Betsy
- 2 years ago
- 31
- 0
The crack of a high powered rifle firing was clearly heard above the din of evening traffic. A second later, there was another shot fired. The majority of people didn’t even appear to notice the sounds. A handful of students stopped and looked around, before deciding that it had been nothing. Betsy sighed.
“First the sniper, and then the spotter. Scratch two more evil minions,” Betsy muttering her interpretation of the two shots.
Rather than returning home to her condo, Betsy headed towards the beach. She felt like taking a little walk along the water. When she reached the beach, she stood there looking out at the water, wondering how much longer this war was going to last. So far there had been three one-on-one attacks, a two-on-one attack, and now a sniper team. She turned away from the ocean, feeling sad about what she had been forced to do so far.
“Hey, Babe, do you surf?”
“A little,” Betsy answered.
She turned to examine the young man standing next to her. He was deeply tanned with the long, lean build of a swimmer. He was wearing baggy shorts, a loose tee-shirt, and sandals. His sandy brown hair was sun bleached. He was gazing out at the ocean with a far away look in his eyes. Everything about his appearance screamed: ‘surfer.’
“The surf will be killer, early next week. There’s a storm system developing that will push some really great waves this way,” the guy said.
“I heard that, too. I was wishing I had brought my board to the island,” Betsy said.
“You don’t have it here?” the guy asked surprised by that little revelation.
“It’s at my parents house,” Betsy said
It was strange that she was living in Hawaii and hadn’t even given a thought to surfing. The surf board she had bought when studying in California was back in Arizona, where there was absolutely no chance of using it.
“Where do you live?”
“I live on Kauai.”
“So you’re just visiting here, today,” the guy said.
“I’m a student. I live here during the week, and go home on the weekends,” Betsy answered.
“I’d have a board at both places, if I were you.”
Betsy said, “That’s not a bad idea. Where’s a good place to pick up a board around here?”
“You want mass produced or custom?”
“Custom,” Betsy said.
“There’s a guy just up the way who makes a damned good board. He made mine.”
“What’s your name?” Betsy asked.
“Dale. Yours?”
“Betsy.”
“Nice to meet you, Betsy.”
“Nice to meet you, Dale. Let’s see a guy about a surf board.”
She followed him up the beach and then a couple of blocks from the beach to a rather run down area. It was a low rent area with houses that were long past their prime. She could smell the place they were headed to before they even reached it. Dale stopped outside of a small garage attached to a house and listened to the compressor running inside the garage.
“H’s working on a board,” Dale said.
“I noticed,” Betsy said looking around.
There were about a dozen lawn chairs scattered around in front of the garage. A couple of tiki torches were set up to cast some light on the area. A trashcan that was half filled with empty beer and soda cans was next to the garage. It looked like the kind of place where a bunch of friends would hang out, talking.
“I don’t know what he’s doing, but it’s probably not a good idea to go inside,” Dale said.
“It smells like he’s painting,” Betsy said.
Dale pointed to a chair and said, “I’m sure he’ll be done in a few minutes. We might as well make ourselves comfortable. Would you like a beer?”
“I’ll take a soda if there is one,” Betsy answered.
Dale went over to an ice chest and rummaged around in it. He pulled out a drink and said, “It’s not diet.”
“That’s fine,” Betsy said with a grin.
She was sure that he wouldn’t be able to imagine how many calories she could burn in a day. While a soda was basically calories with no nutritional benefits, they were a drop in a bucket compared to what she normally consumed in a day’s time.
He tossed the can of soda over to her. She caught the ice cold beverage thinking that whoever owned this place went to a lot of trouble to make sure that visitors could have an iced cold drink. Dale removed a beer from the cooler and then closed the lid securely. He opened the beer. It sprayed a little. He sat down on the chair next to hers.
Holding up his beer, he said, “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” Betsy said holding up her can.
“Sanders makes pretty decent boards. He came back from California and bought this place. He’s got a job with the state doing something with fish. He makes boards in the evening.”
