As the alarm clock blared bright-and-early friday morning, Cecil began glancing around the cramped little hotel room. The sunlight peeked through the glass door leading to the sandy beach outside, illuminating the entire room. Cheap folding beach chairs laid scattered throughout the room. There also happened to be a large pile of playing cards encompassing the center of the floor from the poker game the night before. After shaking off some of his initial dreariness, Cecil remembered that this was meant to be an exciting day. His uncle Abner promised that this would be the day that he took Cecil to his first surfing lesson. Immediately after remembering, Cecil called out to his uncle Abner, “Unc, It’s time to go! Get your lazy butt in gear, we’ve got a big day ahead of us!” No response. He calls out again, to no avail, then begins scanning the room yet again. Just as Cecil begins to give up on the notion that his uncle is actually in the room, he sees a mysterious lump within the curtains that wasn’t there before. He quickly dashes toward the curtain and pulls it away, only to see his old uncle abner quivering in fear with his hand over his mouth. “What are you doing, Unc?” asks Cecil with a kind of semi-sarcastic curiosity. “Well, I, um, thought I would, um, test out your hide and seek abilities. You passed with flying colors,” Abner muttered somewhat sadly. Cecil then proceeded to grab his arm and drag him over to the restroom where he was told to change as quickly as possible. Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen. Then twenty. Finally, Cecil had grown impatient enough and barged right on into the restroom only to find his Uncle sitting in the bathtub with the wetsuit he was supposed to change into still in hand. Following a rage-filled outburst by Cecil, the two were off to the beach. As they arrived, Cecil began searching the beach for their instructor. They had not previously agreed on an exact meeting place, but he was told that the instructor would be wearing a yellow wetsuit and would be carrying a black and yellow board with a bumblebee on it. As he located the instructor, he turned back to his uncle Abner. “Alright, you ready Uncl…..” Abner was gone again. This time, the lump was underneath a purple beach towel that was lying on the beach. Cecil decided this time to just skip the interrogation, and pulled Abner up by the arm. Abner muttered, “I was only trying to um, escape the sun’s rays for a moment, that’s all,” as he was being pulled toward the instructor. When they reached the instructor, Cecil excitedly introduced himself. The instructor then stared at Abner expectantly, only to find him staring off into space. “And your name is…?” asked the instructor. Cecil sent an elbow into his side to awaken his uncle from his daze. “It’s um, Abner…” Abner mumbled hesitantly. “Alright then fellas, the first thing I’d like to do is get you acquainted with my good friend, the gorgeous sea,” the instructor said. He gestured towards the ocean as if telling the pair to go ahead and jump in. The two did as instructed and began walking towards the ocean; Cecil watched his uncle closely to ensure that no funny business took place. As they arrived at the shoreline, Abner froze like a deer in the headlights. He wouldn’t move a muscle, no matter how hard Cecil pulled and how loudly he hollered at him. Finally, the instructor came and gave him a big ol’ push and Abner went flying into the ocean. As his uncle splashed around, freaking out over what had just occurred, Cecil was already positioning his body flat on the board. “Great,” the instructor said to Cecil, “that was the next thing I was gonna have you do.” When Abner finally managed to calm himself down, he followed suit and did the same. They were then told to begin swimming out a little further into the ocean and after some argument, Abner surprisingly obliged. “Wow, way to go Unc,” said Cecil, surprised with his Uncle’s sudden courage. They had finally reached the climax, they were to stand up on their boards and ride the wave. Cecil flawlessly rode his first ever wave with no hesitation whatsoever. Abner on the other hand was a different story entirely. “Come on Unc, let’s go! Don’t be such a wuss! How can you call yourself a man if you won’t even ride a wave?” Cecil asked. After a while, Cecil’s pestering got to Abner’s head and he decided to hop up onto the board. Bad decision. Abner immediately slipped right on off the board and collapsed into the ocean. As his board drifted away, Abner vowed to never attempt to surf ever again.