Last Saturday we went to the beach with our dear friends Courtney and Andre Lundsett, and their family. They are soon moving to Norway to be closer to Andre’s family, so we are trying to spend as much time with them as we can.
So we were at the lovely beach in front of the Hotel del Coronado, enjoying the lovely day. The kids were playing so happily and the weather was perfect. We were at a location that had huge rocks that acted like a jetty, so the kids could climb on them and the water pooled away from the crashing waves, a perfect spot for little kids to play in the water. Axel decided that he didn’t want clothes on, so he ran around naked.
Then all of a sudden we noticed these two African (perhaps Sudanese?) men hiding behind the rocks. They had cameras and huge lenses. They were also talking on their cell phones in a foreign language. I couldn’t see who they were taking pictures of. But then, to my absolute horror, we see Axel standing naked, right in front of the camera guy, pooping. THERE WERE NO WORDS. Mortified. Disgusted. Eck. I was holding Courtney’s baby, so I yelled at Johan to go get him and pick up the poop. Johan argued back to let him finish. We kept yelling at each other, me in embarrassed panic, Johan overly relaxed. Meanwhile I saw that Courtney was sitting next to me, laughing, completely entertained.
Johan went to pick up the poop, and we put Axel’s pants back on. And the guys were still there. Creepy. Lurking behind the rocks with their huge cameras, clearly trying to hide, and tons of kids playing all around them. I told Courtney that I was going to try to go find the lifeguards or call the police. This was too sketchy and it was making me super uncomfortable around the kids. Then I noticed another African couple standing by the water, and the camera guys were taking photos of them. Maybe they were high profile diplomats and the camera men were paparazzi? Or worse, were the couple drug dealers? My mind started to race and Courtney agreed we should tell someone.
At that moment, we saw a policeman walking toward the couple. “Oh good”, I thought, “Someone else notified the cops”. The policeman walked up to the couple, and started to frisk the guy! The paparazzi clicked photos like crazy.
I walked over to Johan and Andre and almost told them to start packing up and get out of here. I started to hear gunshots in my head. Danger! Meanwhile, the cop continued to frisk the fugitive, or whoever he was, in front of the girl.
Then, all of a sudden, the cop pulls something out of the guys’ pocket, shows it to the guy. The guy takes it from the cop, turns to the girl he was with, gets down on one knee, and proposes.
Holy Mary Mother of God, I was just spared a heart attack. Then the paparazzi guys jump out from behind the rocks, a group of girls come running down the beach with tshirts on saying “She Said Yes!”, and in seconds the Drug Bust Gone Bad turned into an engagement party.
This was definitely a time when my instincts completely failed me. But really, whose instincts could have possibly been correct? I just hope they didn't get a photo of Axel pooping.
