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  “How about suicide?” Curtis asked.

  Bean gave the body a closer look, then shook his head. “I’ve only seen a few. It’s a funny thing, but they never look like they’re at peace, even here. See how peaceful this guy looks?”

  “Yeah.” Curtís rubbed his palm along his grizzled jaw. “Son of a gun not only looks peaceful, he looks younger than me.”

  Bean picked up a blue folder and opened it. “Sixty-three.”

  “Hell, that’s ten years older,” Curtis grumbled.

  Kai was tempted to suggest that maybe the stiff had been kinder to his body over the years, but he quickly thought better of it. Curtis would no doubt come to the same conclusion.

  “Well, may he rest in peace,” Curtis said.

  “Actually, he’s going to rest in a six-thousand-dollar Persian bronze continuous-weld casket with swing bar hardware, champagne velvet interior and locking mechanism,” Bean read.

  “Locking mechanism?” Curtís raised an eyebrow. “In case he decides he wants out?”

  “Or someone wants in,” Bean said, closing the folder. “There are some pretty strange folks out there.”

  “I think I’ve seen—and heard—enough.” Curtís started for the stairs.

  Kai held the back door open for the older man.

  “You staying here tonight?” Curtis asked.

  Kai nodded.

  “It’s always nice to have another live body around,” Bean joked. “Keeps things balanced.”

  “Son, I always thought you were a bit strange, but now you’re bordering on scary,” Curtis said.

  “We couldn’t have gotten those boards back without him,” Kai said.

  “Then let me shake your hand.” Curtis started to offer his hand, then stopped. “You didn’t, uh, touch our friend down there, did you?”

  “Never without gloves,” Bean said.

  “Okay.” Curtis and Bean shook hands. “Thanks, Bean. You don’t know how much it means to me.”

  “No sweat,” said Bean.

  Curtís turned to Kai. “And thank you, grom.”

  “Think you can make it back to the motel okay?” Kai asked.

  “I ain’t dead yet.” Curtis left, and Kai and Bean went up to Bean’s apartment. Bean put on a CD. “Why do I suddenly think that not giving Curtis back the boards has something to do with getting the proof that Big Dave was the one who took them?”

  “Uh, maybe ’cause you’re smart?” Kai guessed.

  “There’s just one thing we must agree on, my friend,” Bean said. “We are not going to have a parade of people coming through this place to look at those boards, got it? My parents will throw a total fit. Curtis was the last one.”

  Kai nodded. He’d noticed on Bean’s desk a copy of the entry form for the Northeast Championship and picked it up.

  “What do you think?” Bean asked.

  Kai shrugged. “Can’t decide, but something weird happened at Pete’s tonight. Lucas said his father will pay for me to enter.”

  “What a jerk,” Bean said.

  “Lucas or Buzzy?” Kai asked.

  “Buzzy,” said Bean. “Don’t you see? Buzzy’s doing a head trip on his own son.”

  “Lucas knows why he’s doing it,” Kai said. “He’s trying to get him motivated.”

  “Okay, but if Lucas isn’t that motivated to begin with, doesn’t that tell you something?” Bean replied.

  He had a good point. One that Kai had suspected was true all along.

  “You want to know who’s really motivated?” Kai said. “Spazzy.”

  “He wants to enter?” Bean asked, surprised.

  “Yeah.”

  “You tell him this is going to be a little different than Fairport?”

  “I tried,” Kai said.

  Nineteen

  The next morning Bean and Kai woke up before dawn. A little while later, downstairs in the lot behind the funeral home, the air actually had a nip to it.

  “Feel that?” Bean said.

  “Fall,” said Kai. “Won’t be long before we’re back in wet suits.”

  “Yeah, but fall’s also when we get those good offshore breezes,” Bean said. “We’ll get some nice open-faced waves today.”

  They got in the hearse and headed for the beach. It was still dark when they parked in the lot.

  “You ever get that parking permit?” Kai asked as they got out of the hearse.

