I was as alert as a Magpie this morning, up early, getting prepared.

The big Harleys are in town for Rolling Thunder. Some are camped out at the assembly of God/Iglisia de Luz Verderada across Pershing Street. The morning air is punctuated with the roar of twin V engines.

It is The Day, the unofficial but quite real Beginning of Summer. The Pool opens at ten sharp this morning. There is already a crowd on Tony’s patio four floors below. There could be competition this year for the coveted “First In” trophy.

My pool bag is ready. I charged the Kindle, loaded some e-thrillers on it. Dug out the waterproof iPod Nano, rigged the ball cap properly so that it mostly stays out of the water, found a thick pool towel, flip flops, and pulled on a pair of swim trunks and looked at the clock.

Then I thought, “Say, I could do this the legal way, but someone said the key to the pool gate is the same as the one to the community grill…maybe I could just go and get this out of the way?”

The butterflies of the challenge are fluttering in my mid-section. The prospective nine year steak is on the line here. No, I can’t do that.

I need to do this the honorable way and follow the rules as directed by the as-yet unknown Eastern European life guard who will determine how this summer goes.

I need to man-up.

More later.

Copyright 2011 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com