sound system, and plenty beach chairs for everyone. Tac got down from his Chevy Sprint and shouted to Parker, "longtime old friend. It's been ages. How are you?"

"You know. Family, work. I am an engineer. I went to Harbor Community and literally made it through Cal. I went for mathematics at first, and a biology minor, but I disliked all the blood and medical device stuff. I did Civil. I am part of Brook's development council. In fact, this very beach; it's a public beach. We're putting in a basketball court, more restrooms, a new beach walk, and we're going to be leasing off a portion of it to a few sustainable operations. Yeah, all that pizzazz. By the way, this is my wife Kyrah. This is my son Peter, and that is my daughter Zalia."

"Nice to meet you all. You look like a lovely family. Yeah. I work at Brook Hardware, but I am taking up an offer soon for boat maintenance and upkeep. I'm heading over there this week to meet this guy Vinny. He owns that big yacht the The Blue Horizon. I'm hoping it all works out. I see Trent sometimes. I saw him just yesterday, in fact , but I haven't seen him in a few months. Work. I think he lives near that alley northeast of the park, right? In those older apartments."

"Yah, that's my bro. I go up there occasionally. He's really stapled to Brook Harbor. Like you. He tried moving up to Arizona for like six months; he hated it. He's way too beach bum. Haha! Me, too, though! We're all beach bums here up in this place, right?"

"I am, no doubt. Travis and Mrs shopaholic here are not just beach bums, though. They were promoted to 'beach punks.' That's because they never listen, unless it's punk music. Ask them a question. They'll stand there like seagulls." Lorraine hits Tac on the arm while Travis just grins as he helps take down the rest of the chairs. They all head to their setup about a quarter of the way into the beach, which is about two hundred feet of sand until you hit the ocean. The white canopy sets an aesthetic that enlightens the day. Kyrah and Jan's large hats also help to decorate the scene. They all have laid out their large beach towels and begin soaking in the sun as Parker puts in an Offspring CD. Travis breaks the ice with Jan, finally, after having taken down all the stuff from the Humvee with but two words in. His suave harbor grace, however, becomes apparent when he asks if Jan wants to take a dip.

"Down to get in? Here, I'll take you," as he double legged her, setting her over his shoulder.

She agreed, screaming, "Ahh, ok," laughing as Travis ran her to the shore. Travis was looking extra handsome, and funky, that day, too, with his blue island print tank, sideways flex fit cap, and bright red Billabong shorts. Her red two piece, and attitude, matched his vibe and they looked perfect together on the sunny beach.

Tac sat there with Lorraine and they started chatting like they often did when they met up. Tac and Lorraine, being old high school pals from Colter High, were sorta the cutest 'noncouple' there was. They did date. Once. But, their friendship was so intertwined with people both of them knew that they decided to just stay friends. There was too much at stake. Plus, Tac was all about the boat game and not so interested in anything else. Lorraine was different, however. She always enjoyed Tac's company, and every now and then she would ask Tac what it would have been like if they went steady. Tac always answered with a joke of some sort. Often, he would just perversely make big lips and force himself on her. She thought this was cute, but Tac never budged. He respected the opposite sex as anyone and his style was exquisite. Lorraine and Tac sat in the sand as Parker and his family sat in a circle near the canopy. Lorraine was wearing a two piece bikini; a navy blue top and baby blue bottom. Tac poked Lorraine in the arm and joked, "Ya actually wore a bikini. I thought you just leave the ton of bikinis in your underground lair."

"Oh hush, Tac. I wear em all the time. I definitely passed on like twenty different sets, though, sure. What if someone needs to borrow? I can help."

"You say that now but I bet if Jan asked you'd probably just give her your mom's old g-string, hah!"

"My mom's g-string would look perfect on her."

"I'm no liberal. No fluff here. It's no way. You need to go to the mall and get yourself a self restraining order."

"If I did that then I would just break the law."

"You'd also break the law by running over to the mall in all your stolen bikinis." The two laughed the day away talking about shopping, politics, and the harbor while Travis and Jan were enjoying their little beach romance. As it reached midday, they all gathered around the table to eat as Parker and his wife finished up the bbq and fixings. Everyone was hungry and ready to eat.

"Get at it; lunch is served. Dig in. Got ribs, chicken, potato salad, burgers, hotdogs; go for it. Eat up. And Tac, you gotta try this fish." Parker handed a small bbq'd flat fish to Tac as everyone knew Tac liked seafood the most. Tac forked a piece.

"Mmm, that's good. What is it."

"That my friend is marina Flounder from our restaurant. My dad is part owner now. He really worked his way up. We sell a lot of this stuff there, as you might know."

"Yeah, I go there with the fam on holidays, but I haven't been back in years. It's delicious. I'll be sure to keep you guys in mind when I go up to see my parents."

"No worries, bro. Anyway, you guys eat all you can eat. Some of the guys are coming through. Don't worry; they're my coworkers. They're harmless. That other life is way behind me, anyway," Parker explained. They all sat around the canopy and ate while listening to bands like Smashmouth, Nirvana, and Snot. They all were full and untalkative when Parker's friends showed up, one of them carrying a sandboard, the other two had beach equipments; frisbees, a football, a big beach ball. They also had an ice cooler filled with beer and wine coolers. Parker introduced them to everyone, "This is my good friend Lucas from work and these are his cousins Kai and Dante." The gang introduces themselves and they spend the rest of the day drinking and playing on the shore: sand surfing, playing catch and football, and generally enjoying the day. Trent spent half his time with the boys, but was a perfect family gentleman throughout, even though he still had that same sorta aggressive aura a little from high school. He was even bigger now, too, especially in comparison to his short wife, who was at best five-four and a hundred and thirty pounds. Parker was atleast two hundred and built like a wrestler. The day reached evening and the orange sky reflected off the waters in a beautiful way. The crew was tired and all pretty drunk from all the beer that Lucas brought. As they all took their things to the parking lot and loaded up their cars, the guys chatted and bantered for a while in the parking lot. Travis started, "Friggin' awesome. Couldn't have been better, unless we all just went straight to the strip club after. Any takers? Eh? Ok," Travis stopped with a straight face.

Kai jumped in, "I work all damn day. I needa get out more. Plus, we stare at this place all the time, but then go to the office and work with city planners. I just want to front flip into the water like a crazy man sometimes."

"I'm the opposite. I go to the beach and stare at society. It's not as great as it sounds. It's a beach bum thing," Tac joked.

"I'm such a beach bum that I can't even go to the beach anymore without seeing an old girlfriend. I have it all planned out. So you don't look so awkward, ya know, because you want to look impressive, right, just bring toys and balls and stuff. It like does everything," Dante explained in surfer refinement.

Tac shot back, "Even better; snorkels." They all laughed and proceeded to end their evening banter session. "Cool Tac, nice meeting ya," Kai said as he was walking away with Dante and Lucas. "By the way, Parker was telling me you're into boats. Well, if you're ever available, I got an old sailboat at the marina. If you're down, it doesn't start, and I know next to nothing about that stuff. If anything, I turn it on and I just aim at girls or dolphins, haha."

"Yeah, sounds fun. I'm definitely willing to check it out," Tac assured Kai.

"Cool bro, have a great night, man."

"You, too," Tac said in farewell. Jan and Lorraine left in their car after everyone said their goodbyes. Tac and Lorraine bumped fists and peaced out as always and everyone went their separate ways.