“Exactly. We can do the Home Break Challenge!” John shouted out. When no one reacted, he said, “Guys, really? You haven’t been watching the Instagram Home Break Challenge?”
They all returned blank stares.
He hopped off the board and pulled out his phone. “Where’ve you been? You’ve got to see this.” After a minute of punching his phone, he held it out.
Linnea and Gordon hovered close, and Cooper leaned over his shoulder.
“It’s this challenge set up for stay-at-home surfers for the pandemic. People everywhere are making these rad videos of themselves pretending to surf.”
“Oh, that one’s hysterical,” Cooper said beside John’s ear as he drew closer for a look.
“Personal space, man,” John said.
“Sorry, dude,” Cooper said, backing off.
John handed Cooper the phone while Gordon and Pandora pulled out their own phones and started to watch. John caught Linnea’s eye and they smiled, seeing everyone laughing into their phones.
“Okay, here’s my idea,” John said to the group. “I’m thinking we do the challenge. Lowcountry style.”
“On a joggling board!” called out Cooper.
“Bingo.”
“Cool.” Anna was really into the idea. “We need supplies to create the scene.”
“Look around,” Linnea said. “We’re surrounded by supplies.”
“We have the perfect backdrop,” John said, pointing to the mural.
The beat kicked up as everyone got into the idea. John and Cooper carried the sixteen-foot-long joggling board to set in front of the section of Miranda’s murals that displayed a shark with surreal gold teeth.
“Reminds me of a shark I ran into off the coast of Australia,” Gordon said.
“Oh yeah, Lin told me you were part of Surfrider International,” said John.
Cooper nodded with appreciation. “That’s cool.”
“We need to come up with a plan,” John said. “I was thinking we create a scene like we’re surfing on the ocean, right?”
Linnea watched everyone laughing as they pulled out art supplies from Miranda’s boxes and chests—paint, brushes, glitter stars, stencils, buttons and bows, and anything one could imagine. It felt to her like decorating a parade float. They each had ideas, shouting out “What if we try…” or “Hey, I’ve got an idea.”
Linnea took a moment to stand back and watch the magic unfolding. They’d gone from sitting around moping to this spontaneous combustion of creativity. Perhaps one of the most beautiful surprises coming out of the pandemic was how a lot of creative people were finding new and unique ways to use their energies and imagination.
They took a break for a feast of spaghetti, garlic bread, and lots of chianti, after which Emmi chased them from doing the dishes. “You’ve done enough for me today,” she declared. “Go off and play, children,” she called out playfully.
They ran off to grab their wet suits for the video, before congregating again a little later in the barn. The sun had set, and John had turned on the barn lights.
Linnea and Anna walked back from the beach house across the driveway. Anna almost skipped, she was so excited. “This is so fun,” she said. “John’s such a creative guy.”
Linnea felt duty-bound to defend Gordon. “Gordon worked on a lot of the design too.”
“Oh, sure, no contest here,” Anna said in her blithe fashion. “It’s just, well, it was John’s idea to begin with. If it wasn’t for him, we’d probably all still be lying around the living room. Oh, wow,” she exclaimed with awe as they approached the barn.
Linnea was caught up in the moment of wonder. The night was balmy and the barn looked surreal all lit up and with all the glorious murals turning the area into an underwater wonderland. John had found some stand-up photographer lights and set them up near the joggling board, along with table lamps connected to outlets with extension lines.
“The place looks amazing,” Linnea said to John.
“I couldn’t have done it without my sidekick,” John said, pointing to Cooper.
“Good job,” Gordon called out as he walked down the stairs from the loft. “It looks like a TV studio.”
“I’m ready for my close-up,” called out Pandora as she stepped into the barn and removed her robe.
All talking stopped. Everyone else, men and women alike, was clad in a black wet suit. Pandora was wearing a skimpy Balmain black elastic bikini that showed off her curves.
“Uh, we’re supposed to be wearing wet suits,” Anna deadpanned.
“My wet suit is in my storage at the house,” Pandora said, lifting her palms. “At least I found a black swim suit.”
“I was watching the videos,” Gordon said, “and I saw this one that created a set of waves using fabric.” He showed them the video. Two people shook them to make it look like waves. “I thought we might give it a try.”
“Great idea, Gordon,” said Pandora. She went to the pile of fabrics. “How about this?” she exclaimed, pulling out a bolt of brilliant-blue fabric. “And there’s white too. Lin, give me a hand.”
Linnea groaned inwardly at seeing her beautiful fabric pulled out of the boxes, but went along. Pandora unfolded the material and found there was more than enough to stretch out the two colors along the length of the joggling board.
“We have to lift it up and down, like waves,” Pandora called out. Linnea took the other side and they demonstrated.
Pandora’s breasts jiggled enticingly with her effort. “How’s it look?” she called out, panting with the effort.
The men stared.
“Looks fantastic,” Gordon deadpanned.
“Yeah,” echoed Cooper and John.
The fabric fell to the ground. “It’s a good workout for my arms,” Pandora said, a bit breathless.
Cooper put a Bluetooth speaker on a box and punched his phone; a moment later the song “Wipe Out” blared out.
“The Surfaris!” John called out, and high-fived with him.
“Okay girls,” Cooper called out. “Three, two, one, action!”
“Let’s do this!” John hopped on the joggling board and, spreading out his arms, bounced on the board, giving a good imitation of being on a surfboard.
Cooper was filming, grinning. “Lookin’ good!”
The others cheered him on.
“Linnea!” John called out. “Remember the time we did the tandem longboard?”
She smiled, remembering the long summer they’d spent surfing together, falling in love.
“Get up here, girl!” John reached out.
Feeling Gordon’s eyes on her, she reluctantly joined him at the joggling board. Taking her hand, John pulled her up, and after a brief totter on the narrow board, she got her balance. John stood behind her, grasping her hips. Then they began to bounce up and down, joggling. Linnea felt the rise and fall, and even with her arms out, she could barely keep her balance. It was a bit like surfing. It was, in fact, the most fun she’d had in ages.
Below them, Pandora and Anna were lifting the blue and white fabric like two girls twirling a rope. Linnea couldn’t stop grinning and joined the whooping and shouting while Cooper filmed the video.