Long years ago, I “played at” surfing. I was never very good, but I did love the group I hung out with and the attention I got sitting a board in a bikini with my long blonde hair. Luckily, the waves were small and manageable, so I just had fun. But, it was this time in my life that inspired me to write Currents of Destiny about a surfer taken out by a rogue wave and the mysterious man that saves her.
I was talking about my days of surfing with a colleague at work and was reminded of something I’d forgotten, but rings very true today. There had been a girl who’d sit on the beach and watch us, almost every time we were there. She never approached. Back in those days, things were different and races seldom mixed. Yeah, I know, people were stupid. Anyway, one day, I saw her sitting there, watching, as I came out of the water. I walked over and plopped down beside her, introducing myself. Her name was Tiff. I asked her if she wanted to try my board. She shook her head vehemently. I asked if she’d ever tried just sitting a board. Again, that shake of her head. Again, I offered. “No, thank you,” she said. “I have to go.” She left. We didn’t see her for a while.
One day she returned to her spot and watched us. Again, I went over. This time I asked her, if she was so fascinated, why she didn’t want to at least feel what’s it’s like? Was it because she was black and I was white?” Heck, when I held my tanned arm up, I was just a few shades lighter than her. She laughed, but declined and kept looking away. I was insistent, until she murmured, “I can’t swim.”
“Well, hell, we can fix that,” I said. It took some doing to convince her but I, along with a couple of really handsome surfer guy friends, using our boards and staying close to Tiff, taught her to swim that summer. Not only swim, but got her on a board and, wow, that girl was a natural. The last time I saw her as I was leaving for college, she had her own board and was drawing her own crowd. We hugged goodbye and she whispered, “I’ll never forget you. You gave me the world.”
I recently read an article about the disproportionate number of drowning deaths in the US (not including rip tides, a whole other story, which I fortunately survived because I’d been taught what to do). More and more public pools are teaching swimming. If you, or your children, don’t know how to swim, take lessons. You, too, can give them the world.
Amazon-Currents of Destiny https://amzn.to/3KWfX7j
AmazonSGAuthorPage: https://amzn.to/3Rltadn
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1034868
SHANON GREY :: FictionWeaver 