Zombie Season in Wildwood part II

We walk back down to the car. I guess we have sweated out the breakfast grease, because I am hungry again. And I want to take a trip back in the past. Archived here (search the summer tags) are all my stories about the ‘beach house’ my sisters used to rent every summer, and how it was the highlight of my year. I wanted to go back to see the ‘house’. We park at the bottom of the street, and cross over. Finally, we get to it. Is it still standing? What will it look like? Has it even changed? We walk up and the first thing I notice is the driveway has been done over recently in pavers. So instead of half dead grass and 2 concrete strips that lead to the garage-cum-house, there are nice pavers. My eyes follow the pavers up to the house. Yes, it still stands! Part of my childhood still exists! Except…except..it looks…nicer. Hmm, this is a surprise.

I don’t quite see the dumpy garage anymore. It looks like there is newer siding. Definitely new windows. Damn, the place is kinda…kinda … classed up. The pavers now occupy what was a small patch of grass with a few ratty lawn chairs and a hammock. Now it’s all done over. I even try to look into the kitchen window to get a glimpse of what the inside may look like. To see this place spiffed up is a bit off setting. Hell, I shoulda seen if the key was still in its usual hiding place and gone in. If no one called the cops on me for walking into the backyard and staring into the windows, surely I could get away with a little breaking and entering. I don’t even think the zombies would have seen us.

With a little piece of my youth rearranged, it was time to reclaim another piece. Right down the street was the local pizza place. In my youth, we would go there and order all kinds of food. While waiting, I would blow a few quarters on whatever arcade game they had; I can’t remember. Either way, it’s another trip for me. We walk in, and, wow, has this place changed. I mean in what most normal people would call a good way, but I call it a bad way. While my recollection of this place is a bit fuzzy, I do know they have classed it up. Been remodeled, better tables, counter, etc. Sucky video games; Golden Tee 05 and Simpsons pinball-not the kind of games I would want to fins there. Has Karate Champ and Turbo been forgotten by everyone? We order slices, and they tell me they don’t start making pizzas before 4. Well, excuse me, this is a whole lot of piss in my childhood Cheerios. Still, it is a bit like vertigo knowing the 17 year old Kevie was running around the same building all those years ago.

We go home, lament how old and lame we are, and fucking nap. Christ, I feel old this time. We get it together to grab dinner at a local bar. Now we hit a bit of a snag. There’s youth wrestling matches going on at the Convention Center. So the place is mobbed with families. We manage to get a table, and wait. Wait for the waitress, wait for our drinks, wait to order, wait for our app, etc. Again, I’d rather wait at the shore than here, so it’s not that bad. Clearly, they have underestimated the crowd for tonight. And it’s not the cool kind of wrestling, either. I mean, how cool would it be to see little Brutus “The Barber” Beefcakes and Ultimate Warriors running around? But no, it’s the legit kind of wrestling. Boorrrinnngggg. We wrap it up, and head off to bed. Today was supposed to be the best weather, so who knows about tomorrow?

Well, whaddya know, we wake up to blue skies and sun. We traipse off to another bfast place. We got there just in time, as right after us, wrestling families started coming in. Portly dads (who look like the only thing they wrestle these days is the buffet line at the Sizzler) along with their hoodie wearing sons. We eat a healthy diet of brownie and chocolate chip pancakes and decide to walk them off on the boards. It’s now Friday, and there are more people on the boards, and a few more stores open. And by open, I mean literally opening their store for the first time all year. Shit’s still tarped over, the floor hasn’t been vacuumed, a nice show of Senior Week 08 shirts and Wildwood 08 sweatshirts being displayed. One place was actually taking down drywall while they were open. Ah, the smell of little effort. We come across another arcade that has NASCAR, and we again race the vaunted banks of Daytona. This time, it’s me that claims the checkers. Ha! Tied it up, bizotch.

This time we decide to walk further north, past the boardwalk. After the boardwalk is a trail for walkers and bikers. We follow this as we see a bunch of people walking their dogs. Goddamn, another twinge of guilt, as our poor boy is cooped up at home, surely torturing our parents who come over to take care of him. I am surprised I haven’t gotten a call from my mom telling me he ate something he shouldn’t have or ran away. We walk up to the northern tip of the island. There we see more dogs, frolicking. This appears to be the perfect place to bring Bauer for his first ever trip to the beach. Let’s get on that. The weather is far nicer than it should be, so we stay out for as long as we can. On the way back, we play our last round of NASCAR, and she beats me. I still say she tapped me out of the way, but she claims not. Ya know what, fuck it, this is my Klog. She cheated to win. (Tell you what, we’re gonna start playing NASCAR here, so get ready for the divorce.) But nap time does come calling. And, fuck it, it sure is nice to take a nap at 3 in the afternoon. Not that I do that these days…..

Fri night is our last night there-what I call Last Night on Earth-‘cause who knows when we will get back. So let’s paint the town red, let’s rip it a new one, rock and roll all night, go out and break some hearts.

We end up tracking down the closest pizza joint, and drinking a few rum & cokes off the second story of the condos. It’s quite nice, some cars go by, a gentle breeze blows over. It really was a great ending. But bittersweet at the same time. It is a tease to spend such a short amount of time at the beach. And it stings a little bit to not have a job for 2 fucking years, and be that much further behind ever getting a beach house of our own. But for the last few days, all was right with the world. We surely needed this type of time right now. We are better off for having this time. Whatever is wrong with me, damn if the ocean can’t seem to fix it-even if only for a little while. That night, I have trouble sleeping. Maybe it’s because reality is creeping back in. Maybe it’s because I know tomorrow we will have to go back home. Maybe it’s because the time went too fast. Maybe it’s because she’s hogging all the covers, again. I’m awake it 4 when the first rain starts to fall. I am awake when it really starts to rain at 5. Fuck, well at least it’s a perfect day to go home.

Saturday greets us in all its rainy grey. That walk to the car with all your stuff is never easy, especially in the rain. But it’s perfect weather to go home to; I hate going home when it’s nice. That’s just another tease. We head back, anxious to get back to Bauer. Anxious to share the beach with him.

And the best news is the zombies never got us.