Walking past the reef on his way home he could see sets on the outside backlit against the setting sun, with a purple dusk over the deepening sky. It was big, he could tell, and breaking way outside. He had heard it growing while his lesson in the cove caught thigh high reform, and continue to boom on the reef while drinking up his tip money with Martin and Carlos. "No worries' he thought. "I'll be first on it and score waves in the morning. I"ll grab a pollo rostisado on the way home. Better hurry, it's getting late. Maria is waiting on me now, por seguro!"
In the orange and purple sky, a huge set stood up dark against the horizon and,"Puta Madre! Is someone still out there?!" He thought he saw a flash of white blow out the biggest barrel he'd seen since Puerto in July and go scrambling out the back after kicking out in a blur of spume and spray. "Was that a girl?! Who is SHE??" Before he understood what he saw he found himself wading through the lagoon and stroking toward the channel. "WHO is that? I must know!!" Compelled to understand, to KNOW, he stroked toward the lineup, where a white figure was hunched over on their board, head bowed, as if in prayer. As Tony paddled closer, the biggest, fattest set yet blacked out the rust sky on the horizon, and the figure in white paddled over the first wave into blackness. Tony sat up on his board and watched in awe and wonder as a girl, it had to be a girl, but all kind of glowing white, like a calavera costume on day of the dead, spun, stroked, and dropped into a 3-meter wall of darkness and disappeared into the deepest tube he'd seen ever, anywhere.
The wave was growing and groweling as it stormed toward him, looking more like a black vortex of death than a blessing from the ocean, and Tony stroked hard in fear for his very life and soul. Five full heartbeats since she vanished into the eerily glowing depths of the barrel, Tony was sure he could reach the shoulder, when he turned to stare into the face of... La Muerte! riding the blast of spray straight at him and sweeping him into her embrace, brazos de La Muerte!
9 1/2" x 14" monotype
