The Ten-Year-Old Surf Teacher

Maxim was forty years old, and he had never stood on a surfboard. On a short trip to a beach town, he saw a sign that said "Beginner lessons, every morning". His wife was reading a novel under an umbrella.

"Go," she said. "You have been talking about it for ten years."

The instructor was a tall woman with sun-dried hair and a very patient voice. On the sand, she explained the basics: lie down, paddle, push up, stand. It sounded easy. In the water, it wasn't. Maxim paddled, he jumped, and the board flew out from under him. Then he did it again.

He swallowed more sea water than he thought possible. After an hour, his shoulders hurt, and his pride hurt even more.

On the beach, the instructor's daughter was sitting on a towel with a small board beside her. She was about ten years old, and she was watching him with the serious face of a judge. After his eleventh fall, she put her hands around her mouth.

"Your feet are too close together!" she shouted. "And you keep looking at them. Don't look at your feet!"

Maxim wiped the water from his face. A ten-year-old was giving him orders, and she was right. On the next wave, he moved his feet apart. He stayed up for almost a second before the board threw him off.

"Better!" she shouted. "Look at the beach! Bend your knees like you're sitting on a chair!"

For the next hour, she called out her tips between sips of hot chocolate. "Wait for a big one." "Don't stand up too early." "You're thinking too much." Her mother laughed and let her continue. Maxim was too tired to be embarrassed, and he began to do exactly what she said.

At the end of the lesson, the instructor said, "Last wave." Maxim almost said no. His arms felt like wet rope. But the girl on the sand raised both thumbs, so he paddled out one more time.

The wave lifted him gently. He pushed up, put his feet apart, bent his knees, and looked at the beach. One second, two seconds, three seconds. He was standing, and the whole sea was carrying him. Then he lost his balance and fell with a huge splash.

When he came up, the girl was on her feet, clapping with her arms above her head.

"Three seconds!" she shouted. "I counted!"

"You're hired as my coach," Maxim shouted back. "Same time tomorrow?"