I met these two California surfers, Kimo and Wally that used to hang out at the house all the time. They were telling me about Mexico and how it was uncrowded and the waves were perfect. I wanted to go and I had the gas money. We made an arrangement for them to pick me up at four am the next day which was Saturday, I had the day off.
I didn’t tell any of the older guys what I was doing, I woke up real early and waited outside. I fell asleep on the porch and some of the guys woke me up on the way out.
“What are you doing out here?” Johnny said.
“Nothing. Must have fell asleep.”
“Let’s go surf.” Johnny took off down the beach. I was disappointed that Wally and Kimo didn’t show up. I walked down to the beach with my board and when I got there I saw Wally and Kimo sitting watching the waves.
“Why didn’t you guys pick me up?” I asked them not too happy.
“Over slept homeboy. Happens.”
“Is it too late to go?”
“Never too late. You still wanna go?”
“Hell yeah. Pick me up at my house, I’m gonna grab some money.” I ran back to my house and grabbed about forty bucks. Wally pulled up and I jumped in the truck and we took off. Kimo had a cigar box full of weed and we smoked like fiends all the way to the border. Wally pulled off on the exit just before the crossing.
“Gimme that.” Wally took the cigar box of weed. “That too.” I took one last drag and handed him the joint. He took it and jumped out of the truck and stashed the box in a pile of garbage.
“What did you do that for?”
I asked him. He jumped in the car and we peeled out of there.
“They frown on that sort of shit down there. It will be there when we get back, don’t worry Tiger.”
We crossed the border and drove for a while. We pulled up to a beach with no one at it and perfect four foot peaks peeling along for a quarter mile in both directions. I learned later this spot was called A frames.
I had one of the best sessions of my life that day. Certainly the best one I had ever had up till that point. I stood in tube after tube and got barreled all day.
We got out of the water beat tired and drove into town happy. We ate some tacos and got back on the road to go home. Wally saw a stand and stopped the truck.
“What’s here?”
“Fireworks.” Wally and Kimo jumped out of the truck and went inside. The store had all kinds of Fireworks. Some looked like little sticks of dynamite, some looked like big sticks.
“Look at this.” Kimo was holding two big bottles of tequila. “Look inside.”
I looked in the bottle real close and saw a worm at the bottom.
“What’s that?”
“That’s the worm homeboy. You eat that and you get real fucked up. You see visions and shit.”
“He aint lying,” Wally walked up with all the fireworks he bought, enough to blow up a Toyota.
“Let’s get out of here.” Kimo and Wally walked out with their goods. They moved some blankets and towels around and stashed the Tequila and Fireworks under the surfboards and stuff.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“We can’t just take this stuff across the border. They don’t like that shit. For one you aint even old enough to drink.
“What if they catch us?” I was starting to get a little worried.
“They won’t catch us. Just don’t say a word.”
We got back in the truck and took off. When we were waiting in line to cross the border I was thinking how bad this will be if I get in trouble again. The car in front of us moved and we pulled up to the border patrol officer. He leaned in the window and looked at us real close.
“What are you boys bringing back from Mexico today?”
“Just some good memories of some tasty waves and a sunburn.” Wally said with a smile.
The officer looked at three sunburnt kids in the truck, then looked at the boards in the back, then looked back at us and smiled.
“Have a good day fellas.”
“Yes sir. Will do.”
We pulled out of there and started laughing. I immediately thought that I just completed a smuggling venture. I was excited more than ever with this thought. We pulled off the exit and Kimo jumped out and grabbed the cigar box. It was right where we left it. We smoked like kings al the way back to Encinitas.
We turned on our block and I saw Johnny and Louie on the corner talking. We pulled up to them.
“Have you seen…” Johnny stopped his sentence as soon as he saw me.
“Where have you been?” Johnny asked me. We got out of the truck.
“Mexico. Got tubed all day.” I said.
“We thought you drowned. We’ve been combing the beach looking for you.” Johnny said.
“You’re a dead man.” Louie said as they both starting chasing me all around the truck. They weren’t as mad as they were relieved I wasn’t dead. We were laughing as they tackled me.
We went up to the house and had a barbeque. Some girls came over, typical beach life style. I didn’t stay up cause I was so tired.
I woke up to Johnny and Louie standing over me.
“Come on get up.” Johnny said as he ripped my blankest off me.
“What are you doing? What time is it?” I asked him.
“Get up.” Louie said. “We gotta go.”
“Where we going?’ I asked rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
“Mexico.”
19
Time just went by. Miami was so far removed from me I barely thought about it at all. I was making my way in the world. I had a place and a job and I was learning that the rent comes every month like clockwork. Being on my own taught me responsibility.
I had been living in California for almost five months. I hadn’t called home even one time. I rode my bicycle from my house in Cardiff by the sea, I had moved twice, to the big house my friends were renting in Encinitas. Then we were all going to pile into the truck and go to a big party in Solana Beach.
