The first thing that struck her about him was his wife. She was beautiful. Someone who always stood out in a crowd. Tall, slim, yet feminine, with long blond hair and that kind of mystic glow that made everybody look at her. She just stood there on the beach, talking to a guy with a surfboard. Even in shorts, shirt and flip-flops she looked very lady-like. She had those legs men adored, long and slender. As she stood, her body showed every curve of her perfect body. A breeze made her hair moved in soft waves around her face like little butterflies. On top of her golden curls sat a cap. As Dana passed her it was blown off by a sudden wind, tumbled over the warm sand, and landed in front of Dana's feet. She put her own surfboard down to pick it up. Barbie approached her.
"Oh, thank you!" She smiled and showed an even row of white teeth.
Dana smiled too, nodded "Never mind" and continued her way towards the water. It was the second day of her vacation and she intended to use every minute to enjoy the ocean. Her parents had paid for the trip. As a treat because she was studying so hard, they had said. Dana was sure the real reason was that family vacations would soon be a thing of the past. Just two more years and she would start real employment. Three holiday schedules would be even harder to coordinate once she had a job. Also, her parents had dropped the other night, they figured Dana would soon rather spend time with a steady boyfriend and her family-of-the-near-future. No pressure there, Dana had thought and frowned a bit. Sure, she saw herself with a husband and kids. Someday. In her plans, picked fences, suburban home and football-mom was way in the future. There weren't even any candidates as steady boyfriends in sight. She was quite content with being by herself, her studies and her friends. Especially Julie, who was her roommate and best friend. Dana felt that she did not have any time for a relationship between college and working part-time at the Billings Gazette. Her father had pulled some strings because he knew that Dana was a good writer and liked working as a journalist. Peter Henrikson was a reporter himself and employed at the Independent Record in Helena, Montana - their hometown.
Dana stopped at the shore and looked out at the waves which were rolling in in nice, steady sets. They were crashing in front of her feet and send a salty spray over her bare legs. She inhaled deeply, loving the smell of salt, sand and sea. Then she headed into the waves.
The beach always remindet her of her Grandparents. They had had a condominium in Carlsbad, California. When she was littel, Dana had stayed most summer months while her parents worked. That's were Dana had learned how to surf - a passion she hardly got to enjoy anymore since she was a student at Montana State University in Billings.
******
After a great on the water and the beach, Dana and her parents went to the restaurant accompanying their hotel. Dana was heading for the salad bar, when she saw Barbie standing there as well. Obviously, Barbie was a guest at the same hotel as Dana and her parents. How can one look that perfect after a day on the beach, Dana wondered. Her own hair looked like straw after being in the water and the burning sun all day. Not to mention her skin, which was reddened, even though she had put on sun screen.
"Hi!" Dana simply said when she reached the salad bar and started to pile salad, tomatoes and cucumber on her plate.
Barbie turned to her.
"Oh, Hi! How are you!" Barbie smiled.
"Exhausted. I've been in the water all day," Dana replied smiling back. She started putting vegetables on her plate.
"Thanks again for catching my cap. It is very dear to me. My husband gave it to me for our second anniversary."
"Oh, I didn't actually catch it. I just picked it up!" Dana scooped some goat-cheese on her lettuce.
"I am Claudia Lewis", Barbie said.
Dana looked at Claudia's extended hand. She was holding her plate in one hand and a spoon in another. She put down the latter and shook hands with Claudia. "I'm Dana. Dana Henrikson."
"Nice to meet you."
"Are you staying at this hotel as well?", Claudia asked.
"Yes", Dana answered. She didn't want to sound like a baby and didn't mention her parents.
"Well, would you like to come over to our table, and have dinner with us?" Barbie asked.
Dana stopped selecting slices of bread, and looked at her: "Sorry, I am having dinner with my parents..." She could feel herself blushing. Claudia smiled and shrugged. "We will be at the bar later to have a drink. Maybe...", her voice trailing off.
Dana was surprised. Barbie was as nice as she was beautiful. But maybe she invited her simply because she thought that would be the appropriate thing to do, because she had the feeling that she had to do this?
"I don't want to spoil your evening. But Thanks anyway!"
"Oh, you won't be. Please come!"
Dana was looking at Claudia for a second. The offer seemed to be genuine. "OK", Dana eventually agreed hesitatingly, still not sure what to make of this invitation.
"Great!" said Claudia.
Shaking her head in astonishment, Dana made her way back through the crowded restaurant, to the table where her parents were already having meatballs and fries.
******
When Dana came into the bar two hours later, Claudia was sitting at one of the tables already. In front of her a glass of red wine, beside her a man, Dana recognized to be the guy, who had stood next to her at beach. Must be her husband, Dana figured. As she said a shyish „Hello!" the two of them were looking up.
"Oh, Dana! I'm glad you came!" Claudia exclaimed, getting up.
"This is my husband Jonathan. Jonathan, this is Dana Henrikson."
Jonathan had risen from his chair and extended his hand. He had a firm grip. Compared to Claudia he was an ordinary guy. Not that he was bad looking. He seemed sportive, had rather long brownish hair, which sun and water had given a lighter shade, and grey eyes. "Very nice to meet you!", he said, displaying a catching smile. "Listening to Claudia, you are the hero of the day." He looked teasingly at this wife.
Dana blushed. "I guess the cap was really dear to her. But I only picked it up." She shrugged, feeling kind of embarrassed. What a hassle because of a cap!
