Spray

Girls Don't Surf!

By: Michael Uva

Narrated by: Rhiannon Angell

A broken-hearted Tennessee tomboy and her sisters are forced to relocate to the underprivileged side of El Segundo Beach, California, after their mother dies. Her recovery somehow rides on a worn, hole-ridden, broken-down, balsa-wood surfboard.

©2014 Michael G. Uva (P)2015 Michael G. Uva

Best GIRL surfer in 1960!

A destitute Oklahoma man moves his five young girls to California after losing his wife, then his job, in the late fifties. Fated to live in the poorer side of town, the beach area of Southern California; the youngest tomboy daughter becomes infatuated with the new sport of surfing. The precious ten-year-old obtains a worthless, beat up, redwood surfboard with a half-broken fin and a small hole through its rail, causing it to spray a stream of water as it is propelled by the wave. Several young teenage boys dominate the only area she could learn to surf in. Every morning, before the crack of dawn, before the other surfers arrived at their spot, she would practice. To disguise her-self and fit in, she had her oldest sister cut her long brown hair into a boy’s flattop, complete with the side of her head shaved close. One early morning, an early arriving local surfer catches her out there in his area. He yells at the lone surfer to leave his area when she arrives at the shoreline. She stands up to the taller, older boy; who immediately punchers her in the nose and throws her heavy surfboard at the rocks. The very next morning, when the same boy and a few pals arrive, she is riding the waves again. They beat her up badly and break the already damaged fin the rest of the way off. Two days pass. On the morning of the third day, when the boys show up to their spot, the young girl, eyes still swollen, is already out there surfing.

The group of boys is ready to pounce again on her when she arrives at the shoreline. She puts up her small fist. The boy who threw the first punch decides that this little guy has got a set of stones on him and allows him to join the group, against the objection of one of the other surfers. One night, years later, at a grunion running campfire on the beach, the girl now thirteen, sits alone with her protector surfing pal. Realizing he’s alone with his little pal, he confesses he does not understand why he likes him so much. He explains, he thinks he maybe gay, but only for him. Looking away, he apologies for feeling that way. She leans in and kisses him on the cheek. He punches her in the nose…again.