In The Dreaming: Chapter Thirty Three "New Experiences" (Fantasy Y/A Novel)
-I wrote the following novel nearly two decades ago. In the years between then and now I've honed my craft, and my perception of this world; my thoughts and ideas; have changed dramatically. However, I still enjoy the premise and have decided to do an overhaul of revisions and rewrites, though likely not until sometime next year. (Though I'm sure I'll do a little as I post chapters)
For now I hope you will enjoy a glimpse into my book writing beginnings...
They are the closest of friends though they have never met in waking life.
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Prologue-PT1 Prologue-PT2 Chapter 1
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13
Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18 Chapter 19
Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22
Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25
Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28
Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty Three
Aliyah fell instantly in love with the ocean. This was nothing like the bay where they had gone crabbing. In fact, even though it had been dark, she had felt as if the ocean was just one enormous lake, and was a little disappointed by it. Now she realized she had no idea what she was thinking. This awesome panorama of crashing waves, beautiful white sand, sky as far as she could see, was straight out of a commercial for a paradise vacation. It was amazing.
No, the word amazing didn’t quite cover it, she wondered if there even was a word to do it justice.
She had stopped to stare at it for a moment when they came up the dune and onto the boardwalk but had been pulled along by the giggling Amy and didn’t get a chance to really admire it until they had found their spot on the sand. She helped set up the blankets, chairs, and umbrellas, the whole time stealing awestruck peeks at the mighty water. Finally the assembling was done and she was able to walk a few feet away and just take it all in. Amy seemed to realize that it was a big moment for her and stayed by her cousins teasing and joking.
After a few minutes her friend sidled up to her. “Pretty great, isn’t it?”
“Wow. That’s the understatement of the year. I mean, I’ve seen it on T.V. and I thought I knew what it looked like, but this…..”
“I know.”
“If I had lived here I am sure that leaving this behind would have been terrible.”
“Well, it’s like anything. If you’ve been around it all of your life, even if it’s amazing, some part of you takes it for granted. Besides, upstate has the same kind of awe inspiring scenery, gorges, waterfalls, and wooded areas everywhere you turn.”
Aliyah considered this. “I guess you’re right, if you have never seen those things... a waterfall would definitely be extraordinary to behold. But this is different because it’s not only absolutely beautiful it’s also so enormous that it appears to never end. I mean, we know most if not all of the aquatic life in rivers and streams and lakes, but in oceans? Looking at it I am certain that there is a whole universe in the sea. That just blows my mind.”
“Huh, I never thought about it that way, but now that you mention it that is incredible.”
“Has there ever been shark sightings here?”
Amy shook her head, “Not that I’m aware of. There have been over in Montalk, they even have great whites there, but no shark attacks. I think because people know not to stray past the sandbars.”
“The sandbars?”
“Yeah- you'll be walking out into the ocean getting deeper and then all of a sudden it gets real shallow again. To someone on shore it looks like you’re walking on the water. Well, right past that point is where the most variety of fish hang out, and where there is a variety of good prey-
“There’s a variety of good predators,” Aliyah finished.
“Yup. But not here, there’s too much turbulence with all of these breakers for it to be a prime fishing area, at least that‘s my theory.”
“Good to know. So now that I do, I am heading in. Race ya!”
They threw their top clothes off and sprinted down the sand, Aliyah felt like she was in a movie. All in all the whole weekend had been like part of a movie so far- first meeting Jack Aspen, Amy getting her man, the picture of her dreamscape, this beach, tonight’s rendezvous on a grand boat. Whew, she had always thought you could only pack in that much if it was a movie.
She hit the water and cried out, “Cold!”
“Don’t worry, you get used to it!”
“I’m not worried.” She watched Amy who was leaping over a small wave and followed her lead.
A big wave headed there way and she realized she had no idea what to do next.
“Don’t worry,” Amy said, “just dive right into it!”
She did and came up spluttering and laughing.
“When they’re about to break you dive into it, but if they aren’t then you just jump up and ride over it, like this-”Amy jumped over the next, slightly smaller wave and Aliyah jumped with her.
“See, piece of cake.”
They entertained themselves in the waves for awhile, then Aliyah noticed some kids who were standing closer to the shore. She watched while they let the breaker run right into them, then get tumbled, then stand up laughing trying to get their balance.
“Why don’t we do that?” she pointed them out to Amy.
Amy laughed. “Okay, but it can be a little scary. You’ll feel like you can’t get out of the water for a second, especially when another wave comes right behind it and knocks you back down.”
“That sounds like fun!”
“I should’ve known you’d think so, let’s go!”
They played in the breakers for about an hour until she was so exhausted she had to plop down in the sand and just lay there.
“You would never know that letting waves tumble you would be such a workout!”
Amy chuckled. “I know it.”
“Hey, I’m going to ask for one of those body board thingies for Christmas. Not a surfboard, I’m not that optimistic, but I think those body boards would be a blast.”
