Chapter 29: The Kook

In surf slang, a kook is someone who is clueless about how to behave in the water or poses a danger to others.

This chapters song is "Surf Song" by Bag of Toys.

Stone was bobbing on his surfboard offshore, awaiting his turn in the lineup to catch a wave. With a lazy yawn, he glanced around and then his ears shot up when he saw what every experienced surfer hated to see...an obviously inexperienced surfer clutching a brand new surfboard wading into the surf. A group of college kids were having a party, and this particular guy was obnoxiously showing off as he drunkenly stumbled into the water. At first Stone mistook the surfer for a meerkat but then realized he was actually a ferret. The ferret finally made it through the foaming whitewater and began paddling up and down the lineup, searching for a wave. He was seemingly oblivious to the other surfers who had been waiting their turn.

"Great...just great...a [censored] kook!" Stone heard Reggie curse.

The fox sighed when he saw the ferret now sitting sideways on his surfboard while carelessly waving to his friends on the beach. He was paying no attention to what was going on around him. Stone's ears shot erect because he could hear what the kook couldn't, that the two lions, the zebra, and the jackal weren't laughing at the idiot's antics but at him instead. The only one in the bunch who was silent was an overweight bobcat in a royal blue one-piece swimsuit, she stood there and looked concerned.

A huge wave was coming toward them. It was going to be a great ride, and Stone paddled to catch it. He had just dropped in on the wave and began a bottom turn when the ferret floated in the way. "Dude, watch out!" the fennec fox growled before he quickly kicked out of the wave, trying not to collide with the other "surfer". The wave crashed over the kook, wiping him out and sending his unleashed board soaring into the air before drifting away in the surf. Losing his balance, Stone also took a header into the drink.

"Brah, are you okay!" Stone shouted to the drenched ferret, who had been carried closer to the shoreline, but the idiot just stood up in chest-deep water and frantically began searching for a much too large beer which one of his friends had thrown at him. He found it just in time for another wave to slam into him and send him sprawling. Staggering to the shore, he triumphantly held the beer up with both paws toward his friends. When he lowered it and popped the top, it fittingly spewed into his face.

"What a moron!" one of the lions guffawed. All but the bobcat were laughing.

"Come on, guys, let's dump this loser," the jackal chuckled as he snatched up his beach towel.

"Mattie, let's go!" the zebra called out to the bobcat.

"You guys go on, I want to make sure Rio is okay," she answered, shaking her head as she watched the ferret who had tripped and fallen down in the sand.

"Then you two are on your own to get back to the dorms," one of the lions yelled back at her as he followed the others down the beach.

"Yeah, Rio is always on his own around you jerks," she softly muttered.

Stone had made it to shore and after setting down his own surfboard, he raced down the beach to get the board that was floating away. "Hey, fox, that is mine!" the drunken ferret snapped as he wobbled to his hindpaws.

"Rio, he is only..." Mattie said, but Rio staggered toward Stone with his paws clutched together as if he were going to fight him.

"Chill, dude, I was only bringing your board back to you!"

"Put it down!" Rio snarled as he stepped forward and swung at Stone, but the fox ducked and shoved him away.

Rio crumpled over and collapsed into the sand. "I'm sorry, he always goes overboard. He so wants to impress the others," the bobcat sighed as she carefully picked up her much smaller friend and carried him in her arms.

"They don't act as if they're his friends."

"No, they only let him hang out with them because they like to tease and make fun of him."

"That's too bad."

"He's actually a fan of yours," she said as she laid her friend gently on a beach towel. "He saw you and your friends surfing in Beach Spyjinks, that is why he bought that surfboard. He's so blitzed that he didn't recognize you."

"Yeah, he's had too much booze."

"The others..." she hesitated and looked toward the sea in embarrassment. After giving a long sigh, she just shook her head. "Look, he is really smart and only acts dumb around...those...those jerks! He thinks he's those frat boys' sidekick, but they only pretend to like him."

