Cut Back by Todd Strasser Page B

Booger were having a blast in the shoulder-high surf.
    â€œAmazing about Spazzy, huh?” Bean said when Kai got there.
    â€œYeah, the kid can actually surf,” Kai said.
    â€œThat’s not what I meant,” Bean said.
    Kai frowned.
    â€œDidn’t you notice?” Bean asked.
    â€œNotice what?”
    â€œThe second he started surfing, it all stopped. The twitching and shaking. All that nutty stuff just went away.”
    â€œYou think it was all an act?” Kai asked.
    â€œNo way, man,” Bean said. “That Tourette’s stuff is for real.”
    â€œThen I don’t get it,” Kai said.
    Bean shrugged. “I don’t get it either, dude. Guess it’s just the magic of surfing.”

Twenty-two
    L ater Kai said good-bye to his friends and carried his board and Spazzy’s wet suit and towel down the beach and through the dunes to the Driftwood Motel. It was time to change, shower, and grab some breakfast before reporting to work. But as Kai entered the backyard, he came upon a bizarre sight. Two men in blue jeans and black T-shirts with SUN HAVEN FD printed on them were using fire axes to chop Curtis’s old surfboards in half, then throwing the broken pieces into the back of a small dump truck. Meanwhile Curtis sat in a beach chair watching, with a bottle of JD in his lap.
    Kai’s first inclination was to shout at themen to stop, but the way Curtis just sat there watching gave him pause. What the hell was going on? He started toward Curtis. Before he got there, one of the firemen carried a board over to Curtis and let him inspect it. Now Kai noticed that lying on the ground behind Curtis was a small pile of boards that he had apparently decided were worth saving.
    Curtis gave the thumb’s down to the board the fireman showed him. The fireman laid it on the ground and swung the axe.
Crack!
The fiberglass broke in half with a sound like a gun shot. Kai grimaced at the thought of it. They were destroying surfboards. This was insane.
Thunk! Thunk!
Both halves of the board got tossed into the back of the truck.
    Kai reached the chair. Curtis looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. It was hard to tell whether they were red from drinking or from tears. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a new pink citation.
    â€œTown tells me these here surfboards are an environmental hazard,” Curtis said. “They were to burn up, all this hydrogen cyanide’ll get into the air. Know what they say hydrogen cyanide’s used for? Gas chambers, grom. That’s what they use to kill the killers who’ve killed.You ever look at a surfboard and think, ‘Death sentence’? Strange world we live in. Strange world.” Curtis swept his arm around the yard. “Think of it, grom, all these here surfboards catch on fire, I could turn this whole town into one big gas chamber. Know what the irony of it is? This here’s the death of Sun Haven. You’re seein’ it before your very eyes. These boards go. This motel goes. I go. And so goes the soul of this town. Suffocating under the weight of greed. Pretty soon there won’t be anyone left except the rich folks. Everyone else’ll have to move inland, where land is still cheap and the ocean is just a faraway distant dream.”
    Crack!
One of the firemen broke another board in two. The sound made Kai wince. “How could surfboards catch fire out here?”
    â€œYou never heard of lightning, grom? Stuff’s everywhere. Why I bet every year there are thousands of surfboard fires caused by lightning right here in Sun Haven alone. Don’t tell me you’ve never noticed all them charred surfboard remains lying around.”
    â€œWhat about all the surfboards in Sun Haven Surf?” Kai asked. “Wouldn’t they be a fire hazard too?”
    â€œNo way,” Curtis said. “That Buzzy’s a clever fella. He’s got hisself a sprinkler system.” Curtis reached