~Sometimes, You Just Gotta Finish The Story~
Sunday's Prompt: Rate
“A hundred fifty dollars. A NIGHT! That's nuts. We called in January, and it was only thirty three !”
The lady behind the counter of The El Sirocco Motor Lodge eyed us with a wary, exceedingly tired stare. “That was January, this is March. It's spring break. Start of tourist season. Our prime time. The rate is one hundred fifty a night. Take it or leave it.”
I glanced around the room, and out the huge, front, plate-glass window. The blue neon sign flickered with the bugs in feigned exhaustion, out by the palm next to Road-A1A. From what I could see, the two story motel had seen it's 'prime' somewhere around 1952. The ladies raspy voice broke in, derailing my weary train of thought, “you interested, I gotta get back to bed.”
I thought my buddy Jeffy Bear was going to pop something important, deep within his short, stocky frame. But “that's NUTS ” was all he could come up with again, at four in the morning, after our marathon, seventeen hour drive from Illinois. And a MUCH-needed break from the college routine. It was Spring Break, and we craved the rest and relaxation from the daily grind of school, on the sandy shores of eastern Florida.
“OK, we'll take it,” I huffed, as we fished wads of cash from our jeans pockets, and plopped it down on the Formica counter in front of us. The exhausted manager in her night dress went on, “five person occupancy maximum, no pets, no food or alcohol allowed. And there's a security deposit of $100. Refundable when you leave the room in good stead at the end of the week.”
“WHAAAT! Another hundred ?” I thought Jeffy would really blow a gasket on that one. But we fished out more bills, and made a mental note to hit up the other nine guys, hiding in plain sight in the two cars out back, for their share of the extra. Seemed like highway robbery to me. But I suppose that's the price you pay for paradise, when you are a down and out college kid on Spring Break.
~ § ~
I shoved my Chemistry books under the bed, and searched out a spot to crash on the lovely, 1960's carpeted floor. Studying would be difficult in this atmosphere, but I was sure I could find a quiet corner of the room during the day to 'hit the books'. Why DO they always schedule a mid-term exam, right after spring break? I'm sure it's some sort of plan from the folks that 'be', in the tall towers of higher learning. The ones that DON'T get to drive to Florida, and guaranteed fun in the sun for a whole week during dreary, Midwest March. Sour grapes die hard in the rarefied air of academia.
I soon dozed off, with someone's foot way too close to my head for comfort. Accompanied by lofty dreams of fully balanced equations, and happy, C6H12O6 molecules cavorting on the beach with bikini clad coeds, searching out shiny, Sp3 valence shells in the surf. Ah, true paradise found.
~ § ~
Little did we know then, that by the end of the week there would be fourteen of us in the tiny, spartan room. All packed in like college-age sardines. Continually bribing the motel handyman with six packs of Miller High Life, so he wouldn't turn us in. Yes, things were a bit tight. With 'guest' number eleven 'in for the night' sleeping soundly in the bathroom, right next to number twelve, usually propped up in the bathtub. But that was a far-cry better (?) than pokey guest number thirteen and fourteen. THEY had to sleep on the beach.
And though sleeping in the sand next to the surf SOUNDS gloriously romantic, it's not exactly that. At least in this part of the world. The night beach experiences a temperature swing of about 80 degrees between noon and midnight. I should know. Jeffy and I were often number thirteen and fourteen, NOT 'in' for the night. And except for that one run-in with the law at three AM, for “illegally camping on the beach”, things went swimmingly well during our stay on the beach. (If you can classify laying in a sandy depression, dug down so you're theoretically invisible from the road, as 'camping'.)
