“He has earplugs in that’s why,” She said pointing at the black cord that was running down his body. “Don’t worry I got this one.” She pulled out the plugs and looked directly at him. “Hey, have you seen this guy?” She asked snatching the phone away from her sister to show the surfer the picture.
“No, I’ve never seen that guy in my life. Sorry.” He put his plugs back in and started waxing his board once again.
“Carly, this isn’t working! We’re never going to find Marc like this. These guys don’t know him or they have never seen him and I just feel like we are wasting valuable time.” Cathy sighed putting her hands over her face as tears started to roll down her cheeks. She hadn’t realized how emotional she was getting from all of this. Constantly searching for Marc was taking a toll on her.
“Cathy, we only asked two guys. Plus it’s still really early in the morning. We might have better luck later on in the day, who knows. We can’t give up yet. There’s some more surfers further down the beach. Let’s just go ask them. Even if we aren’t finding out specific information about his disappearance, we are at least finding out that he probably wasn’t on this beach this early in the morning a few days ago. So that’s something positive to think about. Now let’s go. I’m not going to let you give up.” Carly marched down the beach as Cathy followed along. She was determined to help her sister and she wouldn’t stop trying until they found a clue that led them to Marc.
* * *
The morning had passed on to the afternoon and they still hadn’t received any information that would help them find Marc. Cathy and Carly had asked over fifty surfers. Not one of them had said that they had seen Marc. Cathy was starting to get down on herself. She didn’t like failing. Failing wasn’t her realm. She was used to being successful and always getting what she wanted. Feeling hopeless, she didn’t know where to turn. She thought that they would have had some type of clue by now. Carly was still walking at a brisk pace full of energy. She was determined and Cathy appreciated her help, but she was feeling downhearted.
“Carly, this isn’t going anywhere. Just like I told you a few hours ago. None of these guys know Marc or know where he went. I think it’s time to try another location,” She said wiping a band of sweat from her forehead. “I’m just not sure where we can try next. Do you have any ideas?”
“We’re not giving up on this beach yet. There’s still some more groups of surfers. Someone might know something. It would be a complete waste of time if we missed out on good information just because the first few guys didn’t know anything.”
“Come on Carly, you and I both know that this isn’t going anywhere. Plus we’ve asked over fifty or sixty guys. I think we would have found some information by now if they had it,” She said as she blew out a long and extended breath. “I mean doesn’t this beach make you feel down?”
“I get your point, but let’s just ask this last group. Then we will go somewhere else. And no it doesn’t make me feel down. It’s just a beach, Cathy. You and I used to go here all of the time back when you were in high school. Why would I feel down about it?”
“Daddy! Help us build a sandcastle!” She pulled her father up from his chair and brought him to where she and Carly were.
“Girls, Daddy is tired. Can you play together for a while?” He asked as he stood up shakily.
“No Daddy, you are the only one who knows how to build the princess castle. We don’t know how. Plus Carly is just a baby. She can’t help me that much.” Cathy took her shovel and pail to start building.
“Alright, but only for a few minutes. Daddy isn’t feeling so good.” He sat down again in the sand as his breathing started gradually getting louder.
“Daddy, you never feel good. Did you ever go to a doctor? The doctor always fixes my boo-boos. Maybe he can fix you too.” She looked at her father. Even though she was a young girl, she could tell that something was not right with him. He wasn’t acting like himself. She didn’t know what was wrong with him and it scared her. Her father’s eyes had lost their light and he had lost the pep in his step. Something was wrong.
“Cat, I’m fine. I promise I am fine. I don’t need to go to the doctor. If something was wrong I think I would know.” He put Carly on his lap as he started to help Cathy build sandcastles. “Now let’s build the princess castle. Are you going to put Princess Jasmine in it?” He said pointing to her figurine.
“But Daddy, something is wrong and you’re not telling me. I thought you said honesty was the best policy. You should tell me what’s wrong, is it something with Mommy and you? Is that why you keep fighting? Every night when I go to bed I hear you both fighting. I can’t hear what you say, but it doesn’t sound good.”
“Cat, just drop it please. Your mother and I are fine. I love your mother very much and I love you girls very much. No matter what happens I love all of you. Now let’s build this princess castle. I want to see a smile on that little face of yours.”
“But Daddy! I’m just worried. I want to know what’s going on!” She cried.
“Now, no buts or ands. You have to believe that everything is fine. You have to trust me.” He took her in his lap with Carly. “Now do you know the meaning behind a sandcastle Cathy?”
“No Daddy. What does it mean?” She squinted in the sun, still unhappy that her father would not tell her what was going on. She figured that he was trying to protect her, but she didn’t need protection. She needed the truth.
“Cat, a sandcastle asks you to be more creative with your approach to life.”
She got off of his lap and looked at him directly in the face. “Daddy what does that even mean? I don’t understand.”
“It means that you try new things and you learn more about yourself than you did before. When you are creative, it helps your imagination grow.”
“Is that what you do Daddy?”
“What do I do?”
