The crowd cheered, excited for the next step in the process. Thousands of people had come to Ocean Beach to witness the competition. Parents, siblings, friends and surf lovers had come miles away to see this. Marc gulped in fear and looked over at his father in the distance who smiled warmly in encouragement. Marc let out a deep breath, closed his eyes and looked around at the crowd. He had never surfed for an audience before and his was a large group of people. He didn’t know if he could handle having all of their eyes on him.
“There are forty young men competing with us today! Let’s give them a round of applause!” The announcer yelled on the speaker. The crowd cheered in encouragement. “Okay, so here’s the rules. We will be dividing the groups into four groups of ten. You will stay in this group and compete. Whoever does the best out of the group of ten will be competing in the championship, for the chance to become San Francisco’s Junior Surfer Champion!” The crowd roared in applause as Marc wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Now let’s explain the judging! They will be giving you a score that is based upon your performance. You can receive a one to ten. One being the worst and ten being the best. You will have five minutes to impress them with your tricks and talents. Once the timer goes off, you will begin and once the timer ends, you must stop and come out of the water. We have four judges, listen to your name being called and they will tell you what group you are in. Once you find your group, we will start the competition! Good luck surfers!” Marc looked nervously around as the announcer stopped talking. He didn’t know which group he would be in yet, but he hoped he would shine above the rest of the competition.
“Marc Porter?” A woman with short black hair called out his name.
“Yes?” He raised his hand high above the gathering crowd of surfers.
“You are in group one, stand behind me.” She shouted out as if she was giving orders.
Marc hurriedly ran and stood behind her, after ten other boys’ names had been called, she turned around to look at all of them.
“Junior surfers, I’m Sandy. I am judge one in the competition. I will be judging group one. The winner of group one, will be judged by all four of the judges. Now let’s head over to the first cone and we will start this competition.” She said as she started walking briskly to the cone.
Marc jogged as quickly as he could to the cone. Sandy seemed like a tough judge and he didn’t want to do anything that would upset her. Her short, black hair stuck to her head in the hot summer heat. He wondered why she had bothered to wear a full suit when the weather was so intense. He couldn’t imagine wearing pants and a suit coat on a day like today.
Once they reached the cone, Sandy pulled her clipboard up to her face. “Sam Upton, you are first up. I will not be revealing any of the scores until the last surfer in the group has gone. Now let’s get this started!” She yelled in a brisk tone that was meant to bring excitement, but ended up just bundling Marc up with more nerves.
Marc glanced over at Sam. He was a petite boy with long blond hair and light blue eyes. Marc thought he would look more appropriate on an advertisement for a popular teen clothing line rather than a surfer. Sam got into the water and used up his five minutes, doing very little surfing. Marc couldn’t believe how many times that boy had fallen off of his board. He almost felt bad for the guy when he paddled into the shore, wiping the sand out from underneath his eyes.
“Great job Sam,” Sandy tried her best effort to sound encouraging, but came off as being tough and edgy. “Marc Porter, you are up next. Get your board and get in that water. Show us what you are made of!”
Marc’s heart started beating double time at the mention of his name. He wasn’t ready to go yet. He had waited his whole life for this day and now it was his turn to shine. He didn’t know if he could live up to the expectations that were set for him, but he had to try. He picked up the board and ran as fast as he could in the water. He wasn’t going to waste these five minutes being slow. He paddled on his board and took the first wave he could get. He accelerated as fast as he could into the wave. He wanted the first move to wow Sandy’s tough criticism. He climbed the wave as if it was a mountain, he wasn’t letting go no matter what. He felt his feet glued to the board. He wondered if this was what his father meant when he said to become one with the wave.
“Come on, Marc! You can do this! I have faith in you!”
Marc slightly turned his head in his father’s direction as he heard his voice shouting encouragement to him. He took the wave with all the courage he had. He wasn’t going to let his father down. He was going to make him proud, he would come out as a winner. He rode the wave all the way into shore, hearing applause from the crowd. Little did they know, he wasn’t finished yet; he would use the last minute for a true crowd pleaser.
He paddled back into the ocean with all of his might. Seeing the large, automatic clock ticking down in the distance; he saw he only had one minute left. He had to pull off this move. He plunged on top of his board with poise. His feet took ahold of the board and he could feel them connected. It was almost as if they fit together like a puzzle. The feeling was making him breathless. He was fearless. He took himself along with the board, and spun in a complete rotation in the face of the wave. He felt like he was flying as he turned in a circle throughout the sky. Never had he felt so alive in his life. He breathed a sigh of relief as he came down swiftly onto the wave and rode it out to the shore. He had accomplished what he had practiced for months. The beloved 360.
As he rode the wave closer into the shore, he could hear the crowd going crazy. They were screaming his name. He smiled, he felt as if he had just accomplished the biggest feat of his life. Reporters from the audience rushed to him as he pulled his board out of the water and started walking back to the competition. They wanted to know where he learned how to do a 360. They wanted to know how he had become so skilled when he was only thirteen years old. They wanted to know why he had never competed before.
