Cave of the good stuff

Somewhere there is a cave with the coolest stuff on earth. Only a select few seem to know how to access it. I met some women for lunch a few weeks ago. Their conversation was buzzing away but came to an abrupt halt when another woman walked by. They appeared to be staring at the floor. “Did you see her shoes?” “I didn’t know they even came in that color.” “We should ask her where she got them.” That may have been the only aspect of their chatter I actually related to. For some reason, I thought of Rob. He was part of the big group of single partiers I ran with years ago. The events were usually comprised of renting a hall, hiring a band, dancing and drinking. About half came stag with the remainder showing up as couples. The latter were mostly people in the group who were paired up at the time. Once in a while, we’d go all out and organize an elegant affair at a posh location for a black tie event. For the usual activities, Rob showed up stag and circulated the room. For the special events, he’d bring a drop-dead gorgeous knockout no one had ever met before. Where did he find them? Was there some island where they were bred? You never saw women like these on the street or walking the aisles at Kroger. Or, anywhere else. Maybe on the silver screen, but that’s about it. Yesterday, I paddled my kayak on a local lake. I was idling in a cove, lost in contemplation, when I greeting snapped me out of my reverie. A stranger introduced himself and struck up a conversation. I caught the first part about his being new to the area, but that’s about it. My focus was on his kayak. I was familiar with the model but had never seen a color combination like it. I hadn’t even seen any of those colors available. It was a stunner. “Where did you get that boat?” “Back in Wisconsin where I’m from. I walked into a dealer to browse boats and he showed me this one. He had special ordered it for a customer but the deal fell through. It looked nice, so I bought it.” It looked nice. That’s like saying Hawaii is pleasant. When I got home, I pulled up the manufacturer’s web site and wasn’t surprised that the colors weren’t shown as either standard or optional. Not the first time. I’ve looked at a lot of kayak sites and ordered the best I could find, only to later trip over someone who had the same boat in beautiful colors or combinations that never made it to the brochure. I can live with a select few getting the rare shoes or women. But, I demand to know where they keep these kayaks.