The local surf police let us go in the end, without a fine, if we promised to not come back again. Finally finishing up our 'talk' with one last, exceedingly stern admonishment: “and take your box of Cocoa Puff's with you, when you go! ”
We grabbed our cereal, and went. Back across A1A to the El Sirocco Motor Lodge. We set up night-shop on the cushy chaise lounge chairs by the chilly, “Heated Pool”, covered ourselves from the breezes as best we could with some leftover beach towels from the deck, and smiled at one another in the pale blue, neon light. This was the life! Good friends, tropical night air, half a box of Cocoa Puffs left, and Chemistry books, still stuffed under the bed from day one. Ah, Spring Break in paradise. It doesn't get much better than this.
~ Finto ~
~ § ~
Five Minute Freewrite Post by @mariannewest
Post: Five Minute Freewrite-Day 583- Prompt: Rate
Thanks for stopping in and viewing another Twenty Eight Minute, 5-Minute Freewrite about the high rate of the pleasures of Spring Break. If you have any thoughts about driving great distances for a week-long vacation, pooling meager resources to make it all possible, packing a motel with young yayhoos WAY beyond it's capacity, 'camping' on the beach in the chill air, or anything else this post reminds you of, please feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.
Please UPVOTE, COMMENT and FOLLOW if you enjoy my works.
And go to @ddschteinn -- There's a whole lot more...
Posted: 05/26/2019 @ 15:04
Excerpts From Late-Night Conversations With A Mechanical Cat
Fact Number 146
More Stinky the Cat Classics from CatFacts Yesteryear
Freewrite Disclaim-iere
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Oh that sounds like such a good time! I never did spring break. Seemed I was full of work to do and low of funds. Not sure why that is always the case. I blame it on my Charlie Brown luck.
Good old Charlie Brown. Actually, I'm sure that's not it. And that's why we went with so many people. Couldn't afford the gas or motel, if you didn't have a whole load of folks to split it with. Which was a catch-22, I suppose. As they motels all knew this, so the price went up 300% for that time. Somewhat of a lose/lose circuitous race involving SOME sort of logic. It was usually a fun adventure, if not a bit crowded at times. But the whole day was spent in the surf, and we were young and full of energy I'd love to have these days. Then again, I don't miss the beer drinking much. So there are trade offs to all parts of life ( :
Here is your next prompt:
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-585-5-minute-freewrite-monday-prompt-nest
Great job on this, and big congrats on your curie. I was there for most spring breaks from childhood until about 30 years old, and I think you captured it well. Beach sand is over-rated as a place to sleep for sure :)
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the short romp on the beach. Did you live down there? Starting young for spring break at the beach...sounds like fun. Our family used to meet in Florida for family reunions. That was a hoot, if not a bit 'warm' in July. And I agree, the sandy part is overrated, if you lay around or roll in it.
Thanks for the prompt. These are fun, I hope to do more, as I've been away from it for awhile. Love this whole process of the 5 minute (theoretical) write ( : Cheers
That was enjoyable. Never did a spring break tropical break. I was on of those nerds that used it for working and studying. I made up for it though with a trip to Europe after graduation. Travelling with low standards opens up all kinds of experience, ne'est ce pas? Slept in the Charles Du Gualle airport but never a dugout hole on the beach:)
I think you were what was called smart, not a nerd. I would have done better at University if I'd stayed home and studied my Chemistry. Oh well, hindsight is always 20-40, I suppose. And a trip to Europe would have been a blast. I feel traveling cheap is the only way to go. You meet more people and have a lot of fun with local folks. As for the hard floor, I've slept in many an airport, and I'm not sure which is worse, sand in the shorts, or the dag blamed announcement every minute about your luggage and remaining above the law. Hmm.....
That sounds like it should be in your memoir. As always, a pleasure to read!!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed my romp through the sandy shores. Ha haa, I should try to write one. It would be fun. Life has been good to me, and there's been a lot of humor thrown in to ad to the mix. Some day it would be nice to try to write something along that line. Once again..."get in line, ideas, get in line."
