The Lost Surfboard

It was a hot Saturday afternoon at Bondi Beach, and the waves were perfect. Mia, who was fifteen, had been surfing since nine in the morning. At about two o'clock she was so hungry that she left her blue surfboard on the sand, next to her towel, and walked up to the ice cream shop.

There was a long line, so she was away for about twenty minutes. When she came back with a chocolate cone in her hand, her towel was still there, but her surfboard had disappeared. Mia looked everywhere. She had saved for a whole year to buy that board, and her name was written on the bottom in black marker.

A young man with a big backpack was sitting a few meters away. "Are you looking for something?" he asked. His name was Ignacio, he was from Valparaiso in Chile, and he was traveling around Australia for six months. "I saw a guy with a blue board about ten minutes ago," he said. "He was walking toward the south end of the beach. He looked a bit nervous."

Mia and Ignacio started walking south. In the sand they found a line of footprints next to a long, straight mark. "Someone was dragging a board here," Ignacio said. "Nobody who surfs a lot carries a board like that. It must be a beginner." A little farther on, they found a rental tag from a surf school lying on the sand. "He must have rented a board this morning," said Mia. "Maybe he lost his own and took mine by mistake."

At the end of the beach there was a group of surf students in the water. Their teacher was shouting instructions from the sand. One student, a tall man with very white skin and a new sunburn, was holding a blue board and falling off it again and again.

When he came out of the water, Mia walked up to him. "Excuse me," she said politely. "I think that's my board." The man looked at the board, then at Mia, and turned red. He turned the board over and saw her name. "Oh no, I'm so sorry!" he said. "I'd left my rental board next to some towels while I was buying a drink. When I came back, I picked up the first blue board I saw. I didn't even look."

His name was Ben, he was from London, and it was his first surfing lesson ever. They walked back together and found his rental board exactly where he had left it, two towels away from Mia's.

Ben felt so bad that he bought ice creams for everybody. "Your board is much better than mine," he said. "I couldn't stand up on it once." Mia laughed. "That's not the board's fault," she said. "But if you want, I can give you some tips tomorrow."