Wipe-out

Danny paused outside Kono's Cruze, biting his lower lip as he studied the crowd on the beach.

"Why so nervous, Danny?" Kono asked. "The surf is nice, not too difficult for a beginner."

"I haven't surfed with this many people — or with Steve," Danny confessed.

"Steve's been looking forward to it all week," Kono said with a laugh.

"Steve's been tormenting me with it all week," Danny corrected. "He keeps talking about great wipe-outs he's seen." Danny smiled abruptly. "OK, this was kinda funny," he admitted. "He burned a CD with just one song on it, that Wipe-out song by the Surfaris."

"W-w-w-w-wipe-out!" Kono sang with the recording's high, crazy laugh.

"Yeah. He played it every time we got into the car. Every time! So he got into my head," Danny said. "I had this stupid dream last night where Steve flew up to me on his board and deliberately knocked me off and then laughed about it."

Kono put her hand on his arm. There was always a psychological aspect to sports. If Danny stopped believing he could do it, then he wouldn't be able to. "You should have told me," she chided. "I'd have decked him for messing with my student. Want me to talk to him?"

"And be a crybaby spoilsport? That's just another form of public humiliation."

"Your dream is just nonsense, you know that," Kono encouraged her student. "I taught you wave etiquette. Steve won't drop in on the same wave you do, so he wouldn't be able to knock you down. And he wouldn't. He's your friend."

"But sometimes he's got the sense of humor of a 10-year-old," Danny said darkly. "Remember the water balloons?"

Kono had to admit that throwing a water balloon on the steps of HPD was pretty childish, even if it had been April Fool's Day.

"How about this — if Steve does dunk you, I'll knock him down for picking on my student. Then it's all me and not you."

This time she got a genuine grin. "Thanks."

"Got your back, partner," she said, giving him a fist bump.

"Speaking of partners, where's Chin?" Danny asked.

"He said he was going to be a little late. He was picking up a date."

"Malia?" Danny asked, with a sidelong glance at Kono.

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Can you deal with that?" Danny asked, knowing Kono felt Malia had walked out on Chin when he needed her.

"I can, if that's what Chin wants. Anyway, after finding out Chin was covering for Uncle all along. Maybe I was wrong about Malia, too."

Danny nodded.

"Let's go," Kono said, unfastening her board from the roof. "You can do this, Danny. You're ready."

"I still surf like a rookie, rookie," Danny said with a smile.

"I can tell you're still a novice," Kono admitted. "But you're improving with every ride. You're ready."

Danny felt better after her pep talk. "Thanks, teach."

They hoisted their boards and started toward the rendezvous point.

"Just remember, if you do get dunked, follow the bubbles to the surface," Kono advised. "Bubbles always know the way up."

- H50 -

Steve was as excited as a kid, ready to plunge into the waves immediately.

"We should wait for Chin," Danny protested.

"I'll wait," Kono said, seeing Steve's downcast expression. "You two go ahead."

She met Danny's eyes with a "don't worry, it will be all right" expression and shooed him toward the Pacific. Danny took a deep breath and followed Steve out. Steve was more at home on the surfboard than Danny, but the SEAL paddled slowly and kept an eye out every time they had to duck under a breaker or dodge another surfer coming in. He'd dropped his adolescent eagerness for a quiet competence and soothing manner that calmed Danny's worries.

Maybe we can have fun after all, Danny thought.

- H50 -

When they reached the zone where the waves were breaking, Steve sat up on his board and waved Danny on. This gave Danny priority on the waves and let Steve keep an eye on his friend while he kept an eye on the waves coming his way.

Danny continued out, saw a wave curling toward him, spun and paddled swiftly to catch it. The wave caught his board and he bounced to his feet, balancing triumphantly. He looked for Steve to share the moment of victory and saw his friend paddling madly to catch the same wave.

As Steve stood and cut sharply toward him, Danny had a momentary flashback to his nightmare. His options flickered through his mind. If he tried to dodge, he'd just fall so maybe he should bail deliberately, or could he cut back and drop behind the wave? Then Danny realized that Steve's laser gaze was focused past him. The Jerseyan glanced over his shoulder and saw another surfer on his wave. What the hell happened to surf etiquette?

Dreadlocks flying, mean grin slashing across his dark face, the young Hawaiian aimed deliberately at the novice surfer, not seeing that Steve was aimed at him.

Danny felt like a compact car with two big rigs heading toward him. Steve gestured down as he moved higher on the wave. As if they'd planned it, Danny dropped near the base. Steve flew past, much too close behind his friend, and cut off the Hawaiian before he could knock into his prey.

The Hawaiian went down, but the nose of his surfboard went up and smacked Steve in the jaw.

Steve dropped boneless from his board and vanished into the churning surf.

Danny bailed instantly and swam toward his floundering partner. The surfboard on its ankle leash made swimming awkward but manageable. On the other hand, Steve's leash made it easy to find his partner when the big blue and yellow board was bobbing above him like a fishing float. Danny used the leash to reel in his friend and slung him over his board.

