Surfing Scared
July 2013
Nine years old
Erica climbed out of the backseat of the Bing's land rover and breathed in the salty air of Montauk beach. She and Jack had been waiting all summer for their annual beach trip to Montauk because they were able to do one of their favorite summer hobbies: surfing. Jack and Erica each had their own board, Erica's was blue with light blue stripes that streaked across while Jack's board had flames and was colored all black.
"Erica," Jack called out as he hopped out of the car, "grab your suitcase and drop it off inside."
Erica groaned, but proceeded to grab her suitcase from the back trunk of the car and wheeled it inside the Bing's rental beach house that sat right on the beach.
The wheels on Erica's suitcase thumped on every crack on the wood floor paneling, and it smelled like freshly washed clothes inside. She wheeled her suitcase all the way down a long hallway and to a room on the right with baby blue walls and silk curtains. This was always her room whenever they rented this beach house. It has been for five years. Jack's room was right across from hers and had white painted walls. Erica was lucky that her window faced the beach that they had all to themselves.
Jack soon appeared in her doorway with his swim trunks and rubber surf shirt on.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked impatiently.
"Yeah, just let me put on my surfing gear. Does Mom and Dad know that we're going down to the beach?"
Jack nodded his head. "They said that they would watch us once they unpack the food and stuff, but we can head down there."
"Alright," Erica said, "Now go so I can change please."
"As you wish your highness," Jack bowed and almost didn't dodge the pillow Erica threw at his head.
Once Erica got changed the twins grabbed their surfboards and headed down to the beach. The sun was starting to set, which made for a perfect environment to surf; not too hot and not too cold, but just right. Erica laughed when Jack tripped on his board and fell face first into the water. When he resurfaced he whipped his hair out of his face and spit out some salt water.
"You are so going to pay for laughing," Jack shot back when Erica continued to laugh.
"Yeah, sure I am."
"You'll see," Jack jumped onto his board and started paddling out with Erica, "I'm going to be the one that catches the big wave while you're eating my dust."
"Technically I would be eating your water," Erica retorted.
"Same thing," Jack said back.
Before long there was a huge wave coming as Jack and Erica continued to paddle out.
"Time to duck," Erica said.
Jack nodded and ducked under the wave just as it rolled over them. Erica felt calm under the icy water and wanted to stay under longer, but she had to resurface for air. Her head was now above water when Jack resurfaced right after her.
"This should be a good place to wait," Erica told her brother.
"Cool," said Jack. He turned himself around to face the beach.
A couple of minutes passed when Erica saw Jack's eyes widen and his lips turn into a smile.
"Here comes a good one Eri!"
Erica looked back and knew instantly that this was a perfect wave. She was amazed at just how perfect and big the wave looked.
"Ready to eat my dust?" Jack started paddling ahead of the wave.
"Water," Erica said while paddling, "It's eat my water."
Jack laughed and jumped onto his board at the same time Erica did.
"Kalabunga!" Erica screamed.
Her stomach flipped inside her when the wave pushed her quickly over the water. The rush she felt as the water sprinkled onto her cheeks wasn't like any feeling she had ever felt before. Over the sound of the water she could hear her brother alongside her yell in triumph. When she looked out at the beach she saw her mom and dad smiling and waving. Monica was holding a video camera while Chandler jumped all around like a lunatic pumping his fists into the air. Erica smiled to herself and wished to ride this wave forever. This is when both she and Jack's boards flipped them straight forward just as the wave crashed. Under the water Erica was panicking as her body was tossed and turned like a ragdoll in the riptide. When she yelled all that came out of her mouth were bubbles. This wave was a monster, and it was even scarier for her when her surf shirt somehow got caught on a rock at the sea floor. Erica thrashed and pulled on her shirt until it finally tore off of the rock and let her loose. When her legs finally touched the sand, she knew she was close to shore and she pushed her way to the surface of the water. Her lungs were finally able to let in oxygen.
"Erica!" Jack yelled from far away.
Erica turned to look at where his voice came from and saw Jack clutching his surf board sitting in the shallow part of the water. Chandler and Monica were standing near him.
Erica took her surf board strap off of her ankle and set her board down on the beach. She started jogging towards her family.
"Wow!" Jack said as Monica helped him out of the water.
"I know right!" Erica said. Her body was trembling from the cool wind blowing on her skin, and because of what she just experienced.
"Are you guys alright? That was a huge wipeout," Monica asked with a panicked expression on her face. She started to check Erica for any cuts or bruises.
"I'm going to go get some towels. You guys look like you're freezing," Chandler said. He turned towards the beach house and started to jog back.
"I am freaking out right now," Erica said in a shaky voice.
"Why don't you sit down sweetie?" Monica rubbed Erica's shoulders, "Your dad will be back soon with the towels, so just sit down and regain your breath."
Erica plopped down next to her brother and looked at him with fear plastered on her eyes.
"Jack that was one of the worst wipeouts I've ever been through."
Jack nodded his head in agreement. "That was the perfect wave too! We were doing so awesome!"
"I think I know why we wiped out though."
"How?" Jack asked.
"It was really rocky when we paddled out. I think our boards got caught on some rocks and it threw us off."
"Oh," Jack looked out at the water.
"Erica," Monica asked, "Why is your shirt torn?"
Erica looked down at her shirt and saw that a whole piece was ripped off.
"Mom that was the scary part. It was caught on a rock and I couldn't get it loose, so I had to rip it off. It was so scary because I couldn't breathe at all and I was afraid I would drown…" Erica paused.
"Well we made it out alive," Jack said, "and if you want to I kind of want to go back in and surf again."
Erica's jaw dropped. "You want to go back into that death trap? We almost died!"
"Yeah, almost dying is different than dying."
"You can go ahead without me Jack," Erica looked down at the sand and ran her finger through the crystals, "I'm just going to take a break."
Jack looked disappointed and rested his head on his knees. "But it's not fun without you Eri."
Chandler came back with towels and wrapped them around Erica and Jack.
"Fresh from the dryer," Chandler said. "I'm glad you guys are okay. You looked like mini surfer pros out there."
"Besides us falling into the water," Jack muttered.
Erica thought of a brilliant idea after Jack said that.
"Hey Mom, didn't you take a video of us surfing?"
"Yes I did, and it was awesome," Monica waved the camera around.
"Well can we send the part of us falling to America's funniest home videos?"
Jack's eyes lit up and he jumped up from the sand. "We could be famous!" he said jumping up and down.
Chandler laughed and looked at Monica. "Well, I don't see anything that could stop us from doing that."
Erica and Jack cheered and ran to their surfboards.
"Erica, let's go film some more wipe outs!"
Erica laughed and strapped on her Velcro strap to her ankle. She was already starting to forget the biggest, scariest wipeout she's ever been through. Jack and her smiled and paddled their boards into the setting sun, hoping to get a winning video for AFV.