He just smiled as he walked away from the microphones they were pressing into his face. He saw his father rushing towards him. He was pushing through stand byers telling them that Marc Porter was his son. His one and only son. Marc had never felt so proud in his life. He had finally accomplished something to honor his father. Something that they could both feel good about.
“Son,” His father pulled him into a big, wet hug that soaked all of his clothes; not that it mattered. He was wearing swim trunks and a t-shirt. With a wetsuit underneath of course. Nothing was going to come between him and his son. This was their moment. “You nailed it! I knew you would. We practiced that for months. You looked flawless.”
“Thanks Dad, all the practice just made me that much better. I can’t believe I didn’t fall. Remember all of those times I kept falling off? I almost even hit my head once.” He pulled his father off to the side of the crowd as the competition resumed. They would know the winner soon. He hoped nobody would top his amazing run. He wanted a chance to compete in the finales. He still had more tricks up his sleeves and he wouldn’t be afraid to pull them out.
“Well today was a success. I knew it would be. That’s why I wanted you to wait. When I was a boy, I entered a surfing competition when I was nine years old. I didn’t know my body yet, I wasn’t ready for the competition. I wiped out on my board, I felt like a failure. Luckily I didn’t give up. That’s the one thing I learned from competing, you can never give up. No matter how much you want to, you can never give up.”
“I know Dad, I have learned from you. Everything I know is because I have you. I was great today because I learned from the best.”
He laughed. “Don’t give me too much credit, you did a lot of hard work to accomplish what you did.” He looked out at the crowd, noticing that they started to gather around Sandy. “Son, I think the competition results are going to be announced. Let’s go over and listen.” Marc looked at him in the eyes and grinned as they both took off running together. They always understood one another so well. They wer
e father and son, yet they were best friends. His mother had called them two peas in a pod. Marc never understood what that meant, but he knew he had a friend for life in his father.
They stopped when they reached the brink of the crowd. Sandy projected her voice loud and clear. “The results are in! First of all I wanted to say great job to all of the junior surfers that competed today. You all did a fabulous job and you should all be very proud of yourselves. Keep in mind we can only pick one winner. I will announce the runner-up first, who will get a small trophy and then I will announce the winner of this division who will go on to compete in the finale. So are you ready?” She roared to the crowd.
“Yes!!!!!” The crowd screamed back enthusiastically.
“With the score of an eight, the runner-up is David Pike! Congratulations David!” She cried as a young boy with black hair hugged his mother and his father, while running up to collect his trophy. Marc smiled in joy for the other competitor who had won. He figured even if he didn’t win, he would just feel glad that he was able to be a part of the competition.
“Now the moment that you have all been waiting for! The winner, with a score of a perfect ten, which I must add has never happened in this part of the competition before is….”
The crowd screamed in anticipation.
“Marc Porter! You will be moving on to the finales! Congratulations Marc!”
Marc leapt into his father’s arms and pure joy filled his heart. He had succeeded. He was the champion of his division. All of his hard work had paid off. He couldn’t wait to compete in the finales. He had become a true winner. He had finally set all of his fears aside and had decided to be free.
“Marc? Marc? Marc!” Cathy shook his shoulders as hard as she could in an effort to shake him out of his thoughts. “Marc? Marc?” She continued calling out his name as she shook him harder and harder with each call.
“What happened?” He asked as he looked her in the eyes. His face looked uneasy and he held his stomach. He was so pale, he looked like he should be in a hospital bed. He clenched his stomach tightly, trying to stop himself from getting sick.
“You lost consciousness. I think your fear took you out of this world and into another one. I read that sometimes when people are scared in their current situations, sometimes they black out into another time that was more pleasant. I think that might have just happened to you,” She explained in a careful and cautious tone. “Since you’re back now, I will tell you again. I am so sorry for scaring you like that. I thought it would be fun and you would laugh, but I think I scared you into another time. Do you remember what you had been thinking about? I know I scared you pretty bad, but it looked like you were in a happy place to say the least.” She moved her hand up in an effort to hold his hand.
“It’s okay. I still love you anyways. I can’t remember what I was thinking about. I know it was something in my childhood, with my dad. He was there and he was proud of me for some reason, but I can’t seem to remember the rest.” He held on to the hand she was giving him. “Sharks are just scary. I didn’t think I would be going into the tank this soon. I just thought we would be cleaning up the ocean. I am scared to do this, but I am excited to try new things with you. It will be an adventure to say the least.” He took a minute to stare out at his surroundings. He just now realized that the boat was no longer at the dock and had been moving for quite some time. “When did the boat leave? How did I miss that? You would think I would at least have felt it moving away from the dock.”
“Well, I am glad you still love me. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize that. Maybe it will come back to you after a while. That happens to me sometimes too. I will think that I forgot what I was dreaming or thinking about, then later on it comes back to me. ” She clenched his hand tighter and held it up to her heart, despite all of the scuba equipment being there. “Yes, it’s always an adventure being with me I’m sure. At least I make things fun, I don’t really intend to most of the time, it just happens somehow. And yes the boat moved about twenty minutes ago. You were so out of it, I don’t think you noticed anything. I was so worried about you, I didn’t know if you were going to snap out of it or not.”
