On the Wall at Surfrider Beach, emblazoned in indelible spray paint are the words, “The Cat Lives,” and “Mik is the Cat.”  Over forty years pass and the words never wash off, wear down or go away.   The words seem to endure beyond the legend and the legacy of probably the most complete wave rider ever to surf in Southern California.  Who is the cat and what the cat is live as a story in it.  Is the cat a highly intelligent criminal?   The answer may be yes but a person can only be decreed a criminal if they are caught and sentenced by due process of the law.  Mik is above the law.  Mik is real and an ancestor of a very important and prominent California family who wish to remain anonymous.  Mik wants to remain anonymous.  Mik wants to return some day to the grounds which he loves more than anything else.  The stomping grounds of the legend, “The Cat,” exist as the place known as Surfrider Beach or to the local people as “The Bu.”  They say Mik retired to Cardiff Beach and had to content himself to riding Swami’s point at thirty feet while assuming the role as a certified public accountant.  The question remains, is Mik a faculty member at a state University professional school?   What has become of Mik? Where has Mik gone?  Did Mik die of pancreatic cancer away from his beloved Bu?   Wracks believes Mik is alive and has seen him somewhere out of the corner of his eye.  Wracks does not surf anymore but cherishes the memories of being one of the special people in a group who were allowed by Mik to ride the waves at Surfrider beach in all their majesty.  Wracks does not regret a minute of wasting time at Surfrider beach or sitting out in the water and playing with the Macrocystis kelp and waiting for a big set at the shift.  When the Bu is big, local riders sit at the outer reef and ride a wave to the pier and past the pier if they are skilled and brave enough. 

Wracks mother makes him a brown bag lunch of a cheese and jelly sandwich with an apple.  Wracks mother drives wracks to surfrider beach with a Jacobs 9 feet six-inch board with a couple of his friends and leaves him there all day.  Wracks mother then waves goodbye and does more important things then raising her child while being an oncologist at the big U.  Wracks mother tests smart and cannot content herself with the role of female and mother.   Wracks sits at the Malibu wall with his board and friends and watches Mik ride waves.  Mik rides waves expertly, never falls off and rides them all the way to the beach, disembarks and walks back up to the point to paddle out and begin again.  Mik beats up anyone who rides on a larger set wave in front of him. Mik has catlike reflexes.   Mik beats up someone almost every day.  Mik is king and few become brave enough to challenge his reign unless they are hopped up on some kind of euphoric drug.  They all ultimately stumble away with a bloodied face, dragging their boards behind them.  The Malibu masochist got his name because he consistently took off on a wave in front of Mik and Mik would pummel his body with blows.  The Malibu masochist never could learn.   The Malibu masochist is a Karate and judo expert and can never figure out how Mik beats him up every time.  This Japanese man simply goes by the title, “The Masochist.”   The masochist eventually moves away to greener pastures.  Lance Carson got his nickname “no pants lance” because he rode a set wave in front of Mik and Mik required him to spend the day naked on the beach or he would beat him to a pulp.  Lance became a legend in himself and the basis of National Lampoon Christmas vacation movies; however, this is another essay.  Wracks paddles out to the point at surfrider beach, and takes off in front of Mik in order to meet him.  Mik exits the wave and looks at the little kid with gall to take off in front of him.  Mik looks again and walks back up the point.   Wracks is the only person on the planet who took off in front of Mik and did not get his face punched.  This makes wracks royalty of a sort in a magical place with magical waves in a tumultuous time when the darkness starts to take hold.  Mik is the legend at the Bu and will someday return to reclaim his throne and empire.  Mik lives or did live in a strategic location.  Maybe his family rents out the house nowadays, Maybe Mik keeps it vacant with slip covers over the sofas.  Maybe Mik lives in the huge mansion on the hill overlooking Surfrider Beach.  The house at the point has a large deck and looks north and south.  The house on the point belongs to Mik.   The house on the point gives direct vision of the Indicator at third point and the reef at the Colony.   The house on the point still exists but who occupies the house is another mystery. 

The colony evidences as a group of houses on a private beach with a private entrance to a private clique on the northern edge of Surfrider Beach.    The colony has a rock reef that forms a wave similar to the Banzai pipeline on Oahu.  The colony reef produced the best pipeline surfers of the twentieth century, both of which have won at least two Pipeline master contests.  The Malibu colony reef breaks the biggest on a huge southwest swell and at low tide breaks better then the Banzai Pipeline although not as big as second reef pipe.   Wracks does not belong to the elite and does not have access to the colony or the pipeline reef.   The colony reef can only be watched from the lookout hill now holding a huge mansion with ramparts and looking glass.   Mik does not appear at surfrider beach anymore.  Mik left when the darkness started to prevail.   Wracks hopes Mik or one of his sons will return and reclaim the legend and title. 

We return to the question.  “Who is the Cat.?”  “What is the cat?”  “Where is the cat?”   The answer becomes the fact that Mik is a legendary and famous figure who serves as a role model or benchmark for other once removed.  A wrack believes Mik still lives.  Wracks hopes Mik still lives to ensure his progeny form roots, grow and control the substance of his fame.  Wracks also hopes that good will prevail and that someday they will invent a tree that grows money.  Wracks dreams and has imagined lots of things but the memories of youth that infiltrate conscious with every breath shall be born and grow to something feasible and concrete some day, some way, somehow.  Time passes, and all things pass and we mere mortals play our games and are blessed by the tears of Allah.