“Oh yeah, they are, but we call them boogie boards- we’ll both ask for one! So I guess this means you’ll want to tag along more often?” Amy raised her eyebrows smiling.
“Are you kidding me? Definitely! If your mom doesn’t mind.”
“After the awesome impression you’ve made here, I doubt it.”
Aliyah chewed her lip for a minute.
“What?”
“Yeah, I was thinking about tonight, maybe it isn’t such a good idea after all.”
“No, no don’t back out on me!”
“I know, it would be a blast, but what if we get caught? I can kiss my boogie board goodbye.”
“Don’t be silly. If for some crazy reason….Actually I have an idea. The only thing that would really make them angry is if they had to worry right? ‘Cause if they just catch us coming back inside or something, we can just say we couldn’t sleep so we took a walk around the block, no biggie. But if they discovered we were missing before we got back….
“That would be very bad.”
“Right, so I’ll tell my cousins.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
“Not at all, there’s no way they wouldn’t be cool about it, jeeze they’ve been sneaking out since they were eight years old probably. So I’ll tell them, that way if they do wake up and can’t find us, they’ll ask the boys, and the boys can tell them and then they’ll be mad yeah, but not that mad. Because they won’t be worried.” Amy finished with an imploring look.
“I don’t know…
“Oh come on Aliyah, I’ll take all of the blame, say I practically dragged you... No, I’ll tell them that I was so determined to go that I was going to go alone if you didn’t come.”
“Stop it, I would never let you take the fall like that, besides they wouldn’t buy it.”
“Like heck they wouldn’t, my mom knows how stubborn and headstrong I can be, she’s always looked at you like the grounded one who will help me keep my head out of the clouds.”
“Me?? You can not be serious!”
“I totally am, you with your gracious manners, straight A’s, so mature for your age-ness. She will definitely believe you were chaperoning me.”
“Uh yeah, not if I come back with alcohol on my breath she won’t.”
“Hmm. Right. Oh come on Aliyah seriously, the chances of us getting caught are like one in a bazillion! Have they ever once checked on us, even when we’re home at our house? We can bunch up some pillows in case they peek, and that is a one in a million chance too.”
Aliyah sighed, “Okay.”
“Yes!” Amy exclaimed hugging her so forcefully they both fell over into the sand.
“Yum, sand-wich,” Aliyah laughed brushing sand off her lips and face. “Well, what exactly are you going to tell your cousins?”
“Well, I’ll just tell them that there’s going to be a party on a boat with friends of mine and we’re going to sneak off to it.”
“You mean you’ll basically tell them the truth.”
“Yup.”
“And you don’t think that they’ll worry whether or not boys might take advantage of their sweet and innocent little cousin and her friend?”
“Not if I assure them otherwise.”
Aliyah thought about this for a little.
“Aliyah,” she complained, “You’re taking all the excitement out of it. You have to either say no way or commit. That way we can both look forward to it, or not.”
“I know, you’re right, what good is doing something like this if I’m just going to worry the whole time? I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say..
Aliyah held up her hand, “No, I’m seriously trying to think of the worst thing that could happen. We could go, have fun, get drunk-at the age of 13-then manage to get back to the house and find that every light is blaring. Go inside to find your mom gnawing off her fingernails. Than of course, oh yuck, this is a bad scenario!”
“Aliyah,” Amy pleaded.
“It’s easier for you, it’s your mom, I could face the music so much easier if it were my parents. They’d be mad, I’d be grounded, they’d get over it. But your mom will always think bad of me from this day forth.”
“Oh really? Would your parents always think bad of me if the situation was reversed? I mean yeah, if we had just met or been friends for a fairly short time, but you and I are practically family now. My mom will be no more upset with you than your parents would be with me. In addition my cousins will go to bat for us saying that kids do stupid things, blah blah blah, that it doesn’t mean we’re bad just going through puberty-don’t roll your eyes, believe it or not hormones are a valid excuse for erratic behavior. Besides no one will find out. That is the worst case scenario and the least likely. We can watch each other, make sure neither of us goes too overboard and does anything really stupid. Or you don’t have to drink if that’s the real issue here, you can just make sure I don’t go too overboard. Come on Ali.”
“Okay! This is my final okay. We’re doing this.” She was telling herself this more than Amy. “We’re doing this, and if I think it’s best I will not drink.” That made her feel better actually, she realized she didn’t have to drink at all and wondered why she assumed that it was a non-negotiable part of the plan.
“Really? You’re sure now?”
“Yes. Actually, if I had to be honest, part of me is wondering if we’ll run into Mr. Aspen again.”
“Aliyah, he is much too old for you!”
“Not like that, don’t be ridiculous, of course he is! I just wondered if I would find out if he had made any decisions about his life.”
Amy shook her head. “Well now that that’s settled, why don’t we go grab one of those sandwiches Aunt Jane made?”
“Good idea, I am starving!”
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