Page 11 of Reel Love

FOUR

Stevens

Life is more fun if you play games.

~ Roald Dahl

“Hey!” Kai shouts from the rear doorway of the watersports shack.

I wave to Ben, who is helping a customer at the moment, and then walk through the shop.

The rear of the shack opens onto the end of a wooden dock. From here it’s just views of the ocean, the beach, and the harbor to our north with all the sailboats and smaller motorboats lined in slips and tethered to moorings.

“Long time no see,” Kai says, lifting a wetsuit from the stock tank and hosing it down.

It’s been three days since I’ve been around the shack. I arrived home from work on the mainland late last night and woke early to takeSea Yaout for a solo sail while the mist was still thick across the ocean. I snorkeled along a portion of a cove, checking on my project. My head is clear and I bet if we had taken my pulse when I got home from serving corporate America, and then again rightnow, my heart rate would have dropped after a morning doing what I love most.

“I had a job off the coast of Gaviota. Pipeline being extended.”

I always stay on the mainland when I’m working there. No use in making two trips across the channel daily when I can knock out a job and come home to stay once my obligation is fulfilled.

My face must reveal my true feelings about my occupation. Kai’s next comment isn’t even posed as a question. “Not your favorite assignment.”

“It’s not what I anticipated doing with my degree.” I smile despite the truth. “But my job affords me a life I love, so I really can’t start complaining any time soon.”

“I didn’t exactly picture myself running a watersports rental and giving lessons for a living,” Kai says, lifting another wetsuit and going through the same ritual to clean the saltwater off it before draping it over the wooden railing of the dock.

“Were you going to surf forever?”

“I still surf.”

“Right. But were you originally planning to stay on the pro circuit? Isn’t there a cutoff for that sport as your knees and body age?”

“Yeah. Of course. I left when I was at the top of my game. I knew it was time. This opportunity came up, and I’m glad it did. I would never have met Mila if I hadn’t moved here.”

“Funny how life works.”

“It’s like the waves.”

I wait for my friend to expound on his thoughts.

Kai looks up from his task. “The waves seem to wash up the most random collection of seaweed, shells, animals, and trash. But the ocean is also surprisingly consistent. The moon directs the ebb and flow of the tide in a steady rhythm; the water rarely encroaches on the shoreline past a given point; each portion of the sea provides a home to certain species. Those things are constants. Life is like that. Both predictable and random.”

“Like the waves.”

One thing I appreciate about my friendship with Kai are these types of talks. Most surfers and divers have an innate respect for the ocean. But Kai’s a deep thinker, and I think our friendship is one of the few places where he gives voice to his more profound thoughts.

Ben walks out back, apparently finished with his customer.

“What are you two pontificating about?”

Kai smirks. “The way life mirrors the ocean.”

Ben takes both his hands and pinches his fingers together, placing them next to his temples. Then he blows his hands wide open. “You two philosophers are way over my pay grade.”

Kai smiles at me.

“On to more mundane and normal topics,” Ben says. “Are you coming to Bodhi’s Saturday?”

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