Janine's final faux pas

Monday 3 August 2009

This morning Jessy and I were on the beach, just having a nice long walk as a kind of farewell to the whole place, you know. I had on my blue-and-white-and-grey-print swimsuit, which is kind of new, and Jessy had the deep purple/maroon-coloured one, a beautifully rich colour that really looks good on her figure and suntan. We walked up about three jetties and turned round to come back. The place was utterly crowded, people everywhere, skimboarding, boogie-boarding, rafting, swimming, diving, running, jumping, and always the squealing, giggling, laughing, shrieking that makes a public beach at a popular resort town what it really is. You don't go here to be alone, and you don't go here to be anonymous.

We were almost back to the house and had begun thinking about turning up into the softer sand when we noticed a man standing directly ahead of us, turned towards the water but with his head turned to stare straight at us. I guess it is not unusual to expect that some middle-aged guy would stare at two chicks in bikinis at the beach. I mean really-- it happens all the time, you know, and I know I don't have to be an absolute goddess to get this kind of attention. It just happens. It's what Daddy calls 'sexual discrimination'-- that a member of one sex can discriminate between the sexes and recognise a member of the other sex. It'd be a pretty barren world if he didn't!

So this guy was staring straight at us like he recognised us, and not just as a pair of female bodies, you know. I was on Jessy's right, closer to the house, and right before I started to step up into the soft sand the guy put out his hand, waving to us. I hesitated-- I wouldn't be rude, you know. Was this some friend of Daddy's who knew us?

'Hello!' he called, when we were about five yards away. At that point there was no escaping this. We slowed down and had almost stopped and the guy turned to us and said, 'It's really you, then, isn't it?'

'What?' we both said together.

He smiled at us, me especially. 'Janine, right?'

I went red. How would he know--?

'And you must be Jessy. I see what you meant, Janine. She is beautiful. But you're no less-- in spite of whatever you say. You don't disappoint, that's for sure.'

And he was checking me out then-- head to toe and back again. I frowned. 'I'm sorry--'

Then he made this frighteningly smug smile. 'Janine, it's R---.' And he gave his name. He's one of the guys I have been chatting with on AOL.

I suppose this was inevitable. I mean, I put enough information out there that anyone could find me if he just thought about it hard enough. It's because I'm not really hiding. But neither do I expect to be stalked, you know.

'I was by the ice-cream parlour. The other day... they said you weren't scheduled.'

I nodded. 'I'm not.'

'I was hoping to see you in your Colonial costume.'

'Oh,' I said. 'Well, I'm.... We're going home. Today.'

'Ohhh. And I thought we could spend some time, get to know each other at last.'

I swallowed. No, I thought. There are guys I chat with online whom I like a lot-- this was not one of them. In fact this guy is someone I tend to avoid... now I presume I shall have to block him.

'I was standing here, trying to pick out which is your house,' he said, and he turned round and looked up at the houses along the dune line, four to a block. 'I have it narrowed down to... that one, that one, and that one down there. They're three storeys.'

Two of the ones he picked were ours and the one we own next to it, to rent out. I felt terrible. Have I really got so sloppy after all? The one blessing from God was that we were leaving this afternoon. 'Well, R---, I really need to be going-- we have a long ride coming up--'

'So you're going back to Virginia? Is it far? I think you said four hours.'

Great. Will he follow us? Jessy turned and took my hand then. 'Janine,' she said softly, 'let's go.'

I nodded, allowing her to step between R--- and me, tugging me up the beach. 'I'm sorry,' I said. 'We're really pressed for time--'

'But you can have a walk on the beach, then?' he said, and then turned and took a few steps after us.

I realised though that he was watching some small children and couldn't easily just leave. That was lucky. 'I'm sorry, R---. Some other time maybe.'

He would still talk at me as I walked away. 'Really, after all this time.... I just kind of thought that--'

But we were gone then. Jessy still held my hand-- in fact now she squeezed it. 'Is he still behind us?' I worried.

'I don't know,' she said, closing her teeth together. 'And I don't care.'

I nodded. 'I'm sorry.' I glanced over my shoulder. The guy was still standing there, staring up the beach at us. Jessy was heading straight for our house. That's all I would need. 'He's still there,' I said.

She clenched my hand more tightly. 'Explanation?'

That was not a request-- it was a demand. 'I'm sorry,' I said. 'It's the blog. I just say things, you know. No one's ever got that close--'

'That guy has probably been here all summer waiting to recognise you,' she said. 'He'll know the house now, see your car, everything.'

'We'll we're going to Virginia in about three hours!'

'You'd better not give out that address too.'

'I don't!'

'And pictures?'

I squeezed her hand then. 'Jessy! I have never sent out my picture! You have more people stalking you on FaceBook than I have on AOL!.'

She shrugged. 'Well, that's FaceBook. It's private.'

'Not so private when you let friends of friends of friends be friends.'

She made a wry face. When we were over the dune we ran for the kitchen door, had quick showers in the garage, and ran up stairs to the third floor, where we crouched in the low attic that is Lisa's and J.J.'s room and peered out the little window. Sure enough, we made him out-- he was there, only not looking up at the house. 'We're not going to be able to show our faces round here ever again,' I said.

'We're going to England. And you're going to block him, and then delete all the posts that identify this place.'

'Yes, Jessy.'

I wonder if that means this one now!

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