It's a rain cocktail on a grey beach and not a bikini as far as the eye can see. A lone surfer paddles into a breaker fifty yards away never acknowledging my presence. In my diluted ***-banana daiquiri, a cherry floats wishing she would show to tie it's stem with her tongue; a talent she once was so fond of showing off. Gone are the silly days we'd spend here in the sun, laughing for hours that passed too fast, digging moats for our castles in the sand. I guess she'd grown up with the coming of autumn. My calls went unreturned but I thought she'd meet me at least one last time. Now I sit alone on this towel wishing I'd brought an umbrella as water pelts my shoulders and head like wet bullets. In a land of perpetual summer, a day in Malibu never seemed so long.