"Surely he has to realize what is going on," Stone replied.

"Deep down, I think he does, but he was an only child from a broken household, and his mother moved around a lot, so he never had any friends in school, and now he craves attention..." Mattie hesitated and shook her head again. "I'm a psych major, and maybe what they say about us is true, that we over-analyze everything?" she chuckled.

"I don't know about that, but if he really wants to learn to surf, I have a friend who teaches beginners. His dad owns the surf shop on the Boardwalk. Just ask for Sandfly."

"Sandfly?"

"That's his surfer nickname."

"And yours?"

"Stoney."

"How original," Mattie laughed.

Weeks later, Stone watched from the boardwalk as Sandfly was teaching Rio the basics. The wolf growled at the ferret lying on a surfboard in the sand, for Rio was being impatient. "Push off with your front leg while lifting your paws up as you rise to a standing position. Keep those knees slightly bent. Rio, keep your eyes on the horizon and not down at your hindpaws!" he called out. "No, have your other paw forward!"

"But Stone Kole..."

"Stoney surfs goofy pawed."

"Why?"

"That's because I didn't teach him, so do it right!"

The fennec fox shook his head and snickered with amusement. His nose twitched when he picked up a familiar scent behind him and turned to face the female fennec fox approaching him. She wore a loose, oversized white cotton gauze blouse which hung down over her curvy waist, barely covering the tight mocha brown bikini bottoms. He had to admit that Tawenza was one of the sexiest vixens he had ever met. His ears shot up when she spoke. Her accent was almost musical, and she smirked when he didn't answer, "What's the problem, tod? Did the cat finally get your tongue?"

Grinning, Stone chuckled before he replied, "No, I just wasn't expecting you to be hanging out on the Boardwalk during working hours. Did Reggie B. finally fire you?"

She crossed her arms as she stood next to him. "Stoney, you didn't hear the news from last night?"

"I don't pay much attention to the news, especially during an election year."

All that sand that Reggie B. had for his sand surfing ride was piled on top of an old warehouse. Part of the roof collapsed and it was mostly sucked down inside. They had to close the place.

"Are you out of a job?"

"For now."

"Sorry that happened."

The vixen gave a thin smile and shrugged. "So, who is the new guy you're watching?" she asked.

"I almost ran into the dude on the waves. He is a real kook, but Sandfly is trying to teach him."

"He's kind of cute. Do you have any idea what he does for a living?"

"If you're looking for a sugar daddy, he's a student and I doubt he has much money."

"Like I said, he's cute," she replied before she sashayed past the other fox and walked across the beach toward where Rio and Sandfly were.

Stone watched as she stood there with one of her paws on her hip and her tail wagging coyly while she watched the ferret for a few moments. Then she playfully asked Rio, "Learning to surf?"

The ferret sat there with his eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape as he stared at the fox.

"Go away, Tawenza, we are busy," Sandfly said.

Ignoring the wolf, she sensually sat down in the sand with her legs crossed. "By the Bright Goddess, that looks difficult," she continued, talking to the now blushing ferret.

"It's not that hard, let me show you!" Rio exclaimed before he laid down and begun to enthusiastically demonstrate to her what he was doing.

Sandfly sighed and rolled his eyes. For the rest of the session, under the watchful eyes of the sexy vixen, Rio did his best to do exactly what he was instructed, without a single complaint.

Two weeks later, Stone saw Rio and Tawenza walking down the Boardwalk. "That poor dude never knew what hit him," he scoffed to Cooper. "I heard she is teaching him sand surfing." The fennec fox added with a grin, "Along with a few other things, if you get my drift?"

The small wallaby looked over and saw the ferret dutifully following right behind the vixen. "I wouldn't laugh about that, mate. I've seen a certain fennec fox acting the same way while following a sand cat."

"Brah, have I ever told you that you talk too much?"

"Nope, usually I tell you to quit your yabberin."

Tawenza's story can be found in Chapter 9: "How Can You Call This Surfing?"