I got to the house and all my friends were waiting. We smoked a few joints then we all went outside to leave. As were getting into the truck , a rental car pulled up quick, the door flew open and the light inside the car came on. I could see the hand inside putting the car in park, it was my dad’s Rolex that he had been wearing his whole life. My eyes went wide.
“It’s my father.” I said. Everyone ran back into the house. My dad came running up trying to grab me but the truck was between us.
“I’m not going back.” I said. “If you make me I will just run away again.”
“I don’t know what to say.” He was a little shaken. “Where are you going?”
“To a party a few towns over.”
“Can I come?”
“Are you gonna make a scene? Try to take me back? Beat up my friends?” I looked at the house all my friends were looking out the kitchen window.
“No.” We stood there for a moment just staring at each other. I can only imagine how hard this was for him. It was not easy for me.
“You can follow us.” I wasn’t sure if I got in his car if he wouldn’t just keep driving and try to take me back. He got in his car and everyone came out of the house and piled in the truck. There was about six of us in the bed of the truck. We picked up a couple of girls along the way, who also piled in the back with a bunch of blankets. My dad stayed real close to the truck the whole way there.
We got to the party at a big house in Solana Beach. There were about four hundred kids there. Cars were parked up and down the blocks for miles.
We went inside and there was a band playing in the living room and the dance floor was full. The floor itself was going up and down ten inches in both directions. My dad was amazed.
“Looks like fun.” My dad said.
“It is. Here being a kid is EVERYTHING.”
“I see that. Does this happen often? Parties like this?”
“Only every weekend.” I said with a smile. I had relaxed. I could see h
e wasn’t going to try anything funny. I think he just wanted to see that I was ok.
The next day he met me at the beach and watched me go surfing. When I got out of the water he was waiting.
“ I would have never found you.”
“You did find me.”
“I was walking up and down the beach for days with binoculars. I looked at every surfer. Once the wet suit is on you all look the same.” He took out his phone and dialed a number, then handed me the phone.
“Tell your mother you are ok. She is worried about you.” I took the phone and listened to it ring.
“Hello.”
“Hi Mom.”
“David? David how are you? I have been worried sick.”
“I know mom, I’m sorry. I had to go, it was time.” She was silent for a moment.
“I understand. How long will you be gone?”
“I’m not sure. I’m ok mom. I have a place and a job. I’m going to be fine.”
“Am I ever going to see you again?” She started to cry.
“Don’t cry mom, I will come see you in a couple of months. I love you.”
“I love you my son.” She hung up. I know this was very hard but this is what happens. Children grow up and move out. I just think she didn’t think it would happen so fast. I gave the phone back to my father. He took it and reached into his pocket. He took out his wallet and gave me all the money in it, about three hundred dollars.
“You don’t have to give me that I am fine dad.”
“I see that. You are growing up. Take the money, you might need it.” He looked me in the eye. He was way intense.
“You are on your own. Take care of yourself. I handled those charges, you won’t hear about them again, juvenile anyway. Stay out of trouble, stay in touch and let us know how you’re doing. Your mother and I love you very much.” He gave me a hug, shook my hand, turned and walked to his car and left. It was a little sad but exciting at the same time. I was really on my own.
20
I heard a loud knock on my door then it flew open.
“GET UP. We’re gonna be late.” Louie said. “If we are late one more time they are gonna fire us. You for sure.” I jumped out of bed and threw on my work clothes, grabbed my tool belt and ran out of the house. I jumped in the car and Louie handed me a joint. I took it and he peeled out of the driveway.
I was on my third room for rent in eight months since I had been away. It seemed to be the pattern. Stay a month or two, then get a story about how someone is coming home from vacation or they are remodeling or some horse shit but I always had to move. There were a lot of transient kids in this area.
We go to the construction site and Johnny was already on the roof working, he gave us the finger.
“LOUIE.” The foreman called out from the office. Louie ran inside, the foreman glared at me. I picked up a broom and started sweeping right away. That was my job, cleaning up construction sites. Seemed like a good job when I took it. Paid the bills, but now it was starting to seem like if I don’t make something happen I would end up doing this for years. I had been virtually broke since I got here, moving around all the time was taking its toll on me. I had it going on when I was in Miami. I wasn’t surfing all the time, which is what I loved to do. But I was learning valuable lessons in life. Like surfing is not paying my bills. As much as I love it, I knew I had to figure out a way to find a balance.
Louie came out of the office and I knew I got canned.
“You don’t even got to say it.” I said.
“Sorry kid. See ya later.” He handed me two days pay and and I split.
I got home and went in my room and lit up a joint and looked at my stuff. I didn’t have much, a surfboard, a skateboard, a backpack full of clothes and an army jacket. I thought about how I don’t want to go back home, not yet anyway, and I felt like I had to do as much as I could to stay around here.
I had a friend that had also moved to California from Miami named Pauly, about my age that had been living in Thousand Oaks California for about a year. Pauly had a job delivering fruit and vegetables with his own truck. He didn’t surf or anything, he was just one of the kids from the neighborhood that got high. Pauly had a cousin named Josh and they were always together. And they were always getting high.
