CHAPTER 1 - CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Howdy folks, and welcome to the first chapter of my first new story (and my first entry of any kind) since March. Unfortunately, I've had to put my other current story, "Too Many Cooks", on hold for the time being due to a creative block I've had to deal with on the third chapter of that story, though I'm hoping to get it done in due time.

For now though, this new entry of mine deals with what happens when a certain boyfriend of Kelly's decides to go into business for himself for the first time and what happens along the way, including a few speed bumps. This first chapter flashes back by taking place just a few days after the events of "Grom Fest" on the show, then the later chapters will take place in the present (the "Year Two" period). Sooo...


LAST SEPTEMBER - ON THE ROAD TO SUNSET BEACH

A few days after the end of the summer tourist season on Labor Day and the summer staff of Surfer's Paradise Ridgemount Resort had dispersed to go back to their hometowns for the start of the new school year, a teal-colored Trans-Am car was travelling on the Comox Highway between Courtenay and Sunset Beach, heading toward the latter town. The Trans-Am's owner, David Hughes, had business to conduct in Sunset Beach and was on his way to the hotel, where he was to check in and to pick up Lo, daughter of the hotel's owner Mr. Ridgemount, en route to his destination.

In the meantime, David had his iPhone in speaker mode to conduct a hands-free conversation with his girlfriend Kelly as he drove along. "Really, that's what happened in your classroom during the lecture?" he asked as he listened to Kelly tell him about her first week of classes in the Restaurant Management program at Vancouver Island University, in her hometown of Nanaimo.

"Sure did," Kelly replied. "That practical joker thought he'd liven up the lecture by timing that smoke bomb to go off while the instructor talked about the basics of restaurant management. I don't think the instructor was too impressed about the sprinkler system going off in the classroom either, or when the fire department had to respond after someone reported what they thought was a fire and they learned it was just someone's idea of a prank."

"Yeah, I guess not," David said with a chuckle. "So what happened after that?"

"The wise guy in question got bounced from the program when he got found out," Kelly said. "Nobody else in the classroom was too happy about getting soaked by the sprinklers at the time, but I think they'll get over it and have a laugh about it in time. Beyond that, I'm starting to get into the swing of it with the program. Already got my first homework assignment to do and I'm about two-thirds finished right now, then I got to go to work waitressing at the Jazz Café downtown after that."

"Good to hear," David said. "Just give it your best with your homework and you'll get a good mark out of it."

"Thanks, David," Kelly said. "So what about the business you have to do in Sunset Beach? Sounds like it's something really important."

"It is," David explained. "Dad just released my trust fund to me recently and wants me to put it to good use for starting a new business or buying an existing one. After how I did assistant managing at the Plaza Theatre back home, he figures this would be a good time to set out with my own project."

"Wow, nice," Kelly said. "If you're choosing Sunset Beach to launch this new project of yours, it must be something special. So what's it about?"

"Well, I'd rather keep it hush-hush for now," David said. "All I'll say is that the Kahuna's meeting me in town and I'll be talking with him once I get checked into Surfer's Paradise."

"Oh," a somewhat surprised Kelly then remarked when she heard the Kahuna mentioned.

"What? What's 'oh'?" David then wondered.

"Nothing, nothing bad," Kelly said. "But you probably know that Kahuna can be a bit spacey at times if you've talked with him before, right?"

"Sure, I know," David admitted. "But get past that and his occasional flashbacks and he's a decent guy, though. He's also got to be on the ball to be able to work at as many jobs as he does."

"True," Kelly said. "But still, if you're doing business with Kahuna, it might be a good idea to have a mediator along for your meeting. If nothing else, a mediator would help Kahuna keep his mind on track, especially one who knows him well enough."

"Already covered," David said. "I called Lo and told her about my plan and she agreed to help out. She knows Kahuna, and between being her dad's daughter and putting the talent show together a while back, I think she's learned a thing or two about negotiating deals."

"As long as it works out," Kelly said. "Oh, and I'm not working tomorrow night, so see you then?"

"Sure thing," David agreed. "I'm only in Sunset Beach today to meet Kahuna for this deal, so I'll see you for sure tomorrow when I come down to Nanaimo to stay overnight."

"Sweet! Call me when you get to town," a thrilled Kelly said. "Love you."

"Love you right back, Kell," David replied, followed by a small giggle from Kelly at the other end, before they said goodbye and hung up. A few minutes later, David arrived at Surfer's Paradise and pulled his car up by the front entrance, then went inside to check in at the front desk, where Lo was waiting to meet him while Johnny, who had just gone on duty for one of his weekend front desk shifts, helped with the check-in. Right after that, Lo went out to join David in the Trans-Am to head into Sunset Beach to meet with Kahuna.

