Groms

Chapter Three

It was Thursday morning before the Sunscape was ready to return to Peterson. Clay had called him and said to bring the boat's trailer along and they would swap out. Terry would get his towing fees and a three day rental on the trailer he had used to bring the boat to the yard. Clay would get the repair fees and add a hundred dollar charge for slinging the boat onto Peterson's trailer.

Charlie had replaced the torque tube, reset the bulkhead and put the seats back together. The drug test kit was back behind the seats and the GPS firmly secured to the struts in the bilge. With the switch in the on position the device would energize when the bilge pump was turned on. Peterson would never know it was there.

Owners were trained to turn the pumps on to run on battery power for five minutes before starting the engine. Fumes from the fuel could build up in the bilge and create explosive conditions so pumping out the water that invariably settled down there was the best way to prevent a fire hazard.

The bill for this work and the parts would run almost four thousand dollars, but he figured Peterson could afford it. The only thing Charlie hoped was that the son, Steven, would not be the one to come get the boat.

The surfing crowd around Charlie's age was fairly big, although the younger kids always seemed to dominate the waves. Steven was not part of that pack because he lived south of Vero Beach and closer to Fort Pierce. He probably did most of his surfing off Hutchinson Island or along Jensen Beach.

Around ten o'clock someone with a flat-bed truck towing an empty boat trailer pulled into the yard. The man stood watching while they winched the boat in the air and swapped out the trailers, but he never said a word to Charlie. The door on the truck had a wreath of palm trees and a logo for a landscaping company so perhaps Peterson was in the most popular Florida business.

Once the boat was gone Clay got on the phone and called Giddings, telling him the boat was on its way to the North Island Causeway in Fort Pierce where it would be put back in the water. Charlie didn't care about those details since none of this affected his life. He just hoped the cops made good use of the information.

Florida was the terminus for much of the Caribbean drug business. The gateway to the United States for tourists and smugglers alike, although only the former were welcomed with open arms. It seemed perfectly reasonable that large ships and yachts would drop off quantities of drugs to small boats like the Sunscape outside the twelve mile limit.

None of that fooled the DEA or the Coast Guard, but there were thousands of miles of coast to patrol which made for a daunting task. The only way that residents knew of the smuggling operations were when something went wrong and it made the news. The way the media presented the stories you'd think the breaches of Florida were covered in water-soaked bales of marijuana, and sometimes that was true.

Charlie had never seen anything like that, and probably never would. But someone like Peterson's boy could load a quantity of drugs in a small boat late at night and offload it inside a boathouse anywhere along the coast. No matter what the boy did, this time Charlie was sure he'd read about it in the paper after the GPS unit did its work.

Right now the only thing Charlie looked for in the news was the weather report. Officially the hurricane season began in mid-summer, but it was rare to see a large storm until fall. September to November is prime time for the large stormy monsters to spin off the African coast and make their way across to the New World.

No one in their right mind surfed during a hurricane. The waves might look daunting but the wind made it impossible to stand up on a board. But July and August brought small tropical storms, although most of them moved in from the west. It took a good eastern weather disturbance to make the waves Charlie favored.

There were a dozen surfing forecast sites on the internet for all parts of the country and the world. Charlie pulled his news from the Sebastian Sun newspaper which Clay left lying around the office. The paper understood their local audience and the forecast was on the back page of the metro section every morning.

The science behind the best surfing conditions in the Atlantic was fairly simple. Storms pushed a watery shock wave out before them long before the bad weather arrived. If a hurricane left the Caribbean and headed up towards the coast of Florida there would be larger surf for several days before it arrived.

So far the ocean had been pretty calm and so the weekend ahead only promised some basic surfing on three or four foot waves. By October the conditions would be different and that was good because the Sebastian Inlet Surfing Championship was due before Thanksgiving.

A Friday, Saturday, and Sunday event that attracted people from all over the state, it was the highlight of Charlie's year. School was in session on Friday but the principals of all six public schools in town wouldn't question a kid too hard if they skipped the day to go to the beach.

Still, most of the Friday events were padded with older surfers while Saturday was pretty much a Grom Day. The Sunday finals brought a crowd of people to the beach and the jetty along the inlet was usually packed. Families and photographers lined the beach to watch the competition and cheer for their favorites.