  “Better believe it,” Bean said. “Know what else I realized about these parking meters? I bet a lot of people won’t mind running up and down the beach all day the first or second time, but when you have to do it every day, not only is it a royal pain to go back and forth, but it starts to be real money after a while. And you constantly have to go around looking for quarters.”

  “Unless you’re a resident of the town or staying in one of those fancy resorts that’ll give out temporary permits,” Kai said.

  “Exactly,” Bean said as they unloaded their boards from the back. “You were right, Kai. It’s just another form of harassment against anyone who isn’t rich.”

  The faintest hint of light was beginning to show in the east as they walked across the boardwalk and stepped onto the cool sand.

  “How far into the fall do you usually surf?” Kai asked.

  “Sometimes the first week of December,” Bean answered. “I’ve got a pretty heavy wet suit with a hood, and I’ll come out on any sunny day that gets over forty-five degrees. By Christmas the water’s just too cold, no matter how warm the day gets.”

  Christmas, Kai thought. It was hard to imagine where he’d be by then.

  With the sky in the east slowly brightening, they stopped near the tide mark and looked at the beach.

  “Not nearly as many jellyfish this morning,” Bean said.

  “The waves aren’t bad either,” Kai said. The better sets were around chest high, breaking smoothly against the offshore breeze.

  He and Bean put their boards down on the sand and started to wax them. They were strapping on their leashes when Lucas and Everett came down the beach. Lucas was carrying a board. Everett had a tripod on his shoulder.

  “Everett’s gonna record us so we can compare what we’re doing,” Lucas said.

  “You’d rather film than surf?” Kai asked Everett.

  “Hey, this could be valuable footage someday,” Everett said. “’Lucas Frank and Kai Herter, the Early Years.’”

  Kai and Lucas picked up their boards, hit the water, and started to paddle out. Bean, on his long board, was ahead of them. The sky continued to brighten in the east.

  “Hey, I meant to tell you about something I read in this book about the history of surfing,” Lucas said as they paddled.

  “Is it about Duke Kahanamoku being a competitive swimmer?” Kai asked. “Because that doesn’t mean he was or would have been a competitive surfer.”

  “No, this goes back way before his time,” Lucas said. “Back to some of the first accounts of Hawaiians by white visitors. Here’s the news. Even back then Hawaiians competed in surfing. They made bets and surfed to see who won.”

  “What’s your point?” Kai asked.

  “Maybe competition is just a natural thing,” Lucas said. “It makes it fun.”

  “You find competing fun?” Kai asked.

  “Sometimes,” Lucas said.

  “And what about when it’s not fun?” Kai asked.

  “Look, dude, all I’m saying is maybe it’s a choice each person makes,” Lucas said. “There’s no right or wrong about it.”

  “That’s what I’ve been saying all along,” Kai said.

  “You sure?” asked Lucas. “’Cause most of the time it seems to me that you’re saying competition is just plain wrong.”

  “Only when it messes up the surfing for everyone else,” Kai said.

  They got outside. Bean paddled beyond them. Being on a long board he could catch the waves earlier, and as the next set started to come in, that’s exactly what he did, riding backside past Kai and
Lucas with only his shoulders and head visible from behind.

  The next wave was up for grabs, and Kai was actually surprised when Lucas nodded at him and said, “You or me?” But then Kai thought he understood. This was what Buzzy wanted. Whatever Kai did, Lucas would watch and try to do better. So be it, but Kai had no intention of showing his best moves so soon. He took off, did a big bottom turn, followed by two straight up, frontside snaps, followed by a floater. Having never been videoed surfing before, he couldn’t help looking up to see if Everett really had the digital camcorder on him. That took his attention off the wave just long enough for him to catch a rail and bite it. But it hardly mattered. The ride was over anyway.

  Behind him Lucas took off on a nearly identical wave, and tried to do the same combination of moves. It was hard for Kai to tell how well he’d done, but with Everett now recording Lucas, the truth would be on the screen.

  Lucas stayed with the wave longer than Kai had and then came to shore to watch the video. Bean had already gone in, curious to see what Everett had filmed. Kai went in as well. All three left their boards on the sand and headed for Everett. They crowded around the tripod.