Steve blinked, coughed, and said, "W-w-w-w-wipeout!" stammering because that's the way the song goes, not because he was hurt. Danny slapped his shoulder, and then spun to find the other surfer. The longhaired Hawaiian was examining his board for damage.

"You!" Danny yelled vengefully. He charged, proving to Steve once and for all that he could swim. His powerful strokes churned through the water like a motorboat. The only flaw in his stroke was keeping his head out of water, and he did that to keep an eye on his suspect.

The anger in his piercing blue eyes made the Hawaiian gulp and dodge to the other side of his board. That was a mistake, because Danny reached across, caught the surfer by his long hair and bounced his chin off the surfboard.

"He ran into me!" the surfer protested.

"To keep you from running into me!" Danny said. "What, thought it would be funny to knock the haole off his board?"

"You looked like such a newbie," the Hawaiian protested. "I thought it would be funny to wipe you out."

"I'll show you a wipeout," Danny snarled. He lunged under the board and caught the man around the neck, driving him under, just as Steve yelled, "Danny! Breaker coming!"

The wave broke on top of the Jerseyan, forcing him under and spinning him around. He released the other man and sought the surface, but was confused by the swirling water. Bubbles rise, but foam surged all around him. He exhaled just a bit, and followed the bubbles up, realizing, too, that he was still attached to his board. Reoriented, he stroked for the surface.

Gasping in the salty air, he saw Steve on his board paddling swiftly toward him. Steve's anxious strokes eased when he saw his friend's face.

"What happened to the other guy?" Danny asked, as he slipped onto his surfboard.

Steve sat up, then pointed. Danny could see the surfer belly flat on his fluorescent red board coasting toward the shore. The still angry Jerseyan smacked his fist against the innocent ocean.

Steve grinned, a little lopsided because of the growing swelling on his jaw. "Look." He pointed farther left. Kono in her bright yellow bikini was racing along the beach on an intercept course.

"Oh, he's in trouble now," Danny chortled, as he saw Kono keep her promise and deck the man who'd tried to run him down, even if it wasn't Steve. "Don't mess with her students!"

As she berated the dazed man lying on the sand, a smaller figure in pink ran up to her.

"Grace?" Danny said in surprise, then he saw Chin coming behind his daughter, carrying her pink surfboard and beach bag. So that was his "date."

Steve laughed aloud, then clutched his painful jaw, as Grace kicked sand in the bully's face.

"That's my girl," Danny said proudly. He looked back and saw a set of waves coming. "Let's go in," he suggested.

Steve nodded.

- H50 -

Danny let Steve go first this time. If his injured friend got dizzy, Danny would be behind him to help. But they both made it in without further trouble and carried their boards up the beach to their friends, where a lifeguard was waiting to bawl out Steve for his reckless behavior. (He'd already banished the dreadlocked Hawaiian.)

Steve accepted the correction but Chin protested. Flashing his badge, he explained that Steve had reacted instinctively, protecting his partner's back.

"All right," the lifeguard accepted. "I saw what happened. But you know waves are unpredictable. You could have run down your friend unintentionally. He's the only one who acted responsibly out there!"

"Nothing new in that," Chin said, just loud enough for his friends to hear.

"I think you'd better sit out the rest of the day," the lifeguard told Steve sternly.

Steve touched his aching jaw. He still felt a little dizzy. "I think I'd better."

"Daddy, are we going surfing?" Grace asked hesitantly.

"I think we have to give up for the day, monkey," Danny answered. "How about if we go to Steve's and make him an adult smoothie with liquid painkiller in it?"

Grace looked disappointed, but no more disappointed than Steve.

"But I want to see you surf!" he complained.

When he was sure Steve was OK with it, Danny agreed to go out with Grace and Kono while Chin shared the beach with his boss. Danny fished in the cooler of soft drinks and wrapped some ice cubes in the corner of a towel. He handed the makeshift cold pack to his injured friend.

"OK, I'll surf. You guard the ice, Super SEAL." Danny hesitated, then plunged in. "You're going to stop with the Wipe-out song, right? Because you were freaking me out."

"Yeah, Danny, I'm sorry. I don't want to spoil surfing for you after nagging you so long to try it. You do like it, right?"

"I don't like the washing machine," Danny said, referring to being tumbled around underwater. "But catching a wave is a rush and it's fun to surf with my daughter — and my friends, if they can stay on their boards," he said pointedly, making Steve grin, then wince and press the ice pack to his jaw.

Grace was getting visibly impatient. Danny stood to join her.

"I've got a new song for you," Steve said and sang, "I need a hero!"

Danny laughed. If Super SEAL could do Bonnie Tyler, Danny the Daddy could do "Toy Story." "You've got a friend in me," he sang back and then ran to join his daughter.