The week seemed to drag along and the business with the Sunscape was quickly left behind. People did the dumbest things to their boats and that just meant more business for the boatyard. The responsible owners took the safety classes offered by the Coast Guard, but too many thought they already knew enough and that usually got them in trouble.

Driving a boat was not like driving a car since boats had no brakes. The number one type of damage to boats occurred when the owner crashed into the dock after approaching too fast. Clay did a good business selling boat fenders which people bought usually after the damage was done.

Charlie and Marco cleaned up the work bay on Friday afternoon and Clay came around passing out paychecks. As usual there was a hundred dollar bonus for each of his mechanics. They had trailered two boats during the week and since that cost the company nothing Clay always passed on that little gratuity to his guys.

Charlie drove up to A1A and cashed his paycheck at the bank just before it closed. He would give half of it to his mother to pay bills and the rest went into his cash box. He had over six thousand dollars stashed away for whatever the future would bring. Life had a way of flipping upside down here in Florida. Changes happened fast but when they came he would be prepared.

* * * * *

Sixth grade sucked, and it only took Lucas a week to figure that out. Education had always seemed like a major joke and he'd cruised along in elementary school like it was one big happy party. But middle school was different because the teachers were trying to cram all this stuff in his head every day and in every single class.

He wasn't alone in this negative assessment because he could see the same look of anguish on other faces in his classes. Okay, it wasn't all bad or that difficult, but there was just so much work to get done. Lucas didn't like homework but he would have to do it or a bad report card would drive his mother crazy and there would be punishment.

Neil didn't seem to mind his schoolwork, but then he had a computer to help him find the answers. Technology had not made an appearance in Lucas' family because it was expensive and there wasn't room in the budget. But his mother knew they would have to get a computer before Lucas went to high school or he would fall hopelessly behind.

Neil had spent a good part of the week getting to know Carlos better. Lucas wasn't exactly jealous of the budding friendship between the boys but he did wonder at Neil's motive. For his part, Carlos seemed to enjoy talking to Neil and joking with Lucas, but there always seemed to be a little bit of stress in what the conversations revealed.

Friday, the best day of the school week as far as Lucas was concerned, only this one was a little different. Neil was going to take the school bus home with Carlos to meet his mother and together they were going to talk her into allowing Carlos to go to the beach on Sunday to watch the surfing.

Carlos still thought the sport was crazy but he wouldn't mind watching. Neil thought it would bring them all closer together.

"You're still going to be at my house by seven in the morning, aren't you?" Lucas asked as he tossed his school books in his locker. He was not planning on doing any homework this weekend….the surf was up.

"Of course, Charlie will be pissed if I show up late," Neil replied.

"How are you going to get home from Carlo's house?"

"I can take the city bus or call my mom. It's only to meet his mother and I don't plan on staying for dinner. She sounds like a cool lady. Why are you concerned?"

"That neighborhood isn't someplace I want to be after dark," Lucas said.

"I got that, but I'll be out of there long before dark. Carlos says he wants to show me something."

Lucas grinned. "You probably want to see it."

Neil punched him in the arm. "Not that, he still doesn't know about me."

"And you don't know about him or how he will react when he does find out. I'd stick with the Grom image for now and hide your pink panties."

"I wear boxers just like you do. If they're slightly pink it's only because mom washed them with my red sweatshirt. Carlos is not interested in what's in my pants."

Neil closed his locker and they walked towards the outside doors.

"I suppose the question is…are you interested in what's in his pants?" Lucas said.

"Duh, of course I am. All us gay boys are sex starved maniacs, didn't you know that? Attraction is one thing, action is another. I like what's in your pants but that's not our game, is it? Now if I was to get all hot and bothered over a male body I’d pick Charlie."

"My brother? What the fuck is that all about?" Lucas asked.

"He's ripped, he surfs like a maniac and he's an older version of you…all good things," Neil said. "But I'm twelve and he's straight so it's only hero worship."

"I'm sorry…it must be hard being you. But I love ya, does that help?"

Neil smiled. "I live to be adored. See ya in the morning."

What a complex personality, Lucas thought as he watched Neil run to meet up with Carlos. The gay thing was starting to assert itself in the boy's life, and pretty soon it would turn sexual. It would never test their friendship, but it might get stressful, and Lucas hoped Neil would be careful around Carlos. The boy was still too much of a stranger.

