The Beach of the Beast

The Beach of the Beast

It was their first time alone. When Dave and Andrea met, and when they went on their first two dates, there were friends there with them. They didn’t really resent the presence of their friends. They just wanted to be together, the two of them, alone. And now it was truly happening. They joked that they would run into Betty and Charles at the secluded beach which was the goal of the walk that they were taking. It said a lot that both of them found that idea funny. They already had shared jokes unknown to any other.

They had made no specific plans other than ‘going to the beach’. Both had brought bathing suits and towels, without telling the other. They were both a little surprised, but still pleased in their separate but shared decision.

Hand in hand they walked together through the sandy soil of the lightly wooded park that separated the road from the ocean. They were facing west, so they could see the sun start to set over the water.

Dave was a bit of a tease. He had two younger sisters who, according to them had tortured them with teasing during their childhood/ So he looked into Andrea’s eyes and asked her, “Aren’t you even a little scared that we are going to the Beach of the Beast at night?” She laughed along with him. Andrea had an older brother.

“Well, I have you to protect me if we are attacked then, Dave.” There was a brief pause before she asked him, “How did this beach come to have that name? It can’t be good for tourism.” They sat down on a log on the edge of the beach, and he told the story that he had grown up with. Andrea had come to live in the town when she was in her late teens, so knew few of the local stories. The first time Dave had met her, it was at a local legion dance just a few weeks ago, when he went with his friend Charles. He was captivated when he saw blond Andrea with Charles’ girlfriend Betty He asked her to dance right after being introduced to her. It was a slow dance, to a song they both loved. That gave a boost to their beginnings as a couple.

Dave Tells The Story

“Well, one night a few decades ago, an old man came to the beach to sleep off all the alcohol he had consumed at the bar by the beach. He was too drunk to want to make the trip back to him home, where he lived alone. He said that has he sat on the sand a little beyond the waters and huge creature made its way out of the water. It looked to him like some kind of giant walrus. According to the drunken old man, the creature approached him aggressively, so he got up and stumbled away as fast as he could off of the beach and to his home. The next day his story got told and retold. He never went to the beach bar ever again. He did his drinking at home. When the tourism folks got the idea to name the beaches to help with tourism, the Beach of the Beast came easily to them.”

After the Story

“Well it’s good we haven’t been drinking them,” said Andrea, her smiling eyes catching the fading light of the sunset.”

           They were speechless after the telling of the story, but it wasn’t really awkward. It was like a silent celebration of their being together alone. Soon Dave turned to face her, and they kissed. It was only their third kiss to date. It lasted much longer than the first two had. Neither wanted it to end.

           Then, Dave with his right arm, and Andrea with her left, held each other. Looking into the newly dark waters ahead, and listening to the calming sound of the waves. Both thought at the same time that it had been a good decision to come here, whatever happened next. This really felt like the beginning of something important.

Up Comes the Beast.

What they did not yet see was that they were being approached by something dark and big, and menacing.  It had come out of the water about 200 yards to the north of them, so they did not know that it had emerged out of the waters. As a carnivorous creature it had a very well-developed sense of smell. And the wind was coming from their direction. So it turned towards them and pulled itself in their direction, unseen and unheard by the couple then falling in love.

Dave suggested that they walk along the beach, so they could find the public washrooms/change rooms that were somewhere south of them. Although he loved the thought of them both undressing and dressing in the woods, he did not want to suggest it at this point in their relationship. What he didn’t know was that she had the same combination of thoughts too.

So they walked along the beach, stopping breathlessly briefly for kisses, four, five and six. With each kiss, the creature drew nearer and nearer. They still had not detected it. Their senses and minds were somewhere else, somewhere closer to hand and lips.

Finally, they got to the washrooms/changerooms. They were locked, but Dave, being a local boy, knew how to climb through an open window and unlock the main door from the inside. In a short while, they were in their bathing suits and ready to go into the water.

The monster had made it to the changerooms a little before they were changed. But it encountered a problem. There was the smell of so many humans in there that it could not identify the smells of the two that it was pursuing. Once it made its way past the changerooms, it could no longer detect their smell. So it stopped, wondering what it should do next. At that point in time, the couple walked slowly, silently from the changerooms entering the water like they walking down the aisle. They wer, still unaware of their stalker By the time the monster turned around, something it did not do either quickly or well on land, the couple were out into the deep water, unseen and undetected by man or beast. It headed back to the place where it had come up on land, unhappy with its hunt.

By the time the happy couple had come back to land, and had changed into their dry clothes, it was seeking other more accessible game in the water, feeling that land hunting was not very fruitful. He had tried it before, years ago, and had failed