Jerry and I left the main group of guys visiting the beach north of San Simeon so we could try out his new bull whip. The dirt road ended at the top of a hill where the manzanita had been thinned to make a 30' circle --- plenty of room to swing his arm over his head and try to snap that long leather snake. His shirtless form revealed his compulsive need to feel like the man he wasn't --- a slender 19 year old playing Zorro for a crowd of one.
Sorry, but I wasn't into the manly thing of going shirtless, but the challenge of making that whip break the sound barrier couldn't be resisted. Around and around, counter-clockwise, 4, then 5 times before reversing the direction and hearing the tip whistle past my ear as it shot in front me, ready to snap as I pulled back as hard as I could at the end of its travel. Wow! What a kick!
All of these 40 year-old memories came back while I was at a Root Cause Analysis Meeting today at work. Our boss said she had bought a bull whip some time ago to use as a decoration. The jokes started flowing, but we were quickly back at the business of business. Funny how our memories are sparked.
I think about Jerry once in awhile, and wonder if he's still hiding that little scared kid inside.
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