Falmouth Academy Resonance 2020-21

The Wanderings of the Warwick Boys Circa July 1978

It was on one incredibly sunny July afternoon that Robert DeMasi decided not to do the dishes. It was against his better judgement, but his mother was at work and there were waves. He flew around the house getting ready to go, and in about five minutes was running down to the end of the driveway where his two friends sat in their red Chevy. Trying not to drop his surfboard, he skidded to a halt in front of the car. The nineteen-year-old in the front seat rolled down the window,

“About time,” he grumbled. Todd Lander was of average height and had short, dark blonde hair that blew around his face in the slight wind. He narrowed his eyes as if to say “come on, get going”.

Rob rolled his eyes and situated his gear in the hatchback trunk of the car next to his friend’s things. As he hopped into the backseat of the car, the other boy in the passenger seat turned his head around to look at him.

“What took ya so long?” Jimmy Izzy asked. If you had seen Jimmy and Rob together you would have thought they were brothers. Both had dark, curly hair and similar mannerisms.

“Nothin, let’s go,” Rob answered excitedly. He loved surfing.

Todd backed out of the driveway and the boys sped off towards Narragansett. Watching the roads and the houses race by, Rob’s stomach bubbled with anticipation,

“Are we there yet?” he asked impatiently.

“Does it look like we’re there?” Todd retorted.

Grunting, Rob returned to his post of staring out the window. He watched the houses as they passed and melted away as the car neared Narragansett Beach. As they came around the corner, Rob raised himself off the seat to look over the wall to the beach. It was windy, but there were waves. Waves crashing right on the shore, waves peeling off in the perfect spots, waves far out, waves. Todd drove the car under the arch and drove past Monahan’s Clam Shack and towards the first spot they were checking.

Pilgrim Avenue was a dead end street that led straight out to the waves. Todd pulled the car up to the end of the street and the three boys jumped out. Across the patch of the dirt, they came to the rocks that hugged the Rhode Island coast line like a barrier.

“Windy,” said Jimmy watching the waves.

Todd hummed in agreement.

Rob watched the current set carefully. His friends were right, it was a little windy. They stood for about ten minutes watching the waves in a comfortable silence. The waves here were always relaxed but it was wonky.

“Let’s check K,” said Todd, turning away from the breaking waves.

“But-,” Rob started

“Keep your shirt on we’re gonna surf,” Todd said, cutting him off.

“Ok,” Rob sighed.

They jumped back into the car and drove away to their next destination, K39.

K was worse than Pilgrim. And the Point Judith Lighthouse wasn’t much better than the first two spots.

Standing by the lighthouse looking out over the breaking waves in despair, the three boys looked to each other.

“Well we could always go skateboarding,” Jimmy stated. Todd and Rob glared at him.

“Arrgggg,” Rob kicked a large rock in frustration. And then he hissed in pain grabbing his foot.

“Weirdo,” Todd taunted.

Rob shot daggers at him. Which just made Jimmy join in, the two of them chuckling as they made their way back to the car, Rob hobbling along on his still throbbing foot.

For the next twenty minutes the boys drove aimlessly as if that would make waves appear. Venturing into an area of town they had never been to before, they looked around nervously.

“Todd what are we doing?” Rob doubted.

“Following a hunch,” Todd answered cryptically.

They drove along slowly, looking around at the neighborhood they were entering. The houses were 21