“Try new things to learn more about yourself.”
“Yes, that’s part of the reason, but there’s more to it.” He paused as his blue eyes focused on the ocean in front of him. He looked as if he was in another world. Another time and place. “I want to make the most of my life. I want to make every minute count. You never know how long you are going to live and I want to make sure I get to do everything I want to do before I die.”
“You’re not going to die anytime soon though right, Daddy?” She asked her eyes full of fear.
“No, of course not. You don’t have to worry about that right now. All you have to worry about is helping me build this princess sandcastle.” He explained in a calm voice and she almost believed that everything was alright.
“Okay Daddy. Sounds good.” She replied nonchalantly.
“You’re thinking about Daddy aren’t you?” Carly asked her sister curiously.
“Of course. This was the beach. The beach he always took us both to. How could I not think of him? Everything reminds me of him. Especially here. I was just thinking of princess sandcastles.”
“Oh I remember those! It’s been years since I built one of those. I would ask you to build one with me now, but I know we need to find Marc first,” she said. “I know what you mean about Daddy too. Everything reminds me of him too. It’s not just this beach either, just everything in life makes me miss him.”
“Me too,” Cathy said feeling gloomy. Just at that instant, her phone suddenly rang. “Hmmm I wonder who that is.” She dug into her back pants pocket and took out her phone. Officer Sanchez’s number popped up across the screen. “Oh it’s the Officer. Maybe he has more information.”
“Hurry. Answer it!” She cried. “It’s probably important!”
“Hello Officer Sanchez?” She asked. Her hands were still shaking from the shudder of the unexpected call.
“Yes, Ms. Montanan. It’s me again. We have gathered more information about the disappearance of Marc Porter.”
“Oh, can you tell me? Can I help out with the search? Did you find him yet?” She kept chattering on a
nd on nervously.
“One question at a time. So we have finally been able to get ahold of the towing company. They have stated that the car was found illegally parked near Stinson Beach. We believe that was where Marc Porter was last seen. We have been searching the area for a few hours now, without any luck yet. We will continue to search the area and surrounding areas throughout the day and let you know if we find anything that leads us to Mr. Porter.” He explained mundanely with a professional tone.
“Thank you for letting us know Officer. Is it alright if we head to Stinson Beach as well to help the search? We’re at Ocean Beach right now, we didn’t find anything either.”
“Who’s we?” He asked questionably.
“It’s my sister and I. We’ve already searched the university and now Ocean Beach. We haven’t really found anything either. We would love to help search Stinson Beach, if we would be allowed to.”
“That’s fine. You and your sister can help assist with the search. We often welcome volunteers with missing people’s cases. All the help we can get is often beneficial. Alright we will see you here later.”
“Thanks for letting us know Officer. We really appreciate the new information. We probably would have wasted our entire day in the wrong locations if you hadn’t called us.” Cathy explained with sympathy as she started to lead Carly off the beach.
“No problem. You’re welcome. Have a nice day.” Officer Sanchez hung up quickly.
“To Stinson Beach we go. I wonder what Marc was doing there?” Carly wondered out loud to her sister. “That’s a huge surfing beach. Why else would he go there? Unless he wanted to surf again.”
“Hmmmm, yeah that beach is mostly for surfers,” Cathy said with thought. “I just don’t think he would have wanted to surf again. He didn’t seem too thrilled to try surfing again. The last time I talked to him, he had admitted that his father had died surfing. I told him he should try surfing again, but I don’t think he would have taken my advice that seriously. Do you?”
“How did his father die?” She replied as they walked off the beach and headed to Cathy’s jeep. “And why in the world would you tell him to surf again Cathy? Don’t you know that Stinson Beach is one of the most dangerous beaches in the world? Shark attacks are always happening there, I don’t know why you would have suggested that he go surf there. Not everyone is as daring as you are.” She paused giving her sister a look that said she was being an idiot. “Oh and did I say daring? I meant to say stupid. I can’t believe you, Cathy. This is completely crazy!” She said throwing her arms up in the air.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on Carly. Slow down, you are having a panic attack. That’s not even what happened,” She said trying to calm her sister down. “His father died from a shark attack a long time ago. The beach was closed at the time since sharks were in the water. His father still went in the water, even though he knew that sharks were there. Marc tried to save him, but he was too late.”
“His father sounds a lot like you. No wonder Marc likes you so much.” She looked at her sister with big eyes. “But anyways, that’s really sad. I feel bad that he had to go through that. Poor Marc. But still you shouldn’t have suggested that he surf again. If anything happened to him, wouldn’t it be your fault?” She said as she opened the passenger door to the jeep.
“That’s not the reason he likes me. We just get along. We have good chemistry. However all of this isn’t important right now. Finding Marc is the most important thing that we can do right now. It wouldn’t be my fault if he decided to surf. I mean sure I would feel pretty guilty, but all I did was merely suggest that he surfed again. You should have seen his face, Carly.” Her face took on a dreamy effect as she remembered. “He just looked so empty, like something was missing from his life. I told him that surfing again would make his father proud. I could tell that he missed both surfing and his father. So I figured why live life completely empty and broken? He could at least have one of the things that he loved back.” She sighed as she started driving towards Stinson Beach.