Saturday morning and the sun came up at seven but Charlie had been up since six. He pounded on Lucas' bedroom door and then headed down to the kitchen to make some coffee. It would be better if they were out of the house before Mom came home from work. Neither of them ate anything but a power bar for breakfast on surfing days because they would do an early lunch at the beach.

Charlie had just poured his coffee when there was a tap at the back door and Neil walked in. His hair was a total wreck from the two mile bike ride, but then it would be a waste of time to shower before hitting the ocean. Salt and sand had a way of cleansing the body better than any soap.

Lucas joined them and ten minutes later they were out in the driveway strapping Neil's board to the roof next to the others. Sunrise revealed a clear sky but there was a chance of afternoon thunderstorms later in the day. Lightning was not something they would risk, although a little rain didn't mean much.

Charlie drove an older model Toyota. Nothing impressive, just transportation with a roof rack for the boards. It took fifteen minutes to reach the Wabasso Causeway over to the beach and another fifteen to cross the A1A bridge over the inlet.

There were only a half dozen cars in the south parking lot and those belonged to fishermen. Charlie drove up the access road to the northern lot and saw several more cars. They were not the first to arrive for a morning on the waves.

The best surf was north of the inlet and the only thing a surfer had to do was make sure the current didn't carry them down towards the stone and concrete pilings that held up the inlet breakwater. They unstrapped the boards and headed towards the dunes that buffered the beach.

There were three other surfers already in the water, Charlie's friends. A quick look at the sun rising through distant clouds made them all smile. Storm clouds that far away would increase the size of the surf and anything that made the waves bigger was a blessing.

Lucas and Charlie had cleaned their boards the night before, wiping away the old wax before applying a new coating. Charlie had the larger chore because his board was longer, but Lucas was always more careful in his application.

The boards had a traction pad on the tail so wax was applied on the rails up the sides where a surfer would position his feet. Each board had a leash attached to the tail that would allow a rider to keep track of his board if he fell off. Neil always had his strapped to his ankle and did just fine, Lucas had the leash attached to his wrist because he'd had problems getting his feet tangled in the rope before.

The top of Neil's board was coated in blue wax which distorted the graphics embedded in the fiberglass, but with that color at least he would know when it started to wear off. There was nothing worse than attempting to stand on the board and having your feet slip off the edge, the results could be painful.

Neil had seen bigger waves and had surfed using techniques Lucas only heard about and never experienced. A surfer's greatest thrill would be to ride down the barrel of a wave for a hundred yards as the curl arched over your head and crashed down behind you. One of these days, Lucas told himself.

But for now it was enough to use deft footwork and balance to ride the crest of a wave, sliding up and down the face and pulling off aerials whenever possible. Flash moves are what scored points in surfing contests and technique had to be practiced.

Charlie hoisted his board over his head and pushed through the waves until he could slap it down and throw his body on top. It was that upper body strength that Lucas envied because even a mount like that was a flash move. With Neil beside him they spread their bodies out on the top of their boards and breached the waves out beyond the curls.

It didn’t take long to reach out beyond the point where the waves broke and they finally sat up, sitting astride their boards and facing the incoming swell. Lucas began to study the wave sets, wondering how long it would take before something decent came along. Neil slid up beside him…and they waited.

"So how did it go with Carlos yesterday afternoon?" Lucas asked.

"Good…well, it was also a little strange. Do you know what Santeria is?"

"No…not really. I've just heard the word."

"Religion…Carlos' mother is a Santero. She's like a priestess in the religion which Carlos says is part of what many Cubans believe. He said they were Catholic but that Santeria is a big part of that."

"I still don't know what that means," Lucas said.

"I don't really know myself, but they have this altar in one of the bedrooms with some other strange things and they have their own church."

"Oh yeah, those guys do some voodoo shit."

"No, I don't think so," Neil said. "His mother seems like a nice lady and said Carlos can come spend the night with me and watch us surf tomorrow."

"Oh, he's spending the night?"

"Yeah, he's having dinner at my house tonight."

Lucas was quiet for a while. It was easy to do as he studied the swells in the distance. There was nothing wrong with Carlos sleeping over at Neil's. It wasn't like the boy's bedroom was painted pink and had teddy bears on the bed. He did have a few band posters on the walls but that just spoke about his musical taste.

"All right…I am not perving on him," Neil said.

Lucas smiled. "I'm not sure you know what Carlos means to you."

Neil nodded and then grinned. "Good set coming in."