"Thanks for coming along, Lo," David said as he drove up the boulevard and away from the hotel. "Having you with me to negotiate with Kahuna ought to make things go a little smoother."

"No problem," Lo said while David turned on the iPod connected to his car stereo to play some Cuban jazz tunes on the trip into town. "Kahuna kinda tends to get distracted and go off-track though, so I wouldn't get my hopes up too high."

"Don't worry, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," David said with a grin. Lo, figuring that David likely had an ace or two up his sleeve to play, nodded in agreement and grinned as well.

Soon after, David and Lo arrived in Sunset Beach and stopped at the Big Wave Theatre on Front Street, where Kahuna was waiting for them. "Hey, cool cats, what's shakin'?" Kahuna greeted the twosome as they got out of the Trans-Am. "Nice wheels, BTW."

"Thanks, Kahuna," David said, trading fist bumps with the middle-aged surfing hippie. "Lo filled me in on the sitch with the Big Wave on our way here. So, you know what I want here, right?"

"I dunno, dude," Kahuna said, sounding slightly skeptical as he unlocked one of the front doors to the theatre to let himself, David and Lo inside. "The Big Wave's been one of my pet projects since I bought the place back in 2002. It's almost like a part of my family."

"Sure, I get that," David said while he, Kahuna and Lo toured around the theatre lobby and its snack bar. "I've heard some tales from Lo and her friends about this place. Other than those movies I saw the two times I was here this past summer, I know you usually play surfing movies here, right?"

"You bet, dude," Kahuna admitted proudly. "That's been a trademark of the Big Wave since I first got it."

"Ooo-kay," David said, now developing some doubts himself as he, Kahuna and Lo went upstairs to the balcony section to survey the theatre proper. "I also heard you pretty much accept anything of value as currency for admission to a movie here."

"Sure do," Kahuna said. "I'll accept anything that I find useful to me to let the moviegoers in and enjoy the show."

"Hmm," David mused while checking out the screen at the front of the auditorium. "Does that include money too?"

"Money?" Kahuna wondered aloud. "What's money, besides being colorful pieces of paper?"

"Whoa, that's not something I'd say around my dad without him going into a twenty-minute lecture about money," Lo quipped.

"Uhh...yeah," David said before he, Lo and Kahuna left the balcony and went to the adjacent projection room, where David noticed there was also a collection of about two hundred surfing films catalogued and stored on racks against one wall. "And what about other employees besides yourself?" he then asked Kahuna. "The two times I was here, I noticed both times that you were the only employee I saw on duty here."

"I did have a few other cats workin' here at first when I bought the place," Kahuna said. "But they each quit one by one over time and I never considered replacing them. I've been runnin' the whole show myself these last few years."

"And these movies here along this wall," David then asked. "Is this your entire film collection?"

"Sure is, duderino," Kahuna said. "I've played each of these movies here more than once and added on to the collection whenever a new surfing flick came out. They have a loyal following here."

"Okay," David said after a brief pause, stopping a moment to pick up and look over some memorabilia from the theatre's pre-Big Wave days that was lying near the film projector. "Let me ask you something, Kahuna - when you first bought the theatre and started playing these surf movies, what was the average attendance here per night?"

"'bout a hundred, give or take," Kahuna said after thinking about his answer a moment. "Some nights when a new movie came out here, we'd get a couple hundred or more filling the seats."

"Mm-hmm," David said, nodding his head briefly. "And what's the average attendance here now?"

Kahuna had to think on his answer again. "On a good night," he replied, "I'd say...between ten and twenty."

"Fin also told me about one time when she and Reef came here to see a show," Lo added. "That night, they were the only two people in the theatre to catch the movie."

"Yikes," an astonished David remarked. After another pause and some consideration, he started to say, "Kahuna, I..."

Before David could finish, Lo then jumped in. "Kahuna, I'll give it to you straight," the rich girl said. "Between playing almost nothing but surfing movies here, playing the same collection of movies again and again, running the theatre by yourself and taking anything of use as currency for movie admission instead of money, I'm just surprised this place didn't go out of business long ago."

Kahuna gasped in shock. "Dudette! What're you gettin' at?" he said in astonishment.

"I think what Lo's trying to say," David said, "is that there need to be some changes made around here to save this theatre. If you continue running it as it is now, chances are it will go out of business in due time."

