When I return to Palos Verdes in December, I knock on the familiar arched door, ask the couple if I can use the old trail to get down to the bay. They argue for a moment in hushed tones while I stand on the doorstep. The woman is afraid that I’ll ruin the newly planted ice plant, but the man says, “Jesus, Amy, don’t be so goddamned heartless.” Then he smiles apologetically, lets me walk through the backyard in the muted winter sun. The woman squints at my surfboard, watching carefully, making sure I don’t destroy the landscape. The little boy waves to me from the big bay window.
I pretend I don’t see him.
Just before sunset, the big winter waves reach their peak. I take my brother’s board, swim for a wave, ride it to the shore, and paddle out again. I kiss its nose once and then push it away as hard as I can, watching until an undertow smashes it against the breakwall. It flips high in the air and lands on its belly, shattering into mounds of resin and pale polyurethane foam.
I tread water for a while, waiting until Jim’s star comes out, so I can say one last good-bye from the bay. I’ll be surfing in Hawaii soon. After that, Bali, Java, Thailand. I have no itinerary, no plans to return.
I’m going to surf until I die.
As the sun sets, the brown-haired boy is still watching from the window. I wave at him slowly from the water, then give him the hang-loose sign. The boy waves back, excited. He keeps waving, even as I swim back to the shore. I give him the thumbs-up sign.
No one knows I’m crying.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES
“Compelling.”
—Seventeen
“Nicholson describes in scathing detail the treacheries behind the facade of upper-class Palos Verdes.… A compelling, realistic view of the underbelly of affluent California life.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“The triple truth is that The Tribes of Palos Verdes is a beautiful first novel.… We should all read this book and celebrate it.”
—Surfer Magazine
“An unexpectedly affectionate, moving treat.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The Tribes of Palos Verdes is an evocative account of what it’s like to be an adolescent outsider.”
—L. A. Weekly
“What distinguishes Tribes is its prose, as clean and efficient as the lines of a surfboard.… It will be interesting to see where Nicholson goes from here.”
—Westways
“The Tribes of Palos Verdes seems destined for a splashy breakthrough … elegant. Wide-eyed in tone and impressionistic in style.”
—Buzz Magazine
“Effortless, almost weightless prose … biting insight into family dynamics.”
—Contra Costa Times
“A raw, heartfelt story … brought to life with bold, unsparing particularity … This thing is for real.”
—Surfer’s Journal
“The Tribes of Palos Verdes is a compelling novel that anyone who was 15 can relate to.”
—Blast
“A searing chronicle of love between siblings. At turns lyrical and bitterly real.”
—Los Angeles Independent
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES. Copyright © 1997 by Joy Nicholson. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nicholson, Joy.
The tribes of Palos Verdes / Joy Nicholson. —1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-3121-9532-8
I. Title.
PS3564.I2774T7 1997
813' .54—dc21
97.12429
CIP
eISBN 9781466856066
First eBook edition: September 2013
The Tribes of Palos Verdes Page 17