"At Seventeen": an ending

The sun was making the sand sparkle and the wind was making the reeds on the dunes rustle and bow like a churning sea. The tyre tracks had been meandering through the dunes most of the day and the youth had followed them, lazily spinning the steering wheel as the road turned and unfurled in front of him. The wind and the cry of seagulls as they wheeled overhead and the crashing of waves followed him as he drove, creating a cocoon of contempt amongst the metallic rattling sounds of his beaten car.

When the sun became a blazing disc in the sky and the world filled with the sound of crickets a flash of metal caught his eye in the dunes. Flicking on his indicator the youth pulled over by the side of the girl’s car. As he snapped the handbrake into place he took a fleeting glance at the girls car and noticed the rust spots and the dents and the clean windshield and the lovingly applied decor to the inside of the cab and he smiled to himself, his inside voice gently nudging his hand to the handle of the door. In a series of well practiced moves the youth unloading his bike and tent from the back of his van before he turned to the sun and followed the single track towards the thrumming heartbeat of the ocean.

The girl had set her freshly waxed red board outside her tent and he parked his bike at a respectable distance from it in the dunes. The girl watched him approach silently. Her face appeared soft in the light radiating from the depths of the cold ocean but her expression was neutral, only her grey eyes shimmered as they reflected the rolling waves.

“The surf will be good tomorrow.” She said with a wave of her hand as he approached. He nodded in agreement, letting his long hair blow over his face and looked her in the eye. He could see the ocean in her eyes and that was all he needed to know. Standing before her he held out his hand. The warmth of her grip reminded him of the cool embrace of the ocean and he felt, as they shook hands in front of the lapping sea the board wax on their hands which united them.