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Look through the lens to find out if
There are rocks of which to be aware.
When Natalie and I had read the riddle we both thought he was talking about the wharf where the fisherman’s market was. It held a long building where all the local restaurants and citizens could get fresh fish caught right off the ocean. We had strolled along through market, checking out the different fish before going to the edge of the pier to see if we could find someone or the telescope but we didn’t.
The only logical conclusion was that it was at the other pier, the one that had originally been used by the fisherman but had now turned into more of a tourist trap. Monterey was the mecca of fishing, most especially sardines as far back as the late 1800’s. The site of the old fisherman’s wharf where we were currently standing was where most of the canning occurred. It had since turned into more of a tourist attraction with cheesy tourist shops, overpriced restaurants, and people trying to sell whale watching excursions.
We had walked down the pier taking our time to see some of the shops, Natalie even went into a shop or two, surprising me. She didn’t buy anything but I saw her eyeing a few T-shirts and wondered if she was thinking of getting one for herself, her mother, or even the crew. There were a few restaurants lining the edge and I thought about asking her if she wanted to have a bite to eat. We had stopped at a local bar-be-que place after we left the aquarium and knew she wasn’t any hungrier than I was.
The area was busy with tourists wandering around, buying souvenirs, eating funnel cake, drinking hot chocolate, or showing their kids the seals that swam along the pier. It was a cool day and it looked like it might rain later but it didn’t seem to bother any of the tourists or Natalie.
It had been strange to be at the aquarium with her, to walk through the exhibits I had gone to with my father, knowing I would never see them with him again. It didn’t bother me that he had taken Natalie there. It only showed me how much he had loved the place and her. I felt as if we had a connection with each other because of my father and it would help us be even closer and be able to help the other with our grief.
She hadn’t cried, not at the funeral, and not whenever we talked about him. I could see the sadness in her eyes but it was like she was afraid to let it show. I didn’t understand it as I had cried like a baby when I had found out and continued to at the most inopportune times. But we all handled grief differently and I knew she was grieving, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
I had seen a bit of it when we were driving to Monterey. I could see that she was keeping it all together so that she didn’t fall apart. I admired her strength but I wondered when it would crumble. It was wrong, but I wanted to be there for her when it happened. Not because it would make her weak but to show her that she could lean on me and that I could be there for her. She didn’t seem like a woman who let anyone in easily. The more I was around her, the more I wanted her to trust me and let me in.
“Okay, so we found the telescope, but there isn’t any envelope or any other clue as to where we are supposed to go next.” Natalie said.
“Are you sure? Did you look everywhere?” I asked.
“Feel free to look,” she said and stepped away from the telescope.
I looked around it and even tried to look under it but there was nothing there. I wondered if there might be a hidden latch or something but I couldn’t find one. I didn’t see my father hiding anything where there was a possibility that someone else might find it. But it didn’t get us any closer to finding out if we were in the right spot or getting our next clue.
“Maybe it’s one of the other ones?” I asked after a moment when I didn’t find anything.
Natalie looked around and walked over to another telescope that was farther away and did the same as she had to the first one, I walked over to the other direction and did it to the two others on that side. When neither of us found anything, we walked back to the first one.
“Well, this is a bust. Maybe it’s in a different place? Or we missed finding one on the other pier?”
“Or it was in the aquarium and we need to go back there?” Natalie asked.
“That isn’t Dad’s style, he would want us to move on to another spot, see something else. This seems like it should be the right place, but we must be missing something,” I said and looked around.
“You two sailors look lost, maybe I can be of assistance,” said a man in a clown outfit with a name tag that said “Boffo.”
I had seen him walking around the pier, trying to get people to buy the balloon animals he was making. The kids seemed to love it. It was a cute and memorable souvenir for a child to have. I hadn’t paid him much mind when I first saw him but his interest in us didn’t seem coincidental.
“Sailors? I would think this is unusual attire for a sailor,” Natalie said.
She stood closer to him and smiled at him. She wasn’t flirting but being friendly. I could see her charisma shining through and watched as she turned on her charm. It was why she had been so great with Dad on the show and why I knew we had to have her continue with the show going forward.
“No more unusual than mine.” Boffo said and did a fancy dance to show off his outfit.
“Yours fits your occupation,” she replied
“And yours doesn’t? Are you not on a grand adventure? You look like you’re ready for it. However, these shoes don't look too comfortable,” he said to Natalie.
She laughed. “Are yours?”
“They are actually, but you didn’t come to the land of Steinbeck and shipwrecks to talk about shoes. What brings you here?” he asked.
“We were hoping to solve a riddle and we thought we had but we haven’t gotten the next clue,” Natalie said with a smile.
“Maybe you aren’t supposed to,” Boffo said.
“This can’t be the end of it. We just started.”