Lucas pulled right and Neil left, spreading their boards apart as they turned towards the beach. The waves were running north and away from the inlet. Lucas could see Charlie and his friends several hundred yards away looking at the same set and preparing to catch a wave.

Lucas felt the initial swell lift him up and he followed it with his eye to see exactly where it would break. It was the wave behind it he wanted. Timing was everything and with practice he'd learned exactly where to be when he felt the second swell start to rise up under him.

Neil was about fifty feet away and they would both try to catch the same wave. But the swells were moving quickly and Lucas would have to be aware of his friend's position. The two could ride the same wave but Neil would catch it first and if Lucas was in danger of running into his friend he would bail out.

The swell picked them both up and they paddled like crazy to reach the top. In a flawless move Neil went to his feet and caught the leading edge of the wave while Lucas gave one more stroke before doing a push up on the board and bringing his feet up under his body into a perfect pop up position.

He plunged across the shoulder of the wave and looked over at Neil. The boy had dropped into the wave as it started to break and in a quick move he carved his way into it. It took barely a second for Lucas to realize the wave was closing him out. He turned into a sharp pull out and felt the wave rolling away as he dropped back down on the board.

Neil would get his ride while Lucas paddled away from the beach before he was sucked into the next wave. There were only a few more swells before the set faded out, and by then Neil was on the beach and coming back. The ocean didn't always give you what you wanted, the very first lesson Lucas had learned years before.

Charlie had first set him on a surfboard when he was five. Those were the days when surfing meant a belly ride on the board and no standing up. Just the thrill of a fifteen second rush towards the beach was enough to set Lucas' heart pounding and make him want more.

Their father did little to encourage his boys to surf because he thought it was a waste of time. Mike had tried it and although he came to the beach with his brothers he spent most of that time flirting with the girls while Lucas was learning to fall off a board.

Lucas hated to think about it but Mike was closer to their father than either he or Charlie, and look what that did to him. No, Mike didn't deserve to die and that was just one more thing to blame on their father.

Charlie gave Lucas lessons in the front yard on popping up to a standing position on a board. There were countless more belly rides before Lucas dared try to ride a wave while in the upright position. Even more countless were the number of times he fell off and ended up eating sand. You could always tell a novice Grom by the number of scrapes and bruises on his body.

But Mike's death left Lucas angry, and unable to vent that frustration on his imprisoned father he took it out on the ocean. He took risks, he plunged into waves that he never should have attempted, and he came out the winner. Charlie seemed to understand what drove the boy and he welcomed it because it made them equals.

Neil returned to the outside and paddled up next to Lucas and he looked pretty stoked.

"Good ride?" Lucas asked.

"I've had better," Neil replied. "Did you see Charlie? He caught the wave just at the right point and made a good run of it. You think he's going to enter the championship next month?"

Lucas nodded. "He will, if only to try and beat that guy who edged him out last year. Why don't you enter….you're ready you know."

"Don't know if my dad will let me. I mean he knows we're pretty careful out here on days like this but the competition stuff is higher risk surfing."

"You should ask him," Lucas said. "Seriously, Neil…you have what it takes."

"Maybe next year, huh? Look, if the weather doesn't lend a hand next month the whole contest will be pretty lame. I need a good six foot wave to pull off most of the tricks I know and that's not going to happen."

Lucas knew Neil was right. Surfing in California must be so different…at least more challenging.

"Hey, I have to get you over to the house to watch some video," Neil said. "I showed you that article on the kid in the Dominican Republic, didn't I? Well his mom has some video posted on YouTube and the boy is awesome….he's got national ranking."

"See what I mean, he's our age."

"Thirteen…we're not there yet."

"That doesn't mean much…skill conquers age."

"Well you should see the video anyways," Neil said. "He's hot."

"Oh brother, so it's more than just his technique you liked watching."

"Oh yeah, he's ripped."

Lucas felt the swell pass under his board. He didn't even have to look to know there was a nice set rolling in.

"My turn…that felt like the bomb."

They could both see large sections of the set roiling in and Lucas guessed that number three would be the biggest of the bunch. He felt the second swell and turned towards the beach to catch number three and what a nice ride it gave him.

Unless nature gave them storm waves there were hardly any that curled into a long barrel that ran up the beach. This one gave Lucas a low target only about four feet high so he had to crouch to stay with it. But run with it he did, focusing on the narrow face of the wave and hearing the water crash down behind him.