Hi ddschteinn,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thanks a whole bunch, @curie, I sure appreciate the votes and support on here. And thanks for still doing your thing on Steemit, and supporting all the smaller fishes on the site. It's still the best place to write and mentally mess about that I know of. Keep on keepin' on, and cheers on a Monday (soon) in May.
hi @ddschteinn
really a nice story! in Italy there are no such holidays and it is fun to watch them in movies on TV, but it really looks like a bunch of crazy guys chained up until the day before !! why have spring holidays become so "famous"?
congratulations on your curie vote and thanks for sharing with us
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the story, and it's always nice to get an appreciation from @curie. I appreciate what they do for Steemit.
I'm sure the Spring Break thing looks pretty wild on the TV/movie scene. I suppose it is a bit of a time to let off steam from the stress of school. Or an excuse to do so. But it could get a little nutty sometimes in reality too. Some of the areas, like Fort Lauderdale and others had so many kids wandering around outside the bars, that they had "mover along'ers"--people to keep the 'crowd' moving, so it wouldn't all jam up. I usually stayed out of those areas. Too crazy and crowded. Just the quiet, 1940's motel and it's fun for me. And friends. For awhile everyone was going to Texas. Not sure where the places are now, or if they still do it. Thanks again for stopping in and commenting and voting, and have a nice day.
"Not True 5-Minute Freewrites!"
I love this disclaimer!! I'm appropriating it!!!
Ok, I'm not stealing it for real, but I love this!!!
My 5-minute freewrite that went off the rails
Of course I also love the six-pack bribes, the body count rising, the bed in the sand, the chemistry book and all the other details. And the stern admonition about the Cocoa Puffs. :)
All the joys of being silly when young. Thanks, glad you enjoyed the time on the beach. I think we finished off the Cocoa Puffs pretty quickly. Being up at 4 AM will do that to you. Thanks for stopping in and the comment. I appreciate it, Cheers.
Ha haaa, well, it isn't patented, but is something I've done for quite awhile. It's my way of still putting this out under the 5-Minute Freewrite, without getting asked to leave ( :
It just feels more honest this way. And I LOVE the Freewrite, and sometimes they do end up short. But mainly, they are a real impetus to write a story on the spur of the moment, if the word triggers something in my odd little brainbox. And they sometimes end up going longer. SO...the 28 minute-er was born. I'm SO glad @mariannewest does these writes. They are a lot of fun, and help foster further creativity. Even if they DO go off the rails on occasion...
That student life, isn't it? I wonder if you were not inspired by your own student life as it sounds very realistic :) I particularly enjoyed the last part when they mentioned that the chemistry books are still under bed from day one.. I think mine would be there too, lol..
These temperature swings are real? If so, then I can imagine that it's not that comfortable to stay on beach during night.. :)
Thank you for sharing and congratulations on your curie vote!
Ha haa, yes, I'm afraid that is the student life. Or maybe it's a good thing. And yes, there's a good chance there was a lot of truth to the writing there. Many of the things I write about come from actual life. Usually the humor things. There is so much I find funny that surrounds us every day. Though I may have exaggerated the temperature swing of the beach a BIT, for ridiculous literary affect (90+degrees F to the 60's air temp at night.) But when you're trying to sleep in the sand, it gets very cold at night, and VERY hot during the day. So it feels like 100 degree difference, when you're freezing your buns off in the sand. Cavorting on the beach during the day is fun, but it literally does fry your skin after prolonged exposure. End up wearing a hat, light clothes, and lots of titanium oxide, and looking ridiculous. A fun time was had by all ( :
Great depiction of an archetypal philosophy/demographics. Even if it can get better (whatever that may be), for some people fun is a state of mind, regardless of circumstances. Actually, I met some crazy people for whom the harder things were, the more fun they found in it (river, mountain, city, farm, you name it).
I never had it in me to see fun when things got complicated or far from ideal (or whatever notion of ideal has been implanted in our heads my the media/family/society).
In retrospect, those were lost chances for fond memories and networking. Thus, long live the adventurous spirit of youth!
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