Page 33 of The Very Virile Viking

"Darrell Nolan here. Is that you, Magnus?"

"Yea, 'tis. Greetings."

"I have great news here, my boy."

More grating news. I can hardly contain myself.

"I've just about tied things up with that dick, Dirk."

He has tied the man up? Now, this is interesting.

"Give me a few more days and we should be able to arrange your audition."

"What precisely is an odd-itch-on?"

"Ha, ha, ha! You are such a kidder, Magnus. Really, you are going to be perfect for this role. I just know it. You won't even need a dialect teacher."

"Let me make one thing clear, Dare-All. You are not tying me up."

"What?" Dare-All squawked. "Oh, you and your language act! I keep forgetting. Well, anyhow, don't do anything I wouldn't. Ha, ha, ha! Bye-bye!"

Magnus frowned at the tell-of-own for a long moment before clicking it off. He really did not like Dare-All, nor did he trust him.

"What was that all about?" Torolf asked, jarring him back to the present. "Was it Angela?"

He nodded. "It appears we are going to the beach."

"Why?" Torolf wanted to know.

Magnus shrugged. "To look at the ocean, I suppose."

"This is a strange land," Torolf commented.

Magnus agreed.

Good vibrations (not!)…

Angela was totally confused by this strange group who had entered her life… taken it over, really. And they were strange, no doubt about that.

For example, why were they so surprised by people lying about a sandy beach, getting a suntan, or swimming in the surf, just for the fun of it? Why had the older ones never heard of surfboarding? Or volleyball? And why were they so shocked by the scanty attire females wore when swimming?

She and Magnus were lying on a blanket on the beach in Santa Monica… he on one side in his new boxer-style bathing trunks, and she on the other side in her most conservative one-piece bathing suit, a flame-red maillot cut high on the hip. Actually it was her only bathing suit… one she'd bought for her honeymoon with the Creep aeons ago. In between them was Lida, fast asleep on her tummy, with her adorable diaper-clad rump up in the air. Lida had been like an Energizer bunny, running along the edge of the water and squealing with delight every time a wave came in and wet her toes. Angela was surprised at the time and care Magnus took with the toddler, sitting in the sand to teach her how to dig and make sand castles, after Angela had first shown him how.

"Father," Torolf said, running up to their blanket, sand and water droplets showering them. He dropped his rented surfboard to the ground near their feet. "This is Crystal. We are going up on the boardwalk to buy a Coke. Can I have some paper… uh, money?"

Crystal smiled at all of them. "Afterward, we're going jogging. It's, like, so cool to jog on the beach here.

And the waves are awesome. And Tor is so buff. He's gonna give us some pointers."

"Well, Tor , just do not get too buff," Magnus drawled.

Torolf shot him a look that pretty well translated to, "Faaaa-ther!"

Torolf was a good-looking young man, who closely resembled his father, except that his hair, which was

tied back now with a leather lace, was true blond, whereas Magnus's was light brown with hints of blond.

Torolf was almost the same massive height as his father, too. And they both had wide-shouldered, narrow-waisted, cover-model bodies. You could see why Torolf was having no trouble drawing young women to him here at the beach. Even more women ogled Magnus when he passed by.