“Maybe it will come back to me later, it’s not that big of a deal though. I know I remember the most important parts of my life; the things that matter. Nothing would jeopardize our relationship and I love your adventurous side. That’s not the problem. The problem is the sharks, but I am not going to go down without a fight. I promised I would be here for you, so that’s what I am going to do. I am always going to be here for you, no matter what.”
She smiled at him with love and affection in her heart. She truly loved this man and she could feel his love shining back at her. Never in a million years would she have thought this would have been her life. She didn’t think she would get this lucky. She had spent countless years trying to find someone who was remotely interested in the same things she was and here he was spending time with her group, diving into a shark tank with her. She didn’t know how life could get any better than that.
“All right, listen up Shark Savors,” Chris announced breaking through Cathy’s intricate thoughts. “We have reached our destination of Marshall Beach. Everyone please make sure that you have all of your equipment on correctly. It all needs to be in place and in working condition. We will now be descending into the water to start cleaning this area. If anyone has any questions, suggestions, or needs any help, I will be waiting by the ladder of the boat to assist you. Now let’s clean up this ocean and make it a shark friendly place!”
“Are you ready for this?” She whispered to Marc as she helped adjust his mask.
“Ready as I will ever be. This is the easy part anyways. We are just cleaning up the beach and the ocean around this area. I actually feel good about this part. I want to help save sharks, even though I am afraid of them. It’s ironic I know.”
“It’s sweet of you.” She let go of his hand as she dove into the water without using the stairs. The rest of the group was going one by one down the stairs and looked at her shocked that she had jumped in with all of her equipment still on.
“Cathy!” Chris shouted out from the top deck. “What did I tell you about jumping in the water with the equipment? Is it all still secured? Please don’t do this again. We make these rules for your safety.” He appeared frustrated, but calm.
Cathy gave him a thumbs up and started swimming away as fast as she could underwater.
“What am I going to do with that girl?” Chris said exasperated.
“She’s a special one, that’s for sure,” Marc answered back, looking stressed out. “She’s so fearless. I don’t think I have ever seen a sign of fear on her face ever.”
“Well you sure know how to pick ‘em, Son.” Chris stated as he patted Marc on the back. “Have fun. Stay safe out there.” He walked away as Marc started going down the ladder.
As he was lowering his body in the water, he reflected on what Chris had said. Nobody had ever called him Son since his father had passed away. He didn’t know what to think about it. He wasn’t sure if he should be upset or uplifted that the name still existed. Marc also wondered about what Chris had said about Cathy. He made her sound like a piece of work. To Marc, she was everything that he had ever wanted. She was full of fearlessness, she had courage and she always spoke her mind. It was so difficult to find anyone who did that these days. The world was full of falseness and lies. He had finally found someone who was truthful and made him feel loved again. He wasn’t going to give that up.
“Boo!” She muffled through her mask as she popped out of the water behind him.
He put his hand to his heart, in shock. She was always popping out of nowhere scaring him to death. He was actually starting to get used to it for some reason. “Uhhh ummm uhhh,” he said as he tried speaking through his mask and tank, failing miserably.
“Hahaha, uhhh,” Cathy tried to laugh as she watched Marc try to formulate words through his equipment.
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sp; He smiled, although nobody could see since he had just descended underwater. He started to search through the misty seas for trash that would hurt sharks. All he saw was water and a lot of it. It was all so dark and misty he could barely see through his mask. He used his flippers to kick and swim lower to the ocean floor. He knew that the boat was parked in the middle of the ocean close to Marshall Beach, but he was surprised that he hadn’t come across any debris yet. He looked around as the group was searching as well. They had already picked up ten aluminum cans, one tire, a boot and tons of plastic bottles as well as debris. He saw the other divers diving down to pick up the trash as fast as they could and bringing it back to the boat to put it in the “trash net” as Chris had called it. The group moved fast, he thought. They must be used to working at a quick pace, since they cleaned up areas and then did scientific work with sharks.
He decided that this area was already clean and had more than enough help from the other divers of Shark Savors. Venturing away from the area, he realized what he was doing with dangerous. He knew it was safer to stay with the group and look for more debris along with them, but he was tired of swimming around in the same area and he did want to help save more sharks lives. He swam further away from the group, gaining distance closer to a rock.
He swam lower to see if there was any trash around the area. He saw something silver in the water. He swam further down to see what it was. It was so close, yet he couldn’t grab it. He pushed his flippers farther into the water, seeing that it was an aluminum can. He just had to grab it. It could hurt one of the sharks. Giving a large push with his arms, he swam as fast as he could, reaching out his left arm to grab it. He almost felt like Superman for a moment. Here he was in a scuba diving suit, diving into the cold ocean trying to save sharks from debris.
Reaching down further, he finally had the aluminum can in his hands. Even though it was just one can, he felt as if he had saved a shark’s life. As he grabbed it tighter, he felt success tingling through his bones. He never thought that trash pickup could be so beneficial. He picked up the speed as he neared the boat. He could see it coming closer and closer into his proximity. Once he had finally reached it, he put the can in the trash net. He saw Chris on the side of the boat, motioning for everyone to come back on board.
Shark Lover Page 7