Stacie In The Beach

I was the one at that party getting my butt slapped with a huge paddle by gay boys dressed in sailor uniforms. That was me, I was that chick. Yeah, so that's how we met. Stacie 's holding a roasted cob of corn dripping with butter in her hand and gesticulating with it wildly. Jake and Cary are drinking PBR tall boys out of paper bags, nodding and smiling, busting out in cackles of laughter peppered with, Boy! Nu'uh, totally brah- I seen you! Mmmmm! while flicking their fingers in a spastic dance over their heads, doubling over in high drama laughter. Peacocks in full display, fanning their tails, the group of them. Throngs of people mill about, ebbing and flowing, sometimes coming to a standstill then suddenly swimming upstream again, around the funnel cakes and ice cream, a different band every 20 metres. Samba, rock and roll, Ecuadorian pan flute, old school traditional jazz, psychedelic funk and bad Tony Bennet covers. Six blocks of carnival crazy peppered with the UN of music. Stacie and the boys are joined by Marty and her yellow dog. A doodle cross of some sort tense and anxiety ridden surrounded by thousands of knees and feet. Women push men in wheelchairs, no less than 5 people struggle by on crutches and one guy even has nordic walking poles. In July, on asphalt during an outdoor street jazz festival. Firefighters solicit donations for burn victims, standing around in yellow suspender pants, tight white t shirts, cradling a rubber boot. Stacie walks right into one, bounces off his mountainous chest. You burn my heart right outta my skin! She flushes bright red, a pomegranate in short shorts and a sideways trucker hat, arm half sleeved in cherry blossoms, barely coloured in- she's waiting for the checque to clear before she can finish the shading. Jake, Cary and Marty shake their heads and snicker under their breath, loving Stacie in her awkward attempts at interacting with anyone outside their inner sanctum. The fireguy clocks her eyes and gives her a smile so pure, so infectious Stacie giggles unconsciously. Caught out. Summer in the Beach: fun, frolicking and flirting. Stacie's motto. She jams her hand into her pocket and drops a toonie into his boot. Marty pulls yellow dog out of the crowd and they pass by the fusion trio, Stacie looking over her shoulder, saluting fireguy as she goes.

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