Betsy wrinkled her face in thought for a second.
She asked, “Is Sanders a tall lanky guy with brown hair?”
“You know him?” Dale asked looking surprised.
“I think he was the guy who helped me pick out a board when I was first learning how to surf,” Betsy said.
Dale said, “It sure is a small world.”
“It is, at that,” Betsy said.
“He’ll be out in a couple minutes.”
“No problem,” Betsy said.
Her voice sounded unnaturally loud as the sound of the compressor stopped in the middle of her reply. A few moments later, the side door to the garage opened and Sanders stepped out. He couldn’t see Betsy from where he stood.
“Dale! Mom is going to kill us both if she sees you drinking another one of my beers.”
Dale grinned and said, “Chill out. She’s at home, Sanders.”
“A whole four houses up the street.”
“It’s not like I’m breaking the law.”
Sanders said, “You know what she says. You have to buy your own beer until you get a job that lets you move out of her house.”
“I’ve got a job.”
“Selling souvenirs to tourists isn’t a real job.”
“Sure it is,” Dale said.
“Every time the surf is up, you close up shop and go surfing. You can’t make a living that way.”
Amused, Betsy listened to the exchange. It kind of reminded her of the interaction between William and Eddie. Looking at the two men, it was obvious that they were brothers.
“I brought you a customer.”
Sanders looked over at Betsy and smiled.
“Betsy ‘the Shark’ Carter! Are you still swimming with sharks?”
“You bet,” Betsy answered.
“What are you doing here on the islands?” Sanders asked.
“Going to school,” Betsy answered.
Sanders said, “You’re going to the school down the street?”
“That’s right.”
“I heard they’ve got a new research boat.”
“That’s mine,” Betsy said.
“Sweet. I’ll have to stop by and take a look at it.”
“Let me know when you’re coming and I’ll give you the grand tour,” Betsy said.
“I’ll do that.”
Sanders went over to the ice chest and pulled out a cold beer. He opened it and took a long draw from the can, while watching Betsy.
He said, “You sure seem a lot calmer, now.”.
“Yeah. It’s a long story.”
“That’s cool. You can tell me about it, sometime.”
“So, you’re working for the state?” Betsy asked.
“They’ve got me analyzing commercial fishing data,” Sanders answered. “It’s a boring job that pays for this place, and gives me flexible enough hours to get in a little surfing.”
“I’m sure you appreciate the flexible hours. I know how much you enjoy surfing,” Betsy said.
“I live to surf,” Sanders said.
“Which one of you boys dragged in the beach bunny?” a woman’s voice asked from the street.
“Hi, Mom,” Dale said while hiding his beer can.
Pointing a thumb in the direction of their mother, Betsy asked, “Did she just call me a beach bunny?”
“Don’t be offended. She calls all of the girls we know that,” Dale said, sitting back in his chair now that his beer can was out of sight.
The woman said, “That’s because all the girls you know are beach bunnies.”
Sanders said, “Come on over and sit a spell, Mom. I want you to meet, Betsy ‘the Shark’ Carter.”
Dale said, “Betsy, this is our Mom. Everyone calls her, Cat, even though her name is Karen.”
“Why does everyone call her Cat?” Betsy asked.
“It’s a long story, Bubbles, and you won’t be around long enough to hear it,” Cat said.
More than a little irritated, Betsy said, “Well, one night when all of us beach bunnies aren’t out doing beach bunny things, you might tell me the story.”
Sanders said, “Be nice, ladies.”
Dale said, “She’s here about buying a surf board.”
“Two. One for here and one for home,” Betsy said.
“You want two boards?” Sanders asked.
“Yes,” Betsy answered.
“Do you even know how to surf?” Cat asked while rummaging around in the cooler for a beer.
Sanders said, “I helped her get her first board in California. She’s a pretty decent surfer.”
“Oh. You two have known each other for a while?”
“Yes,” Betsy answered.
