Short Story

Getting Kookie On The Beach

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Six Sentence Story where Denise
encourages us to get creative in just six sentences
incorporating the word “engagement”. Here’s my six.

The idea of my parents chaperoning me to the beach that night was mortifying but I figured I had to suck it up if there was a ghost of a chance of having any fun during this vacation in Surf City, so that night my mother, father and I went for a stroll on the beach, me hanging back about ten feet or so hoping the cool bonfire kids would think I was by myself; music was playing and marshmallows were roasting on long sticks …. everyone was tan and blonde and beautiful …. and that’s when I saw him …. he looked just like Edd ‘Kookie’ Byrnes from ’77 Sunset Strip’  and when he glanced up as we walked by and smiled, I fell hopelessly in love. 

Thankfully, my parents quietly observed the group without their usual compulsion to make conversation and, satisfied what they saw wasn’t a remake of “Reefer Madness”, sat for a while high on a dune delighting in the reflection of the moon on the water; when it was time to go, the three of us walked back to the beach house …. but not before I had a chance to look over my shoulder and give Edd a little wave; he grinned and waved back (I was in heaven) and I knew I had to go to the next bonfire – alone. 

I guess being out in the sun all day must have fried my parent’s brains because, when I nonchalantly asked them the next night if I could walk down to the bonfire by myself for a little while, they actually agreed; all I could think about was seeing Edd again and how relieved I felt that my older sister considered herself “too mature for a teeny-bopper beach party” and didn’t want to tag along.

The group was friendly and waved me over so, as casually as possible, I headed straight for Edd and sat down next to him and someone handed me a cold beer …. my first ever .… which I liked quite a bit; the kids were into Jan and Dean and The Beach Boys …. I was a Beatles girl but I wasn’t going to let that get in the way …. and by the end of the night, Edd and I were holding hands and agreed to meet again the following night. 

That was the most blissful week of my young life …. lots of kissing and petting …. professions of love …. an “engagement ring” fashioned from a Bud Lite pull tab …. but we didn’t go beyond 2nd base; in all my 16 years, I’d never been as happy or excited to be with someone as I was with Edd.

At the end of the week we exchanged phone numbers and promised to call each other but that didn’t happened and it’s ok …. I never really thought it would …. I’m content with the memory; one thing I’m sure of is none of my friends will ever be able to say they spent a week making out on the beach with Edd ‘Kookie’ Byrnes.

NAR©2024

Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!


This is a really awful song called “Like, I Love You” by Edd ‘Kookie’ Byrnes and Joanie Sommers.

Here’s the theme song for the TV show,  “77 Sunset Strip”.

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

43 thoughts on “Getting Kookie On The Beach”

  6. “Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb...” was totally a ‘real’ song*

    I take from your flashback a lesson for my writer-self, “create interesting and engaging characters and they will read/watch.

    Hell, sixty-four years later, the carhop on a tv show is still remembered.

    *Full Disclosure: while I remembered the character (and song) I had to consult sources to find out it was co-written and sung by Connie Stevens

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    1. “If you build it…..” Thanks muchly.

      Whether Edd Byrnes ever did anything else in his entire life is (sadly) totally irrelevant as he will forever be remembered as that overly-cool car hop with a hair-combing obsession on a slick and innovative TV show.

      Connie Stevens. Yeah. Res ipsa loquitur, dude!

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      Reply

    1. So glad to know you liked this one, sis! I was picturing you mumbling “frickin’ run-on sentences!” 😂😂

      Oh man! Sweet, romantic, dreamy summer love on the beach! A rite of passage like no other. Am I right? ❤️‍🔥

      Tanti grazi, caru amicu (a little pure Sicilian for your Thursday) 😎

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. damn straight, yo

        that’s why god invented semicolons

        besides, even Dick and Jane, as complex and nuanced characters as are needed to meet the demands of the ReaderNation, would, at times get all Melville on a story-ette*.

        *not a ‘real’ genre

        Liked by 4 people

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      1. GASP!!! Cheating?? Why I never!! A dagger to my heart! ♡

        Seriously, It’s a challenge, not a game. Is there exaggeration? You bet! That’s the fun. It’s also not easy to maintain some sort of consciousness.

        Think Jack Kerouac. On the road to the hop, punctuation in the trunk.

        We go long and big here or we go home. I invite you and Fandango to the hop.

        Giddy up!

        😎

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. Buahahahaha! Poor drama queen.

          I know and it is fun.

          Never did read him. I know, I know. I have no culture.

          I dunno that I wanna add another challenge 😉

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

                1. Buahahaha! Hey, you like what YOU like and I’ll not watch it if I don’t like… 😉 I thought the damn thing would never end 😉
                  Robert, my Italiano friend, LOVES it and owns a copy.

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