“I don’t know Cathy. I just don’t know. I worry about you. Do you know that? I know that you had good intentions, but it could be made out to look very bad for you. I just don’t want you to get in trouble again. I don’t know if I will be able to get you out of it this time. This problem is kind of bigger than both of us. Sometimes I just wish you would think from your head and not your heart.”
“It can’t be all my fault though. I just suggested that he surf again, I didn’t force him into the water. I never would have told him to get in the water at Stinson Beach. If he was going to take up surfing again, I wish he would have discussed this with me. I would have told him not to pick Stinson Beach and to pick another beach. I really don’t think it’s my fault though. I would never want to hurt him. He is the love of my life. I only have good intentions and I just want the best for him.”
“I know you do, Cathy. It’s just I...I…I…” She stammered trying to get the words out.
“Spit it out Carly. I know you worry about me, but you don’t have to. I know what I can and can’t do. I know what I can handle. You don’t have to spend your whole life worrying about me. Mom already worries enough about me for the both of you. Just don’t worry so much. Life is life. What is meant to happen will happen.”
“How can you be so nonchalant?” She asked refraining from looking at Cathy. “This is all more serious than you are making it sound. I was just going to say that you remind me of Daddy. I was always worried for him. All the time. Even when I was young, I was constantly worrying about him. He would never take things seriously and he wouldn’t tell us when something was seriously wrong. Now you’re doing the same thing, Cathy. I can’t go through that again. It’s just all too painful.” She said as tears ran down her face.
“Carly, don’t cry. Everything is going to be alright. We’re just under a lot of stress right now, but don’t worry. We will figure all of this out. I promise I will be okay. I’m not fully like Daddy. I’m not going to put you through years of nerve-wracking pain. I’ll promise you that much,” She said with a caring tone in her voice. “Let’s just take a few moments to relax and enjoy this drive. I think we are both stressed out and overthinking things. Just relax and take a few deep breaths. I promise everything will be alright.”
Driving through the hills and the trees, Cathy couldn’t think of anything but Marc. She already missed him. He had only been missing a few days, but it felt as if a part of her had died. She didn’t know what to feel or think. As she drove, she tried to analyze the facts that they had so far. The last location Marc probably was spotted was Stinson Beach. On Stinson Beach Valley, there wasn’t much to do except surfing. Based on their last conversation, Cathy figured that Marc would never even think about surfing anytime soon. She tried to recall the conversation in her mind, but came up with nothing. The thoughts flew out of her mind as quickly as they had come. Her nerves were putting her on the edge and she didn’t know what to do or think about anymore. She was losing it and even her sister could tell.
“Don’t think so much Cathy. It’s not doing any good. I know I said all of that stuff before, but it’s not your fault if he did go surfing. You can’t blame yourself. I can see you doing it in your head right now.”
“No, I’m not doing that. I’m trying to remember the last conversation I had with him. If I could remember, it might be helpful to the case somehow. I just want him to be found alive. Anyways we’re here. Let’s go get out and search the beach. There’s not much here and I don’t know who we could even ask, but let’s just give it a shot.”
They got out of the jeep and headed towards the beach. Cathy could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She wasn’t ready to find out more information. She was still having trouble grasping what had already happened. It was already too much to handle, she didn’t know how much more she could take before she went completely crazy. Her sister was looking at her with a concerned expression again and Cathy tried to reassure her
by patting her arm. She felt bad that she was making Carly worry. She didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t her intention. She needed to calm down.
After walking a few miles they had finally made it to the beach. Cathy could feel herself getting restless. She wanted answers. She wanted to find Marc. Through the wind, she could sense that Marc had been here. Feeling it in her bones and throughout her body, she felt alive again. He had been here. The optimistic part of her hoped that he was still here somewhere. Maybe he had just wanted a vacation from San Francisco. The city could get tiring after a while and he might have just needed a break. He could have rented out one of the weekend vacation cabins. She thought about it some more. The idea sounded right to her.
“Carly, do you think he would have rented out one of these cabins? I mean it would make sense. He’s a graduate student who’s also working part-time, so why wouldn’t he have wanted a break? It makes perfect sense. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. I mean wouldn’t he have told someone that he was going? His mom has been worried about him for days, I don’t think he would have left her hanging like that. And also why isn’t he answering his phone? It’s been off for days. I don’t think he would have done that intentionally. Something happened on this beach, we just need to find out what it was.” Carly stated letting her inner detective take over.
“Well, maybe he didn’t want to tell anyone. He could have just wanted a relaxing weekend to himself and that may be why his phone is turned off. It’s kind of hard to relax when technology is always near and people keep bugging you. It doesn’t mean that something bad happened. Sure something might have happened, but I still think he’s alive. I feel it.”
Shark Lover Page 17