I'm impressed and amazed at the imaginations of many authors here—able to write from multiple perspectives, inventing complex scenarios, developing characters through multiple chapters of evolving stories.
I am not one of those authors. My background is in science, specifically biology. I deal with questions, observations, data, hypotheses, analysis. I rarely read works of fiction, and I find the idea of writing one myself nearly impossible to even contemplate.
The following story is an account of actual events, slightly altered to preserve the anonymity of participants and for purposes of continuity.
*
The California coast is beautiful and varied, from wide sugar-sand beaches to rocky cliffs, desert-like dunes to the mouths of rushing rivers. The flora and fauna in the narrow zone at the ecotone of land and sea have long captivated me. I have walked nearly every accessible mile of the California coast, in some areas many times over. My wife, Lydia, shared my appreciation of the coast in some ways. When we married, it was only natural that our honeymoon consisted of a three-week driving trip from one end of California to the other, mostly along the coast, with only a few detours inland to visit friends or to purchase provisions.
It was late September, and the throngs of tourists with their obscenely large motorhomes, travel trailers and condominium-size tents were gone. Everything we needed fit easily into the back seat of our VW Beetle. Our trajectory had led us to a state park on the central coast, near the small farming town of Guadelupe in San Luis Obispo County. We had stayed in a local motel the preceding night, since there was no camping at Oso Flaco (skinny bear) Lake State Park.
As I've mentioned, both Lydia and I enjoyed the coast, but the ways in which we each enjoyed it differed markedly. I could spend hours walking along the shore, scaling the cliffs and meandering around the estuaries, mentally cataloging the plants and animals. If I wasn't walking, I was either surfing or fishing from shore. If I am a walker, my wife would be considered a sitter. She could happily spend the day in her beach chair, nose buried in a book—interspersed with occasional naps, stretched out on our beach blanket.
I should point out that my wife (at the time) was strikingly beautiful; tall (5'9") slender, long blond hair, with a perky ass, just right, ample tits and a killer smile. She attracted attention from the men wherever she went, nowhere more than when walking along the beach in her skimpy bikini. I was no slouch myself at six feet, 170lbs and virtually fat-free. We were both still in college, her preparing for medical school and I was looking to make a career out of my love for biology and the outdoors. At the time, we were both in our 28
th
year.
This particular morning, we made our way to the beach via the raised boardwalk that skirts the lake. We wandered south along the empty beach for a ways and laid out our blanket and chairs, tucking our small cooler into the shade behind a driftwood stump. Although it was 10:30 in the morning, we decided to break into the bottle of sparkling wine (Schramsberg blanc de noirs) that we'd brought along, a wedding gift. We enjoyed it with an excellent brie on crackers and fresh strawberries from a farm stand we'd passed on the way to the beach.
It's funny how alcohol early in the day can affect you differently. I was slightly, but pleasantly buzzed by the bubbles combined with the clean salt air. I decided to lie down for a bit to enjoy that buzz as did my wife. Just being close got me excited. Lying on my side facing here, I reached over and laid my arm across her slim torso, my hand cupping her bikini-clad, ample left breast. She complained that I would leave an outline on her well-tanned body and casually flipped my arm off. My hardening cock had been making a divot in the sand under the blanket, but soon softened with her mild rejection. I mentioned to her that there was absolutely no on else on the beach, and in return I got a simple "unh uh," and she rolled onto her stomach. I lay there for a while, slightly frustrated, but enjoying the gentle breeze and the sounds of the surf.
However, my "walker" nature soon had me up and headed along the beach. I gave her a kiss, put on a shirt, adjusted myself in my cutoff jeans and began walking toward the dunes in the north, water bottle and bird book in my shoulder bag, binoculars around my neck, over my blue chambray shirt.
I found plenty to interest me as I walked along the deserted beach. There were harbor seals hauled out on the beach barking in conversation with each other. I saw snowy plover (an endangered seabird species) parents, enticing their fledgling young to leave their beach nests and head out to sea with them, dangling small fish in their bills as enticements. Dolphins came in close to shore. Turkey vultures teetered in their unsteady flight, seeking the updrafts and seeming to hate the idea of having to flap their wings. A V-formation of brown pelicans came by, barely a foot off the water. Gulls laughed overhead. Sandpipers drilled into the sand following the waterline as it advanced and receded.