Chapter 21: Waves

FOUR WEEKS LATER I had an order from the court vacating my sentence. Vacating the sentence means it never happened, there was never a judgment. I was free of parole requirements or any other sanction relating to the original conviction, according to the letter I received from Mr. Robinson.

My parents decided we needed a vacation. Partly to celebrate the court’s decision, and partly to get out of town and let things settle down a bit. We went down the coast to our favorite resort near Ojai. It was a splurge for sure. The B&B place we found was small, quiet, and with private gardens and a super hot tub, all less than an hour from the nearest swimming beach.

We made an excursion to the ocean the day after we arrived, Mom, Dad, Nicole and me. We had plenty of gear. Windbreak stuff for the wind, if there was one, big towels, sunblock, plenty of water and a cooler with good stuff in it. It was early summer by then, which meant temperatures were perfect for laying out on the beach. The water was pretty cold, for sure, but not impossible.

Nicole and I hit the surf as soon as we’d helped Mom and Dad set things up. Nicole grabbed my hand.

“Help me, Christopher, will you?”

I looked at her. This was my little sister, who might have been small in stature but who wasn’t really that little, an athlete, a star swimmer herself, asking for help?

“Are you serious?” I smiled so she’d know I wasn’t mad at her.

“Yeah. The waves. I need a little hand. It’s been so long.”

Hand-in-hand we hit the surf.

“Remember how to go under, Nicole?”

She nodded.

“OK, let’s try it.”

I dived under the next big roller. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nicole chicken out at the last minute. She shoved off the bottom in an effort to ride over it and got herself swept off her feet and tumbled around instead. She washed up on the beach a couple of seconds later.

My little sister, not afraid of anything, began to cry.

“Nicole!” I waved. “Wait! I’m coming out.”

She nodded. I hugged her, wet both of us, but warm in the sun. I stroked her back gently, almost the way I’d pet a cat.

“Sweetie, it’s OK, really.”

She shook her head and wiped her eyes with her knuckles.

“It’s not OK, Christopher. I can do this, I don’t know what happened. All of a sudden I chickened out.”

“Want to try again?”

“Yeah! But stay right beside me, OK?”

To myself I wondered how we’d do that if we were both underwater, but I didn’t say anything.

“No problem.”

She did better on the next one. In fact, we hit it perfectly and surfaced on the ocean side as the wave passed over us. Nicole had a smile as wide as her face. We treaded water until the wave receded enough for us to touch the bottom. I moved over to her and she reached out for another hug.

Part of me, pervert that I am, was very conscious I was holding an almost-naked girl in my arms. Didn’t matter that she was my sister. She was firm and warm, even if she had goose pimples at the moment, and quite nice to hold. Before I could stop myself I kissed her and laughed.

“You did it, Nicole!”

She kissed me back. “Yeah!”

We did a few more waves, repeating our kisses and hugs after each one. They lasted a little longer each time until I decided to quit while I was ahead. Ellie frowned when I told her I was getting out.

“Chicken.”

She didn’t mean the waves.

“Chicken, chicken, Christopher is a chicken,” she sang, rounding it off with a raspberry.

I turned and before she could stop me I grabbed her, one hand in her crotch, the other on her back, and heaved her into slightly deeper water. I turned and headed to the sand, leaving her sputtering behind me.

“That wasn’t very nice, Christopher,” Mom said.

“She deserved it, Mom. She called me a chicken.”

My parents looked at each other. I think they figured we were nuts. Or still kids.