“bonk, bonk bonk,” goes a knuckle against the glass window in Wrack’s room[R1] [R2] . “Who is outside my window at three in the morning,” asks Wracks? “Bonk, Bonk, Bonk, meet me outside,” says BG. “bonk, bonk, and bonk, its me BG.” Says BG. Make me some breakfast. “Where is my dog,” asks Wracks. “I gave Punkin a milk bone and put him to sleep,” says BG. “How did you get in my house,” asks Wracks who now is wide awake. “I reached through the dog door and opened it up,” explains BG. “I did not want to wake your parents so I put Punkin to bed and came around to your window. Meet me in back.” “I have to put on some pants,” says Wracks, “give me a minute.” Wracks exits his room, walks down the hall, closes the hall door and looks at the cushion where Punkin the house dog sleeps. Punkin dozes upside down with a smile on his face and stirs when Wracks walks by. He opens his eyes, makes a whining noise and goes back to sleep. Wracks let BG in the back door. Bg wears a cardigan sweater and a large woodsman hat because it is winter even here in the best climate in North America on the west coast in December. “The con is on,” says BG. “It should be about eight to ten feet at the point and bigger at indicator.” “A new swell is hitting today and then it will drop tomorrow. The con is on and we should go now and be out in the water at sunup. The tide is low at two PM so the swell should peak in the morning and then drop with the tide. Let’s have breakfast. What do you have? “ “We have eggs and toast,” says Wracks. “I’ll have two eggs sunny side up and two pieces of toast with butter,” states BG. Wracks takes out a pan from underneath the stove, adds butter to the bottom of the pan and turns on the electric range and then drops four eggs into the melting and then sizzling butter. Five minutes later the two sit at the kitchen table and have breakfast with two cups of Yuban fresh brewed coffee. “It will not be as big as last time we went but it should be real good and have excellent shape. “ BG takes a draw on his coffee and finishes his eggs. “Bring some gas money and a pack of Pall mall Gold. We will need the nicotine.” Says BG. He rises from his chair, takes his dish and sets it in the sink like he would at home. “Ill gets my stuff, “says wracks. The dog spins around right side up and yawns. “Ill see you out front, “says BG as he exits the back door in the dark in December as the mist from the ocean puts a shade and shadow on everything. The dog goes back to sleep. Wracks gets his jacket, his Coca Cola and bread, his paraffin bar, a pack of cigarettes, two dollars in change, and an O’Neill super suit, and goes out the back door into the garage. A red diamond tail seven foot five inch Nat Pro gun sits in the rafters and Wracks pulls it down with a hook and brings his gear outside the gate to underneath the big pine tree on Bacon way as the street lights illuminate the opaque air about the night. The green General motors durabuilt engine econocar hatch sits open and Cool is loading his surfboard into the car between the seats. “I invited him along, “says BG. “The more the merrier.” Cool turns his head in a Mexican pullover with hood and says, “Hey brau,” He then takes a draw on his cigarette and finishes a Heineken bear in a dark green bottle then heaves the empty into the neighbors yard. “tonight you are going coffin,” says BG. “Wait till I get my motorcycle helmet,” says Wracks. Wracks dashes back into the back, into the garage and extracts a black bell motocross helmet and puts it on. The three surfboards sit in the middle of the car separating the two driver seats and the back folds down into a large cargo area. The gear of the three surfers sits on the right behind the “passenger side, On the left will go Wracks coffin style. “Get in,” says BG, we have to get going.” Wracks climbs into the cargo section, sits down facing back and lays into the car like count Dracula going to sleep. BG closes the Hatchback over him, enters the car, ignites the ignition, puts the car into gear and the three set off into history. Down Bacon, past Mellow man’s, onto Suez lane and then sunrise avenue and Wracks looks up at the stars with his helmet on, chin strap on and starts to fall asleep and the car accelerates like mad up highway number one. “We are going to take the freeway today,” stipulates BG. Up Pang oh road the hatchback flies and the tires screech around the hairpin curves until the plateau and the freeway 101 appears as a green sign in the headlights at night perpendicular to the direction they were going. Onto the onramp the car flies and BG accelerates until the car is in forth gear and floored at night with the high beams on traveling on the 101 north. Wracks awakens from sleep to see the stars and the car fills with smoke and the windows are half way down and the wind whips around Wracks helmet, the icy coolness bringing him back to life. Within a short time the three arrive at the junction, the junction of California street and highway one, and the ocean makes sounds and the moon sets largely on the ocean, illuminating the way to the little corner. The little corner is the most consistent surf break in SB and gets a northwest, a hard north and a straight west swell. BG says today the swell sweeps in straight west and Wracks dozes coffin style in the hatchback. Kool comes to life and says, “let’s stop at the little clam for provisions.” BG acknowledges and the car comes to a stop a half hour later at a little market, in a shack, set against s a hill with a gas station a half block away and the ocean rumbles and roars. BG buys a hot dog and a pastrami sandwich heated in the store microwave. Kool gets a sandwich and a bag of candy. Wracks stays inside the car. The two eat in silence. Then BG says, “Lets get going and be out in the water at sunrise.” Kool acknowledges with a hand gesture. BG ignites the car and heads out on the highway. Within ten minutes the three are at the little corner and pull into the big parking