Beach Festival
Josh arrived to work late on warm Tuesday in July. He was dressed in his favourite blue and white board shorts and a yellow t-shirt. He spotted his boss and quickly walked over to him.
Josh was a 6 foot tall, brown hair, blue eyed 21 year old male. He lived in a fair large apartment in Perth, Australia.
"Good morning Josh, now that you're finally here, I have something special to tell you." Josh looked up with a surprised expression on his face.
"Oh no, this is it. I'm fired,"he thought out loud.
"No, no Josh, we are hosting a special event this weekend, here at the beach. I'd like you to help."
"This weekend? I can't, I'm going to visit my mom in Vancouver."
"Sorry Josh, but I really need your help this weekend. Can't you go next weekend?"
" Yeah, I guess I could go then. Okay, I'll help Mr. Beckley."
"Thank-you." With that, he turned around and walked inside.
That weekend Josh got up early and headed down to the beach. When he arrived he was surprised to see so many people already there. The equipment rental house had been decorated the previous day.
By mid-day Josh had worked for 4 hours with only one short break. John Beckley came over to talk to him for the first time since Josh had arrived at 8 am that morning.
"I think it's time for you to take another break. You have been working very hard today. So take an hour off to relax and have fun. Oh, and maybe eat something." John walked away.
Josh headed over to the concession and bought himself a burger, fries and a drink. He then settled down at a empty picnic table in the shade. When he was half way through his lunch a young man with an oval face and short brown hair approached the table.
"Mind if I sit with you?" he asked politely.
Josh shook his head. "No, go ahead. I'm almost finished here anyways."
"Thanks, I'm Wallace by the way. Wallace Mackenzie." the man replied, sitting down.
"Josh Campbell. Nice to meet you." Josh said with a smile.
There was silence between the two for a few minutes as Josh continued to eat.
"I'm here on vacation. Well, it's not really a vacation. Traveling is my greatest hobby." commented Wallace.
"You're lucky. I don't travel much. I only visit my mom in Vancouver occasionally."
"Your mom really lives in Vancouver? I live in Vancouver!" exclaimed Wallace.
"Nice. How long have you lived there?"
"All my life, 23 long years. I was born in Vancouver." Wallace said with a laugh. "How long have you lived here in Perth?"he asked.
Josh paused, deciding if he should be telling this random person that he just met about his life. He decided that he didn't care and felt that the stranger wouldn't do anything to him.
"He's probably just curious." Josh thought.
" I moved here when I turned 19 so, that would mean that I've lived here for 3 years now." Josh said taking a drink of his beverage.
"So that would make you 21?"
Josh nodded and took another bite of his burger.
The two men continued to talk until Mr. Beckley came wandering over.
"Josh, I think it's about time that you get back to work. Wouldn't you agree?" he asked.
"Yeah…sure…okay. I'll be there in a minute." Josh replied. He stood up, threw his garbage in the trash can and waved goodbye to Wallace. "It was nice talking to you!" he called back.
Wallace waved and yelled, "I'll see you around, I'm here until next Monday. Maybe you could show me around if you have time."
That evening as Josh was getting ready to go home, he saw a figure approaching from the beach.
"Hey Josh." It was Wallace Mackenzie.
"Hey Wallace. What are you still doing here?"
"Oh, not much. I just wanted to catch you before you went home. I wanted to tell you that I'm staying at the hotel across the street from here." Josh looked up from what he was doing with a confused look on his face.
"I thought that, you know, if you weren't busy tomorrow, that you could, you know, show me around town?"
"Umm, I guess. I'm not working tomorrow. I walk dogs in my spare time for extra money. I was planning to do that but, whatever." replied Josh.
"Great! Here's my room number and the hotel's phone number. Call me tonight and we can discuss details."
"Okay. I'll call you later. Bye Wallace."
That night on the phone they decided to meet at the beach at 9 am and go for a quick jog with a couple of dogs for some extra cash.
They headed back to the beach after returning the dogs.
"Have you every surfed before Wallace?" Josh asked.
"No, have you?"
"Yeah, come on. I'll teach you. LET'S HIT THE WAVES!" was Josh's excited response.
Wallace rented a board while Josh grabbed his own that he kept locked up in the rental house. With much help from Josh, Wallace eventually started to get the hang of surfing. After a few hours of continuous surfing the boys went for lunch at a local restaurant.
"Do you have any siblings?" asked Wallace before biting into his turkey sandwich.
"No. Do you?"
"Nope. My parents broke up when I was 3. I chose to live with my dad. I never really saw my mom much after that" replied Wallace.
"Yeah my parents separated when I was a year old. I don't really remember much though. I only know that I ended up living with my mom. I never really saw my dad much after that either." Josh answered.
They continued to eat in silence.
"I really like spending time with you Josh." Wallace said suddenly with a wide grin.
"Uh…me too?"
"I'm so glad that you feel the same way. It's so good that we can finally talk about our feelings for each other."
"WHAT??" cried Josh standing up. "ARE YOU GAY OR SOMETHING?"
"Yeah. What? You're not?" came Wallace's answer.
"EWW! NO! OF COURSE I'M NOT! WHAT GAVE YOU THAT IDEA?" yelled Josh.
"Well, you said that you like spending time with me too and you took my phone number." Wallace replied calmly.
"WHAT? I WAS JUST BEING NICE. TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH YOU CREEP ME OUT!" Josh yelled back.
"Well, I guess this isn't going to work out, so good day!" Wallace said standing up and walking out of the restaurant.
Josh flung some money on the table and stormed out of the restaurant behind Wallace.
Over the next few days Josh stayed home as much as possible and only left the house to go to work.
The next weekend Josh packed up some of his belongings and caught a taxi to the airport. He looked around the entire time he was there for any sign of Wallace, but to his relief, there was none.
When the plane landed in Vancouver, Josh hopped on a bus to Coquitlam. He called his mom while he was on the bus.
"I've got a surprise for you when you get here," she told him with excitement in her voice.
As he walked up the walkway to his mother's house he noticed a car in the driveway. He rung the doorbell and waited for his mother to answer it.
To Josh's surprise it was not his mother who greeted him at the door.
"WALLACE?" he gasped.
"JOSH?" came the reply.
Just then Mrs. Campbell reached the door.
"Oh so you have already met each other. Good. I'm sorry boys that I never told you this before. You're brothers. Come in quickly. We have a lot to talk about."
A look of horror spread across both men's faces as Mrs. Campbell shut the door.