  “Okay,” Bean announced. “Let’s go to the videotape!”

  “You mean, digital replay,” Everett corrected him.

  They peered into the small viewing screen on the camcorder and watched Kai’s ride. Having never seen himself on a screen before, Kai was pleasantly surprised. Although by now he should have known better, he’d always had a secret fear that somehow he didn’t really look like a surfer, that anyone who watched him would see right away that there was something different, or not quite right, about the way he surfed. But as far as he could tell, he looked just like everyone else.

  Bean provided the narration. “Kai Herter takes a late drop in order to maximize his speed. Skims down the face into a powerful bottom turn. Notice no loss of velocity as he turns back up, gets nearly horizontal, nice frontside snap. Back down, then up into a second frontside snap. Into a floater. Suddenly remembers he’s being filmed. Looks up to make sure the camera has caught this stellar ride, forgets that he’s in the middle of a floater, screws up, gets hammered. Reasonably good ride until he forgot he was a surfer and became a movie star instead.”

  Kai and the others chuckled, both because it was funny, and because it was true.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  They turned and found Spazzy, in a sweat-shirt and trunks, twitching as he put down his board and joined them.

  “Look who got out of jail,” Kai said, slapping him on the shoulder. “How’d you do it?”

  Spazzy grinned sheepishly. “You’ll love this. I got up real early and went down to the beach in front of our house and cleared out every jellyfish in sight. Then I went back in and got Jilian and showed her how the tide must have changed and all the jellyfish were gone.”

  “Well, you’re half right,” Bean said. “There aren’t nearly as many as there were yesterday.”

  “So what are you guys up to?” Spazzy asked, nodding at Everett’s tripod and digital camcorder.

  “We’re comparing the surfing performance of Kai and Lucas,” Everett explained.

  “Cool!” Spazzy said. “Can I watch?”

  “Sure, dude,” Kai said.

  “We just did Kais ride,” Everett said. “Okay, now here’s Lucas on pretty much the same size wave.”

  They watched on the screen as Lucas took off on his wave. Only he caught it earlier and a little farther out on the shoulder. This time Bean didn’t narrate, either because he wasn’t sure how Lucas would react, or because he could see from the start that Lucas’s ride wouldn’t be as good as Kai’s. Starting earlier, Lucas wasn’t able to generate the speed Kai had. He made a good bottom turn, but didn’t get nearly as horizontal on the way back up. His backside snap was okay, but didn’t leave him with enough juice for a second so he crouched down, generating more speed and a couple more turns, pushing the ride for length.

  “That’s it.” Everett turned off the camera to save the batteries for the next session. Lucas was quiet. Kai knew he couldn’t be happy with what he’d just seen.

  “Well, that sucked,” Lucas finally said. “I’m gonna have to take off deeper in the curl if I’m gonna have any kind of chance.” Without another word he went back to his board, picked it up, and headed out. At the water’s edge he stopped and looked back at Kai. “You coming?”

  “In a second,” Kai said. He turned back to Bean, Spazzy, and Everett. “Interesting, huh?”

  “I hate to say it, but it looks like Buzzy was right,” Bean said. “Without you there to compare his ride to, it would have been harder for him to see what was possible on that wave.” He looked at Spazzy. “You coming in?”

  “In a second,” Spazzy said, and started to wax his board.

  “You sure you want to keep doing this?” Everett asked Kai once Lucas was out of earshot.

  “Why not?” Kai asked.

  “Lucas is a plugger,” Everett said. “He’ll keep at it until he figures out how you do it, and how he can do it just as well.”

  “So?”

  “What Everett’s trying to say is if you do decide to enter the Northeast Championship, it’s gonna be a lot harder to beat Lucas if he knows all your moves,” Bean said.

  Kai shrugged. “If he wins, then he deserves it.”

  “Hey, what about me?” Spazzy asked, in a way that made it hard to know whether he was joking or not.

  “If you win, then you deserve it,” Kai said.

