Writing 101, Day Six: A Character-Building Experience

Scott

Surrounded by the water, I felt content. Through the glass door, I saw Scott putting on the sweatshirt that he had bought right before we boarded the boat. Scott, a typical engineer, was not an ideal companion for a romantic cruise dinner, but I wanted to enjoy my last day at San Diego before flying home and didn’t want to be alone, so under the circumstance, he was the best choice.

We came to San Diego four days ago to attend a software conference. The conference organization had scheduled a couple of good presentations in the evening. I didn’t want to miss those presentations, but the Convention Center was 3 blocks away from the hotel and I was afraid of walking in the dark by myself. When I met Scott in the morning at the hotel lobby, seeing he was carrying a conference binder, I asked him if we could walk back together that night.

“It will be my pleasure!” Scott replied politely.

Scott has a frame like a football player and was a down-to-earth person. He was a serious engineer, who did things by the rule. When the last presentation was ended, I saw him standing straight like a soldier waiting by the door. When we arrived at the hotel, he walked me to my room, nodded and said, “Good night”.

Borland, the host of the conference, arranged a sea world visit for all of us on Tuesday night. We decided to go have a quick dinner and then take the bus to the sea world. At dinner, we talked about business, technology, my daughter, his parents… In no time, we became friends.

Scott was excited at everything he saw in the sea world. He ran here and there, didn’t want to waste a second. I dragged along. Once in a while I had to say to him, “Don’t run. Walk. Watch where you are going!” I felt like talking to a little kid.

The only ride in the sea world was a helicopter ride, either a motion ride or a motionless one. We decided to take the motion ride. I had ridden a similar ride in Disney world before, so I knew the drill. Instead of looking at the big screen, I kept my eyes on the floor. When the ride was over, Scott had hard time to get up. I jumped out of my chair and said, “Come on, let’s go wait in the line again. This is fun!” Scott shook his head.

Today was the last day of the conference. When I got back to the hotel I saw Scott waiting at the lobby. We decided to take the trolley to downtown to have a cruise dinner. An hour later, here we were.

Staring at the water, I thought of my life, my friends and my family. Scott came, standing next to me. He seemed having something in his mind too.

The boat was going to pass under the Corona Bridge. Suddenly, we heard an announcement. “It’s a well-known secret that if you kiss a friend when the boat passing under this bridge, you would get one extra year to live; if you kiss a stranger, you will get two; if you kiss DJ, you will get four!”

Scott grinned. “Let’s go find DJ,” he said.