Cat popped the top on the can of beer and took a long swallow. She studied Betsy for a second, trying to decide if she should even bother getting to know her. Her sons were always bringing home horny young women who were visiting Hawaii on their one week vacation. There was no telling how many of them didn’t take adequate precautions. She figured that she was probably a grandmother twenty times over by now.
She asked, “How did you meet?”
Sanders said, “The first time I met her was when a shark came up to the beach where I was surfing. This huge fin appeared in the water about three hundred yards from shore. Suddenly every surfer out there was paddling like hell for shore. That shark just kept coming and coming.
“I think everyone of us in the water had visions of being the poor slob on the evening news describing how he got bit by a shark. Finally, the shark was in water that was knee deep. People were running around, screaming and shouting while pointing at the shark. Betsy pops up out of the water right next to it and pats the shark on the head. It turned around and swam off.”
“Bubbles was lucky she didn’t get killed,” Cat said.
“Bubbles?” Betsy asked in a low growl.
“What was the name of that shark?” Sanders asked.
“That was Charlie. He was a nice little eleven foot Short-fin Mako. He was a magnificent specimen, about fourteen years old.”
Moving his chair back an inch, Dale said, “You named him, Charlie?”
“You should have seen him feed. I was with him once when he ran into a school of fish. That was intense,” Betsy answered.
Sanders said, “You keep saying ‘he was.’ What happened to him?”
Betsy said, “Some asshole caught him. I was visiting one of the piers, and found him hanging on a hook. I knew it was him by the scar on his side.”
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The modern person, who has lived a significant percentage of their life in a digital economy, can not imagine what life would be like without checks, credit cards, debit cards, and online banking. Mortgages, rent, utilities, and insurance are paid with check or by electronic transfer. Large purchases and consumer goods are paid with credit cards, or checks. Plastic is not reserved only for big items. People will whip out a credit or debit card to pay for a five dollar lunch, or a cup of...
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Betsy was pacing around outside the construction site. The site engineer (Stan Kubrick) and one of the foremen (Jim Franklin) were there with her, wondering why she had literally dragged them away from their homes. Chuck was standing under a palm, enjoying the shade, while George was nervously licking his lips. A man wandered by and stared at the group for a second. Finally, he approached and said, “Hey, Jim!” “Hello, Kirk.” “What are you doing here?” Kirk asked. He had been working on...
Betsy stood in front of the little stand that was selling meat. The stand had once been a little souvenir hut that had sold glitzy trinkets to tourists. It had a fake grass roof, giving it a kind of hokey appearance that tourists expected of a tropical island. She wondered where it had come from, but wasn’t interested enough to ask. A bird flew overhead and landed upon a branch of a nearby bush. She turned to look at it. It was a red crested cardinal. Like many of the more common birds on...
Betsy skipped down the hallway pausing to read the sign on each door. The other students in the hallway would move over to the other side to avoid getting hit by the jump rope. She stopped in front of one of the doors and read the name off the nameplate aloud, “Sally Tilton.” She stepped back nearly hitting a student with her jump rope and read the sign on the door aloud, “Keep out.” She stopped swinging the rope around, but kept up the jumping motion while knocking on the door. She called...
Betsy paced the floor, criss-crossing the living room in her house. Fortunately, the house was built with a wide open spacial style that allowed her a lot of room to move. If the room had been a bit smaller, she would have been bouncing off the walls ... literally, not figuratively. Not for the first time since returning to the house that morning, she asked, “Where is he?” “I don’t know,” Charlie answered without having to ask who he was. “Why isn’t Gary here?” “He had to go to the...
With the destruction of the economy, a number of things had changed in the world. One, which almost no one would even think about, was the disappearance of certain specialty shops, of which bridal stores were a good example. There just wasn’t a place to buy what had become a traditional wedding gown. What few dresses had remained on the shelves of stores at the time of the collapse had long since disappeared. Young couples getting married now tended to wear nice dresses and suits. The new...
