One person said, but at least we were lucky to meet you!
The beach was dotted with people escaping the stifling holiday atmosphere of their homes. My rental scooter was parked with the others just beyond the sand of the beach. We spent that afternoon playing soccer with some locals, flinging our shirts to the side and kicking sand around and laughing. We drank cheap vodka mixed into orange Fanta and bought grilled fish cakes from passing vendors. The winter waters were too cold for more than washing your feet, but the sun felt great and it quickly crisped my skin. When a Vietnamese man in a cowboy hat came by with a horse painted to look like a zebra, we drunkenly took photos with him.
I pulled out my camera and took one of my favorite pictures: the bare feet of two strangers with jeans rolled up to their calves, walking in stride on the wet sand, a texture like a heavenly jelly that reflected the image. It was one of those times of photographic serendipity that make you feel glad to have followed your instincts.
With nowhere else to go, we stayed on the beach until well after the sun went down, and we planned to drink until we eventually wobbled back to our hotel. The vibe was high. We got a little fire going. The group was concerned about Frank, and it felt good to be worried about. They got angry at the notion the seller wouldn’t honor his promise of a buy-back, it was clear he’d sold it in bad faith. I told them how he introduced himself by telling me about his Burger King tryst, and we laughed at his pathetic crassness, then felt terrible for his girlfriend.
The beach cleared out after dark, but I became aware there was a boy that had been sitting by himself for hours. His family was nowhere around. He looked at the horizon with an introspective gravitas I thought capable only by adults. Even with my vision blurred by vodka, I could see him sigh.
Hey, I said to the group member who spoke the best Vietnamese, that kid has been sitting by himself for hours, can you go see what his deal is? I sensed that he wanted some company, but we were too foreign and adult to approach.