Secret Spot

by Jeffrey Lewis

"Secret Spot" Acrylic on wood door (with some extra glued-on details like an old headboard piece and a scallop shell.) One day I was driving home along a very familiar road on the Central Coast when I saw a lone figure WAY, WAY outside drop into a huge wave at an offshore reef I'd never seen break before. I immediately pulled over in an open spot between two pick-up trucks where some other surfers were gazing and howling their applause with arms pumping in the air. I did not know these guys, but I knew their faces from being in the water together at another spot over the previous months. "Oh, my God! That was huge! I mean, like Maverick's huge," I said to them. They agreed with me, but only by nodding. And then one of them benevolently scolded me with a "Sshhhh....," as he put his finger to his lips. "DO NOT MENTION THIS. That's why there's one guy out here and fifty guys out at Mavs."