Johnathan pulled a third chair out and asked Dana what he could get her. She asked for a Gin Tonic.
To Dana's surprise, she actually had fun that evening. Both Jonathan and Claudia were much older than she was - at least ten years. But the conversation never halted, she never felt awkward. They ordered more drinks and talked about their vacation highlights, surfing (in which Claudia hardly participated, since she only tried to ride a wave once, and failed), parents and relations in general, and the legal system - Claudia was an attorney at law. At 2 a.m. they decided to continue their conversation another evening, and each went off into their rooms.
******
During the next days Dana, Claudia, and Johnathan would see each other on the beach. Claudia often sat in a beach chair and read what looked like work-related documents. She waved to Dana, who waved back. Sometimes Dana and John ran into each other before hitting the waves, and talked about the current conditions or exchanged tipps. Once or twice they crossed paths on the water and rode the waves together. Twice, they met at the bar, when Dana and her parents or the Lewis' were not engaged in other activities the hotel offered at night.
******
It happened two days before Dana and her parents were scheduled to leave. They had met in the reception area by incidence, just as Dana set off for a walk on the beach. Claudia and John, who were heading for the porch, agreed that a walk would be much nicer than just sitting in a chair and watching the people coming back to the hotel.
"Why don't the two of you go ahead? I think I need to put on something more appropriate for the walk", Claudia, who was wearing a pink mini-skirt and high heals, suggested. So Dana and John walked ahead slowly. They strolled along the shore, watched the surfers and started rating their performance. Dana picked up shells she intended to take home to her dorm as a reminder of their last holidays as a family. When Dana looked back in the direction they had come from, she realized, they had walked further then they had intended to. Both Dana and John decided to sit in the dunes, and wait for Claudia to catch up. John put one of his shoes on the beach, and drew an arrow toward the dunes, where they would wait, that way Claudia would be able to find them. The wind had picked up and was blowing stingy little grains of sand at Dana's bare legs. Further up the beach, they would be sheltered. They settled at a nice spot - a sandpit surrounded by beach grass, which softly rustled in the wind, and which lay a little further from where they had left the shore.
"Heck, I'll really miss the sun and the surf", John sighed. He was laying on this back, popped up on this lower arms so he was able to see the waves.
"Yeah, so am I", Dana agreed, who had used her arms as a pillow, face towards the warmth of the sun. She loved the rolling mountains of her Home State. But the winds that caresses the vast grass-oceans of Montana did not fill her with the same kind of energy as the salty sea-winds did. She felt John looking at her.
"What?", she asked smirking and frowning at the same time.
He bend over and kissed her.
"John?" They heard Claudia calling from the shore. John and Dana jumped, withdrew from each other like lightning had struck. Dana blushed and had to swallowed real hard.
"We are here!" Jonathan jelled, standing up so Claudia could see where they were. Dana stayed seated. She didn't know what to say or what to do. Her head was a big, black hole.
Claudia came up the barely visibly path they had created earlier, holding John's shoe.
"There you are", she said reproachfully. "Why did you walk so far?"
"We didn't", John replied. "It probably took you so long to get dressed. We were waiting for you, see?"
Claudia smiled. "Sorry! I had to hunt for my second slipper." She shrugged. "Why don't we go back now. The wind picked up and it is quite a lenghty walk!"
Dana got up, smiling a smile that felt totally fake. John put on his shoes, and the three of them headed back. Dana didn't speak much; Claudia was the one making conversation – mainly with John, Dana simply answered questions or threw in a comment every now and then. Claudia didn't seem to notice that she was not as talkative as usually. In Dana's head the thoughts were chasing each other, whirling around like leafs on a windy autumn day.
John and she must have walked further than they realized at the time, for it was already getting dark when they reached the hotel.
"Do you want to join us for a late dinner or a drink?" Claudia asked.
Dana didn't dare to look at John. "No, thank you", she shook off the invitation. "I had a huge ice-cream this afternoon. So I have to go to bed without any dinner."
They said their Goodnights, and Dana went to her room. Her parents, who had the room next door, were either not in or asleep already, for their lights were turned off.
Dana switched on the lamp next to her bed, and stood in front of the full size mirror. She saw a girl in her early twenties, who was of of ordinary height. 5 feet 6. Her body was sportive, but not slim. Her hair was rather short, which was better when being in the water, tousled, brownish, a little bleached from the sun, and not lady-like at all. Her eyes were the only real attractive things about her: blue like the sky on a sunny summer-day, now even more emphasized by her tan. She was wearing an ordinary yellow top, cut jeans, and no shoes. Why did it happen? She just couldn't grasp it. Compared to Claudia she was a gray mouse, a child, no lady. And they hadn't even been drunk! Did he do it on purpose to confuse an innocent girl? To see if he could? She had always thought that Claudia and Jonathan were happy. That he loved her, adored her. Or did't he?
She couldn't think straight.
Tomorrow, you will look back at this, and you will laugh, she told herself, and wanted to believe it. She took a shower, went to bed, and was sound asleep two minutes later. In her dreams, John smiled at her, kissed her (which felt real good), and she knew that she was Barbie. She looked at John, and saw Ken. Then there was nothing, only sleep.
******
The next day didn't bring any ease. Nothing was clearer, but Dana decided not to seek an explanation from John. Tomorrow she would fly home, and tonight she was going to a musical with her parents. So she didn't need to face the Lewis' anymore. She would need to say Goodbye, though. But this she would be able to manage. She just wouldn't look at John more than necessary.