Eventually he shot off the wave as it collapsed and rode the rush of foam towards the beach. He dismounted in about two feet of water and grabbed his board.

"Nice ride, bro," Charlie called out.

Lucas hadn't even noticed Charlie's run, but it must have been on the same swell set. Lucas grinned and walked over to bump fists with his brother.

"That was the only decent wave in the last hour," Lucas said.

Charlie nodded towards the ocean and Lucas turned to look. The horizon looked darker which meant there was a storm out there.

"Don't think of the past, the future holds promise," Charlie said.

"That some more of that Zen stuff you've been tossing around?" Lucas asked.

"Probably, but this might be an early afternoon if that shit heads our way so you better get back at it."

"Charlie…do you think Neil could get a place in the championship next month?"

"He could if he wants. There's always room in the mini-Grom department and he's good enough. Why don't you both sign up?"

"Me? No way."

"Way, little brother. That last run you made says you are good enough."

"I'll think about it."

The wave sets did seem larger after that and Lucas lost track of time. He caught swell after swell hoping for another barrel run. Neil was doing aerial moves off the curl and Lucas just shook his head. With flash moves like that the boy would certainly do well in competition.

The first flash of lightning brought a yell from Charlie and everyone headed for the beach. Lucas hadn't always been so cautious until he heard about a surfer whose hair stood on end from the electrical charge and just made it to shore when the bolt struck the ocean where he had been sitting.

They took turns hosing off up by the snack bar and lined their boards up along the outside wall before going in for some lunch. They returned to the picnic tables out on the deck just as the rain began to fall. The overhead canopy kept them dry as the deluge nearly obliterated their view of the ocean.

The other surfers sat at tables around them, Charlie's friends and many of them Lucas knew and liked. But there were two other Groms, slightly older than him but still learning the craft of surfing. Eddy and Mark were freshmen at Sebastian High School, but they still looked at Neil with something akin to hero worship.

"You're pretty rad with those moves," Eddy said. "How do you keep the board under your feet?"

"I have suction cups on my toes," Neil said, and then he laughed. "You just have to push down against the wave as you spin, that keeps you in contact with the board."

Lucas smiled as they all shared a large plate of fries. Mr. Beale's father was behind the counter and Lucas thought about saying something about the son working at his school now, but he didn't. It was Saturday and he didn't want to think about school at all. But he thanked the man when his hamburger was done.

"You going to sign up for the competition?" Mark asked Neil.

"No, although Lucas says I should sign up."

"I agree, you totally should," Eddy said. "My dad says the tropics are going to heat up by then, we could have some decent waves."

Eddy's father was a weatherman on WPBF television so he ought to know what he was talking about. The Caribbean was the source of their weather patterns and if they had some storms anywhere near the coast the waves would be bigger.

"I'll think about it," Neil said.

That wasn't a commitment but it was the closest Neil had come to considering a spot in the contest. Lucas figured he had to get Charlie involved since Neil valued his opinion…or was it his brother's body? Charlie didn't need to know that.

The storm blew itself out an hour later and everyone returned to the surf. The swells were higher now, the wave sets moving with more power. Lucas and Neil sat side by side waiting for something good to roll in.

"I have to try something," Neil said. "You watch and make sure I don't wipe out. I have to know if I can pull off this trick."

"What are you going to do?" Lucas asked.

"I'll show you…and if it works I'll try for a slot in the championship."

The next wave set rolled in under them and Lucas caught a really good ride into the beach. Eddy and Mark had made the same run, and yet Neil stayed behind looking at the swells. He was going to do something wild, Lucas was sure, and so he yelled for Eddy to watch.

Neil got himself lined up on the swell and sped forward into the curl as it formed. Up and down the face of a four foot wave, Neil built up speed and then he flew off the top of the wave. Lucas watched the boy crouch down and grab the edges of his board as he went airborne and tried for a tremendous 360 degree spin off the top of the wave.

He almost made it, but lost momentum…the wave was too small. The landing was awkward, but Neil's feet stayed on the board and he shot out of the curl as the wave folded in with a crash and dissolved in a rush of foam.

"Awesome," Eddy yelled, and Lucas knew that Neil was going to keep trying until he accomplished the trick. It would be a game changer and score major points if he could ever learn to do it. With that in mind Lucas figured Neil had just decided to join the Sebastian Inlet Surfing Championship.

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