Even though it was only 9:30 a.m., the Miami Beach stretch around the patrol headquarters was beginning to get crowded. The Fourth of July holidays were behind them but some of the crowd still lingered, trying to squeeze out those last hours.
Dane Skoglund and Wayne Johnson were holding down the fort as Sherrie and Hugo ran the first morning patrol up and down the beach. It was a beautiful Wednesday morning. Dane could see several sixteen-foot Hobie Cats sailing southward, both flying hulls, trying to impress everyone watching from the beach no doubt with their sailing prowess. He watched as they screamed past, pushed by the morning ocean breezes, standing out with their brightly colored sails contrasting against the aqua waters. A blue and white Prindle 18 and a pair of Nacra racing catamarans followed the two Hobies. This was why he loved Miami Beach. Frankly, it beat the devil out of murky, rainy Seattle.
Dane loved his catamaran, an older Prindle 18 that he bought off of someone who put tons of cash into it, sailed it twice and decided it was not big enough. The guy wanted a bigger sailboat. This seemed to happen a lot down here. There was so much money floating around even in these hard economic times. Generally people were hurting due to the housing implosion but those that had cash spent it lavishly. His loss was Dane’s gain. Dane loved to spend his downtime on his Prindle sailing up and down the beach. Hugo loved it too. With both Dane and Hugo being single, Hugo used the sailboat as a tool for trolling for the beautiful ladies on the beach. And 99 percent of the time it worked. They would sail down the beach and watch for the girls waving at them. They would turn the boat to the beach and offer rides. Nearly all of the girls took them up on the offer. They got more dates that way.
“Another quiet day in paradise,” Dane said quietly. “Wish I was out there.”
“What was that?” asked Wayne, walking into the room from the outside balcony.
“Oh, nothing, just wishing I were on one of those cats out there. How are things looking outside?”
“Same-o, same-o,” Wayne replied. “Oh, by the way, I invested some money in gold yesterday.”
“Ahh, so you went through with it, huh?”
“Yeah. My dad doesn’t think it’s such a great idea but this friend I know is in the business. His father is a big-time gold dealer and investor. He gave me a good deal. You should look into it as well, Dane.”
“Not me,” Dane replied. “I’m doing fine with those mutual funds you suggested last year. You remember those?”
“Sure. That is a great investment, but you need to diversify. That’s the name of the game these days. With the stock and bond markets doing flip-flops and the world’s economy turning to crap, gold is the one investment that does not lose its value.”
“Whoa, J.C. Godrocks, you sound like one of those gold salesmen all over the TV and radio these days.”
“Yeah, they do sound a bit like a used car salesman. No, seriously, gold is a great investment and should be a small part of your portfolio,” explained Wayne. “Everything I read and study bears this out, especially these days. You can buy gold bullion but most people buy gold shares or gold coins, you know, Krugerrands or Gold Eagles. I have several Krugerrands and I plan to buy more.”
“Well, maybe so,” said Dane, listening but thinking about the daily report he still had to get out by 10:00 a.m.
“If you want, I can hook you up with my buddy, Nathan Nader. His father can handle small investors like us that are friends of the family. And they are right here in Miami.”
“But I’m no friend of the family,” countered Dane. “I don’t even know this guy.”
“I can take care of that!” Wayne said getting excited. “Let me hook you up with my buddy Nathan and he can handle the investments.”
“We’ll see,” said Dane. “How much are we talking about? I might be interested in a small amount but it will be small; maybe just a thousand bucks at the most.”
“Not a problem. I’ll call Nathan and see what we can do.”
“Oh, have you checked the attendance today? Sherrie said someone called in sick, but I didn’t get a name,” said Dane.
“Yeah; that was the guy up at Collins Park. Ahh, I believe his name is Jacobs, yeah, Steve Jacobs. He’s one of our first-year guys. He’s been pretty dependable and does a great job. Good kid.”
“Okay,” said Dane. He walked over to the window. One of the perks of this job was the view was spectacular. Miami Beach meant a lot of nice looking ladies, white sand beaches and aqua blue water. Dane thought Miami Beach was heaven.
Wayne saw Sherrie and Hugo drive up in the Beach Patrol pickup.
“They’re back… ” Wayne sang like a little child.
Dane laughed and shook his head, smiling. What a great group of folks he worked with, he thought. He had worked with Wayne and Sherrie for nearly five years. Both Wayne and Sherrie had started together as lifeguards right out of college. Neither had wanted a nine-to-five desk job so they signed up with the Miami Beach Patrol. After five years, they had both worked their way up to supervisors.
Being a Beach Patrol lifeguard was a calling in a way. Most folks fresh out of college wanted the big bucks, to make a big splash in the business world. Wayne had always loved the beach and was a lifelong resident of Miami. Doing this was a natural progression. He always said he had no urge to be in the real world.
Sherrie, on the other hand, had studied law in college but became disillusioned with the law profession after her brother was killed by a Miami drug lord seven years ago. The subsequent trial was a farce in her eyes and the perpetrators got off scot-free. The whole situation turned her against the law profession. Her second love, the ocean, took over and here she was.
The door flew open and Sherrie and Hugo entered in the middle of a conversation.
“Ah, bull,” said Hugo, “No way.”
“I swear that was what he said,” Sherrie retorted. “I couldn’t believe it either.”
“Good morning, everyone. How’s the beach today?” Dane asked, trying to get their minds back on work.
“Morning!” said Sherrie in her best bubbly voice.
“Hey, boss,” a typical reply from Hugo.
“How are things going out there?”
Sherrie responded, “Beautiful. No problems at any towers. The crowds seem to be thinning. I guess the weekend is finally over for the hard chargers. The folks out there seem to be handling themselves well, although it is still early in the morning for most of them. What’s up on the home front?”
“Not much. Wayne is trying to sell me on the gold market,” answered Dane. “Other than that all’s quiet.”
“Gold again, Wayne?” asked Hugo. “Watch out, Dane. He was trying to sell me on it the other day.”
“Speaking of gold, did you hear about that guy getting killed last night? It’s all over the news this morning,” added Sherrie. “That’s all we heard on the radio while we were checking out the beaches. Someone cut the poor guy’s head off.”
“Cut his head off?” asked Dane. “Good God! How did that happen?”
Hugo chimed in, “Evidently he was walking somewhere downtown and someone jumped him, took his briefcase and valuables and literally cut off his head right there on the spot.“
“Holy crap, who did he piss off?” asked Wayne, walking over to hear more. “It must have been some drug cartel. Now, those guys can get real brutal. I’ll bet we will find out that this dude was buying drugs with gold and someone decided to do somebody wrong.”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to run into ‘em,” said Hugo. “They sound like bad folks. It had to be some sort of drug type thing if I had to guess.”
“One would think that but this guy was a gold dealer here in Miami. Those folks usually don’t get tied up with the drug guys,” said Sherrie, fixing a cup of coffee. “Anybody want some coffee, Dane?”