"But dude, surfing movies are what make this place tick!" Kahuna said. "They're to the movie business what surfing is to sports. People enjoy surfing movies like they do surfing itself, man. Think about the rush you get from the top-turns you make to get air off a wave, or carving in the middle of a wave, or surfin' the green room - or even the ultimate rush, big wave surfing. Yeah...big wave surfing...man, those thirty-footers I rode at Mavericks back in the day..."

"Uh, Kahuna?" Lo said, realizing that Kahuna was doing exactly what she thought would happen by straying off-topic. "What about the movies?"

"What? Oh, yeah," Kahuna replied after snapping back to reality. "The movies...what about 'em?"

"That's the point we're trying to make, Kahuna," David said. "By playing the same surfing movies repeatedly in a one-screen theatre over time, you're losing the interest of all but a tiny-but-loyal fan base. Think about all the non-surfing movies made since you bought the theatre that could've played here, but your customers either had to go out of town for them or waited until they came out on DVD to see them. You've missed out on a lot of opportunities with this theatre between then and now."

Kahuna thought for a moment about what David told him. "Wow...heavy, man," he then said.

"And I've also heard talk that the movie studios are planning to phase out releasing movies on film in favor of going digital in a couple of years anyway," David continued, "which means you'd have to replace your projection equipment. You wouldn't be able to play the movies you have in your archive now on a digital projector unless you got digital prints of those movies."

"Hmm, interesting," an intrigued Kahuna, who was only vaguely aware of digital cinema, mused.

"The way I see it, it's long overdue to bring the Big Wave Theatre into the 21st century," David stated. "So let's see..." He started writing some figures on a writing pad he had brought along. "How's this for an asking price for the theatre?" he then said, showing Kahuna the number he wrote on the pad - $275,000.

Kahuna's eyes went wide upon seeing David's offer for the theatre. "Whoa, 275,000 clams for the Big Wave?" he exclaimed when he read the pad. "Dude, that much moolah..."

"Not enough?" said David, who wanted the Big Wave but also wanted to make sure Kahuna got a good offer. "Okay, how's 300 grand sound?" On hearing the second offer, a surprised Kahuna's mouth dropped open, but he said nothing.

"Hmm," David said with a raised eyebrow. "Okay then, how about $350,000? Sounds to me like a reasonable price to buy a small theatre, don't you think so?"

Kahuna still stood where he was, looking dumbfounded over the increased offer, when Lo whispered something in his ear to bring him back around. "Huh? Oh, right," he said. "So what's in it for me, besides the cash?"

"Well," David said, "I'm going to need someone with experience in running a movie theatre, someone who can manage the place and handle most of the day-to-day operations, and you're the man I got in mind for the job. I'd own the theatre, handle the finances and be in charge of picking what movies to play here, but you can hire the staff and tackle all the other stuff. You'd also have to learn how to operate digital projectors, but that'll be a cinch once you get into the groove."

David's offer to keep him on staff as part of the theatre sale had an appeal to Kahuna, but he had another caveat. "Will we still get to play surfing movies as part of the deal?" he asked.

David thought about it for a moment. "For what I have in mind, I think I can swing it," he said. "So, we have a deal?"

Kahuna heard all he needed to to convince him. "Deal," he said, shaking David's hand to seal the deal while an elated Lo clapped her hands and squealed happily.

"Great, you won't regret this," a pleased David said as he took a chequebook out from an inner pocket of his coat and started writing a cheque for Kahuna. After that, David picked the theatre memorabilia back up and looked it over again. "Interesting stuff you have here, Kahuna," he said while looking at the newspaper clippings of movie listings and articles about the theatre from before Kahuna's purchase. "I see the theatre hasn't always been called the Big Wave."

"You got it, dude," Kahuna said. "It was called the Bijou when it first opened in 1938, then new owners bought it in 1965, made it over and renamed it the Paramount. When I bought the joint back in '02, I changed the name to what it is now, got new seats with cupholders and cut the number of seats in the balcony and on the main floor from 500 to 350 for more legroom."

"Uh-huh," David said as he went over the clippings while listening to Kahuna's history of the Big Wave. "Well, when I'm done with the plans I have for the Big Wave, it's going to be the entertainment showplace of Sunset Beach. Just watch and see."


So, how will David's purchase of the Big Wave Theatre tie in to the rest of the story? Read on and find out... Also leading up to that, Fin, Lo and the other girls run into a hangup prior to going to work, thanks to resident troublemaker Sabrina.

Stoked (c) Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon.

Comments and reviews are welcome.