lot made especially for wave riders surrounding them with cyclone fencing and concrete blockades. The night closes and the scene begins to lighten into a dark grey and morning arrives. Eight cars situate inside the parking area. Die hard wave riders who scoff a normal life sit in their cabs or hang out of the cargo doors of their vans waiting for first light. Sharks cruise in the darkness and light sends them back out to deep water until the sun starts to set again. Vans of ladies arrive to watch the wave riders surf the long thin tubular swells of the little corner. The little corner breaks mostly on a west or northwest swell. On these disturbances, the waves line up perpendicular to the point and break with ruler straightness in cylindrical almond-shaped tubes. From the outer first point, three separate tube sections exist and a wave rider can situate his or herself strategically at each section to ride deep inside the wave. The little corner holds a west swell up to fifteen feet, and then it starts to break erratically and closeout. On a rare hard north swell that refracts off the Channel Islands onto the west-facing beach, thirty-foot waves will break for a morning and then disappear in the afternoon. For these waves, people dedicate their lives and wait and watch for the perfect big day to arrive. Once initiated, the little corner draws addicts from all over the coastal region of southern California. Cool is the first out of the car. BG uncorks wracks who arises like a vampire from his tomb, shucks the helmet and saunters with the other two down the little trail unto the base of the beach to catch a glimpse of what morning brings. Today, the three are lucky, a solid ten to twelve-foot swell sends lines three to five at a time to break down the point into the bay. The morning starts, the light arrives and a cool offshore breeze holds up the waves unto perfect spinning vortexes larger than ten feet and growling. Cool screams out an unexplained word and runs back to the green hatchback along with BG. The hatch opens, three wetsuits hang on the car and wracks share the bar of paraffin with the other two, and white streaks appear on the surface of the three long surfboards. With boards in hand, the three run down the trail, through the flotsam and jetsam of wood and seaweed up to the point. Timing the sets, they launch during a lull and are outside. The sun comes up over the mountain interior to the little corner point and the day begins. About twenty people ride the waves that morning and enough waves arrive to give each his or her own to enjoy. When the sun raises to directly overhead, the offshore wind stops and the ocean becomes completely smooth and glassy like a window pane. Three wave sets pour through endlessly. Within an hour the wind reverses into a westward flow and the ocean surface starts to roughen up and chop. BG turns to Wracks and says, “We’re going in.” Wracks starts to paddle to shore without waiting for a wave to ride and then arrives on the beach by going along with the white water. Cool waits up at the car. BG opens the car, cool grabs a bag of candy, and starts eating. Wracks strips off his wetsuit and enters his druid robe. Cool takes off his wetsuit then noticing some young ladies down the parking lot, starts dancing stark naked and singing. The girls laugh and blush and Wrack stows his gear in the hatchback and modestly puts on his corduroy jeans and tee shirt and then his jacket. BG smokes a Pall mall gold and drinks coke. The waves still pour in and the parking lot shows full. Surfers run down to the beach with their boards and the wind is a light five knots on shore. BG tosses his cigarette butt and says, “Let’s go. Wracks get in the coffin.” Wracks dons the black bell helmet and descend into the hatch. Cool drinks a beer and tosses the can as close to a trash receptacle as he can. The green Chevrolet launches southward at light speed. “I told you so, I told you so,” chides BG…. Ten to twelve feet slides and churning green tubes. What more can you ask for.”
“I have to go work for my father,” says Cool “mellow.” Wracks as customary fades into oblivion as the car enters the 101 at California street. The three arrive back at Bacon way at three thirty pm. “Service with a smile,” says BG. “Wracks, get out, I have to go to work.” Wracks grabs his gear in a brown grocery bag and plucks his red NatPro gun from the car. “Thank you very much, BG that was a session I will always remember. BG and cool accelerate in a close circle and rocket up Mellow man’s land to Charmed street where Cool lives. Wracks stows his board in the rafters and washes his super suit with cold hose water. The little dog sits on the kitchen step, growls, and wags his tail. Wracks enters the house. “What for dinner,” asks Wracks. “Grab a frozen bag of chicken and microwave it, “says mom. “Where were you?” “I was surfing big wave up in SB with BG,” explains Wracks. “go shower off and do your homework,” says Mom. Wracks walks to his bedroom, then falls into his bed, and is asleep. The day closes, and night arrives again and the darkness brooding in the silence becomes a reality. Wracks wake up when it is dark, makes his meal, boils water for a cup of coffee and read by his little desk lamp. The dog strolls in through the doggy door and falls asleep on his little cushion and wracks turns on the evening lights and locks up the house. A light shines from under the door in Grandma’s room and Grandma is watching tony Orlando on television. “Do you need dinner,” asks Wracks. “No, she says and smiles and holds a speaker up to her ear. “I already ate.” The day ends, the night begins and another page turns over in the book of Wrack’s life. Today he rode long thin tubular waves for a quarter-mile ride while the world turns. No one noticed except Wracks and maybe his little dog and tomorrow he will wake up and read the Sunday paper and maybe go to church. Then a new week begins again and Wracks will grow a little older.