  “No, I meant, you guys think I could get filmed, too?”

  Kai looked at Everett, who nodded. “No problem. I’ve got plenty of memory”

  “Great. Thanks!” Spazzy started to strap on his leash.

  “See you out there.” Kai got his board and paddled back outside where Lucas was waiting for him. By now Spazzy was about halfway out as well.

  “He coming out here too?” Lucas asked, obviously unhappy.

  “You have to ask?” Kai replied.

  “You sure have a strange collection of friends,” Lucas said.

  “I think that depends on your point of view,” Kai replied.

  Lucas didn’t answer.

  Twenty

  Lucas and Kai kept riding waves and study ing the videos. Everett was right about Lucas. What he lacked in talent he made up for with repetition and determination. Kai had to push himself to stay ahead of the guy. As the morning progressed and they went for harder and harder stunts and turns, the wipeouts increased. Kai found himself getting more tired than usual.

  “Man, I don’t know what would make a better show,” Everett said at one point. “The rides you guys are getting or the wipeouts.”

  Spazzy gamely tried to keep up with them, but everyone knew he was out of his league. When they watched their rides on the camcorder, he always waited for Kai and Lucas to head back out before he asked Everett if he could see his.

  By now the sun was growing hot and the beach was getting crowded. Sam, Derek, and Runt showed up, and they all wanted Everett to record their rides as well. Curious kids came around, bugging Everett and wanting to know what was going on. Booger and Shauna arrived. The waves at Screamers started to feel crowded.

  At one point, after waiting what felt like forever for a decent set, Kai paddled into a wave only to have Booger drop in on him. Kai had to bail and paddle back outside, where Lucas waited with a smug look on his face. “Still want this break to be open to everyone?” he asked.

  Kai sighed. He was not thrilled.

  Meanwhile someone in the water must have told Booger that he’d dropped in on Kai because when he paddled back out, he was filled with apologies.

  “I’m sorry, dude,” he said. “I know I screwed up. I just didn’t see you.”

  “It’s cool, Boogs,” Kai said.

  Shauna paddled over to them. “I think I’ll go over to Sewers. It’s too crowded here.”

  “Just as crowded over at Sewers,” Booger
pointed out. “Only its all spongeheads. And you know how they have no respect at all for surfers.” He winked at Kai.

  “Welcome to August in Sun Haven,” Bean mumbled.

  “I still like my chances at Sewers,” Shauna said, and started to paddle over there.

  “Guess I’ll go with you,” Booger said. “At least then Kai won’t have to worry about me getting in his way again.”

  Kai hated to admit it, but he wasn’t sorry to see Screamers get a little less crowded. Bobbing on his long board, it was almost as if Bean could read his thoughts. “Know what?” he said. “Sometimes things look better on paper than they do in real life.”

  “I bet September around here is just awesome with all the tourists gone and the kids back in school,” Kai said.

  Bean looked at Spazzy. “Hey, dude, why don’t we go over to Sewers too? Might be fun to run over some bodyboarders.”

  “No, I gotta stay here,” Spazzy answered. “This is where the contest is gonna be held, and the more wave time I get, the better my chances.”

  Bean gave Kai a look that said, “Well, I tried.”

  Kai nodded to show he appreciated the effort. He really didn’t mind Spazzy surfing Screamers. He just didn’t want to see the kid be totally disappointed at the Northeast Championship.

  They surfed until around 11 A.M. By then the winds had turned onshore and were kicking up whitecaps. Kai and the others had been in the water for nearly five hours, and they were tired and hungry. As the waves started to get blown out, one by one or in pairs, the surfers came in until only Spazzy was left out there.

  “What’s he doing?” Bean asked Kai as they wrapped their leashes around the tails of their boards.

  “He’s been out there a long time,” Everett said. “He’s got to be tired.”

  “He’s smart enough to know when to come in,” Kai said.

  Everyone headed up to Pete’s Hubba Hubba for lunch. As usual, Kai and his friends sat at their regular table and Lucas and his brahs sat at theirs. Today Everett chose to sit with Lucas.