Mom’s Point Of View:
Have you ever spent hours at the beach soaking up the sun, and realized you’re starving and ready for some beach pizza? Nothing beats that, other than acquiring said pizza and sitting down to eat it in peace on a bench by the waves.
My daughter and I found ourselves in that exact position of being ready for our lunch after glorious hours in the sun. We walked to Cristy’s and came back with our treasure. We found a bench in the shade! Perfect! We sat down and opened the pizza, ready to dig in.
This is where our story takes a sharp left turn.
There was a man to our right ranting to another man loudly. We couldn’t help but notice his large beard and flag T-shirt as he yelled about politics and the country going down the tubes because of music.
Oh, that’s why this bench was empty.
Unfortunately for us, he spotted us and came over to talk about our pizza … and another pizza place … and someone getting him pizza from somewhere … but where was it, he didn’t know … and then the flag … and the state of the country … all at top volume.
Sir, I just want to eat my beach pizza.
But the beard. This was the exact moment I noticed the … schmutz? … in his beard. It became distracting as I sat there trying to find a way to make an exit without a (bigger) scene that was already happening. My eyes couldn’t look anywhere else. What was it? How did it get there? Didn’t he know?
Enter Teresa, who thinks on her feet much faster than I do. “Oh look! We have to go!” And she got up to go while looking at the clock on her phone. I also jumped up, relieved for an out.
Beard Schmutz Man actually told us we could leave the pizza and he promised it would be there when we got back. I blinked at him in disbelief.
Sir, did you just try to take my beach pizza?
Sir, what is in your beard?
Teresa’s Point Of View:
After a full afternoon on the beach, my mom and I decided to get some pizza from Cristy’s and find a place in the shade to sit (I was hungry and sunburnt enough to be easily pissed off.) We grab our pizza and, oh look! A bench in the shade, perfect.
As we walk over I immediately see someone who I just know is going to piss me off (remember what I said earlier?) and I realize why this perfect seat was empty. Insert a man, scruffy, erratic, maybe a little not right in the head. As usual, he zoned in on me and mom because those types of people have a sense that I don’t want to talk to them.
He’s yelling about pizza, our pizza, how he got pizza one time, yelling about the country, politics. Knowing my mom was too uncomfortable to make a move to leave I go with the classic; check my phone and OH MY GOD we have to go back to the car for some reason.
I get up and leave while rolling my eyes so hard I could see my brain smoking, and as we’re leaving he offers to watch our pizza for us. Like I wasn’t pissed off before, now you want my food? We get away, safely, and eat our pizza in the car.
Guest author for Teresa’s point of view: Teresa!!