I figured I would hitch hike up the coast. Hitch hiking was pretty safe back then, this was the mid seventies. A lot of things weren’t even invented yet, or at least blasted across the front page. Serial Killers, crack, gangs, guns in school, there was none of that, it was a different time. There was no social disease the doctor couldn’t take care of with a shot of penicillin. Weed was pretty scarce and when you got it, it was Colombian or Panamanian, qua-aludes were big, coke was just coming out of the closet. People had no idea. All they knew was it felt good at the time, then they would wake up in the morning and ask. ”Where’s the TV?”
“You don’t remember? You gave it to the man for that last gram.”
“Oh.”
I started packing up all my stuff. It was still early in the day so I figured I could hitch hike up to Pauly’s place in Thousand Oaks in just a few hours. I knew it was somewhere between here and LA. I had Pauly’s address from Josh, who was up North of San Francisco. At least I would have all day to get there. And embarking on a new adventure always excited me. I always love adventuring into the unknown, anything can happen, and usually does. Better than sitting at home I always thought.
I wrote those guys a note let them know I was splitting and skateboarded to I-5 which is the highway which ran up and down the coast. I had never hitchhiked on I-5 before, but I was unafraid, I never worried about anything.
I stood there for about an hour before I got my first ride.
“Where you headed?” The guy asked me.
“Thousand Oaks.”
“Throw your backpack in the back and get in, I’m going that way.”
I jumped in and we drove for about an hour without saying anything. He seemed harmless enough. He was an older guy in a beat up old Impala. He had this big radio on the front seat and a whole bunch of construction stuff on the back seat. . He had a pretty big ghetto blaster between us on the seat. He kept changing the dial, adjusting the volume. Then he started with a bunch of stupid questions.
“You got a girlfriend?”
“No.”
“You like girls?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“I don’t know. Just don’t.”
He reached over and started messing with the dial again. I knew something was up.
“You like getting your dick sucked?” He asked me as he put his hand on my leg. I grabbed the wheel with my left hand and started punching him in the face with my right. I pulled the wheel hard to the right while he was holding onto it with both hands. His nose started bleeding but I kept hitting him as the car cut across all the lanes to the side. Other cars where hitting their brakes to avoid hitting us. He slammed on the brakes and I jumped out with my skateboard. He took off with my backpack still in the car. I threw some rocks at his car as it pulled away but he didn’t stop. Fucking freak, that was one of my first incidences with a real idiot.
At least I had my skateboard, no clothes though, that asshole took my backpack. I rode my skateboard up to the next off ramp. I was about an hour away from Thousand Oaks I figured. I got off and called Pauly, who quickly came and picked me up in his fruit delivery truck. There was a whole network of kids from Miami that had moved out West. They all wanted to find the guy and kill him. It’s in our Miami blood.
21
Pauly pulled up happy to see me. I jumped in and we took off. He handed me a joint.
“Where’s all your stuff?”
“You don’t want to know. Some freak on the highway, gave me a ride then had some other ideas.” I took a big hit and handed the joint back to Pauly.
“For real?”
“Yeah, I bashed his face up pretty good though.”
&
nbsp; “I got some clothes for you. You’re almost about my size.” Pauly said.
We drove along for about twenty minutes.
“We’re almost there. Marcus is pretty fucked up. I’m just warning you, he gets a little intense.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean they were doing pretty good when they first got here, moving about a key of blow a week. Having it driven out from Miami, then hiring drivers to do everything, deliveries and pickups basically carry it the whole way. He never even had to touch it all. He just made the connections and now he sat back and collected.”
“So what’s the problem?” I took the joint back all the time thinking, ‘why can’t I get a break like that?’
“Everything was fine until he figured out how to cook that shit. Now he sits around smoking free base cocaine all day long. The kitchen is like a lab and he is smoking his profits as fast as he makes it.”
“Wow.”
“Tell me about it. I rented a room in his condo, I get up at like three in the morning to be at the market at four and this guy is up all night partying. I gotta find another place to live.”
We pulled up to Marcus’s condo and got out. I could smell the coke as soon as we got out of the truck. I knew I didn’t want to stay here long. We walked in and Marcus was happy to see me.
“David. Great to see you.” Marcus said with the pipe in his hand. He was sitting in front of a table with a pile of coke on it and all kinds of bottles and petri dishes and shit.
“Good to see you Marcus. Thanks for letting me crash.”
“First month is free while you get on your feet. Least I can do for a homeboy. Wanna hit?”
Marcus handed me the glass pipe and Pauly looked at me cross eyed. “I’m going to bed, I gotta get up early. You working with me or what?” Pauly said a little pissed off.
“Yes I am.” I said.
“Then don’t party all night. You’re going to work either way so get some sleep.” Pauly slammed the door as he went to bed.
“Don’t mind him, he’s just pissed he smoked up every bit of savings he had and has to go back to delivering fruit. I did the delivering gig for a while, till I got this rolling, now it rolls itself.” Marcus held up this little torch and lit the pipe.
Becoming A Son Page 8