The desert stretches from horizon to horizon, existing in both time and space. One man gazes upon it and sees paradise. Another man gazes upon the same scene and only sees desolation. One desert, two men, and three entirely different worlds. It is not a mystery why people argue and bicker over nearly everything. If two people can’t agree on something as vast and as timeless as a desert, why should it be a surprise if they can’t agree on much of anything? The variations in preferences of even...
Charlie was wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair. As with a lot of patients, she had argued that it wasn’t necessary, except that it was. Her prosthetic was packed away in her luggage, which Betsy was carrying. Either the infection had been a little more aggressive than she had thought, or she had really been a lot more tired than she had felt. She was so weak that she was afraid that she might not be able to use the crutches she’d been given. Once they were outside, Betsy handed the...
Tight-lipped, Ed stared at the man. Talking with him was a constant assault on his truth sense. The longer he talked, the worse the lies got. It was as if one lie emboldened the next. Ed said, “She was drugged.” “The test results were lost,” the man said with a smirk. Ed’s truth sense stabbed him in the brain upon hearing the lie. He said, “Quit lying.” “I’m not lying. They were lost.” “She was drugged, and you know it!” Ed shouted. The man replied, “She chewed his arm off and beat him...
Chuck wandered over to the security center and office building construction site, searching for Gary. The building was still a long ways from finished, but he could imagine what it would look like when it would be completed. The foundation was in place, the framing was complete, and some of the exterior walls had been added. Chuck found Gary inspecting the building. Gary was checking to make sure that nothing that didn’t belong had been added to the walls. There were folks who would be...
Chuck was seated in the backyard passing the time by watching a couple of birds working together in building a nest. Watching them build a structure for the results of their mating reminded him that he was going to be married soon. He was looking forward to the event without the kind of nervousness that plagued many grooms. There was only one downside – he wished his parents were still alive to see him get married. He wished his parents could have met Betsy. He was sure they would have loved...
Sally walked into the room thinking that she had made a horrible mistake. There were a lot of people, none of whom she recognized, moving around. She grabbed Gary’s arm to prevent being separated from him. Betsy had disappeared somewhere into the heart of the party. It was a typical frat party – a lot of testosterone driven young men, scantily dressed young women, too much booze, not enough light; and loud music, which made talking impossible. The air had the lingering hint of a sickly sweet...
The sound of waves crashing along the beach provided a background noise that Betsy found particularly relaxing. She was sitting tailor fashion on the beach, looking out across the ocean at the distant horizon. This was about as calm as Betsy could appear to act. It truly was an appearance of calm rather than true calm. She was digging two holes. She was excavating one hole with each hand, and using the sand in the other hand to fill it in again. The strength required to shove her hands into...
By the morning after the altercation with Kyle, the swelling in Carl’s face had reduced to the point where he could see again. His nose was still tender, but most of the pain was gone. It was hard to believe that Kyle had been able to hurt him so badly, with just two punches. He’d been beaten up a few times in high school, but that had been nothing compared to the previous day. He had awakened that morning to find Betsy, wearing a knee-length skirt and white blouse, seated in a chair reading...
Ling, pulling Cal behind her by his ear, followed Millie and Melvin out of the plane. Betsy was inside with Kelly and the rescuers planning how to free the two men trapped in the chairs. Jimmy was over by the fire piling branches on it after getting it restarted. Ed was with him giving him pointers on the care and management of a good campfire. Ling threw Cal to the ground. Looking at Millie, she asked, “What’s the story with him?” “He’s an asshole,” Millie answered. “I figured that much...
“I agree. I will see what I can do to convince a certain young man to become a caretaker.” Harry stood behind the young man watching him. Unable to keep silent any longer, Harry said, “You’re talking to a mongoose.” “I know,” the young man answered. “They don’t talk back,” Harry said making reference to the weird one sided conversation he’d been listening to. “You don’t know that. In fact, she’s quite talkative,” the young man said while rising from his kneeling position to face...