The Brightside

When the Brightside shines almost everything else pales in comparison. In the Star War series, the Dark Side of the force is anger, fear, aggression and lust for power. The keepers of the dark side prefer to keep their identities secret to make it easier to control others and intimidate the dissatisfied. The Brightside, however, is united and strong - just as in the joined word - but the dark side is divided and broken into pieces.

When Timmy G rolled over the bridge and onto Marco Island, the Brightside was shining. When Timmy arrived at the beach, secured a job, and began working, the Brightside became even brighter.

Timmy G never had a bad day. When he came to work, he was smiling a megawatt beam that never faltered. Inside Timmy G’s every action, even during the craziness of spring break in March, it was Christmastime with a daily focus of peace on earth and goodwill toward others. Of course, there were opponents to Timmy G’s personal brand of sunshine, but the more the critics complained and scuttled away to conjure a doom and gloom response to the Brightside, Timmy Gs’ lack of interest for anything damaging and derogatory became a shield that others began to admire.

As the dreaded specter of spring break loomed closer, orders came down that all of the chaise lounges on the beach must be cleaned. Hundreds of chaise lounges were stacked in anticipation of use but most had not been out in the sunshine since the season before. Because of our balmy and tropical weather, the beach chairs were filthy with sooty mildew.

When the cleaning supplies arrived consisting of mops, buckets with soap, bleach, and a garden hose, Timmy G was the first to step forward and volunteer for the daunting task. “Come on,” he said. “We’ll have a few laughs. We can make this fun.”

Timmy G was right. Because of his Brightside and shining personality, five Beach Boys and Girls joined Timmy in the sunshine and began unstacking chairs and mixing soap and water. A majority of others mumbled curses and criticisms as they retreated into the shadows. At lunchtime, a manager came down to admire the clean and neatly stacked lounges, and the friendly bustle of laughter and comradery coming from the crew of six on the mop and bucket brigade.

“You guys are doing a great job,” the chair manager said as he shaded his eyes. “Is there anything you guys need?”

Timmy G spoke up at once. “We need some hats with wide brims for the sun and boots to keep our feet from getting pruned from the soap and water.”  Abruptly Timmy gestured to the hundreds of chairs that were stacked, waiting, and dirty. “We’ve just gotten started here,” he grinned.

By midafternoon, white rubber boots were making tracks in the sand among the chair cleaning crew and white canvas hats with drawstrings were folded cowboy style above moving mop handles. Soap and water was flying everywhere and choruses of laughter erupted on a regular basis. By late afternoon, beachgoers stopped to take pictures of the delightful crew who posed with the white cowboy hats, the white Goodland Gucci’s, and the soapy mops that were presented like weapons of war against mildew. 

For the next two weeks Timmy G’s cowboy hats and rubber boot cleaning crew laughed, cleaned, and laughed some more. There were others of course, who chose not to volunteer with the Brightside bunch. These were the scoffers who criticized the laughter, the cowboy hats, the fisher-folk boots, and the ridiculous behavior of the immature volunteers.

When the war on mildew was won and the sooty surfaces of 700 chaise lounges was vanquished into spotless perfection, the spring break crowds arrived in record numbers. Among the Beach Boys and Girls that were working, there were six who stood out because of their laughter, their goodwill, and the white cowboy hats they were still wearing.

When Jean L came to Marco, he was smiling. Just like Timmy G, Jean L also never had a bad day. Every event was a celebration and anyone not celebrating life was on a slow boat to nowhere. Jean was a manager of landscaping and tropical plants and was always ready with a kind word of encouragement for anyone. Jean was also ready to shine on the Brightside when his landscaping crew would stumble onto a surprised snake in the bushes, a nest of creepy white frogs living under a rock, or even a hive of angry bees ready to fly out and sting everyone. Jean was afraid of nothing, was always ready to step up where others would not, but it was obvious, Jean L did not care for pessimism and outlooks that favored doom and gloom.

When Dee arrived on Marco, she too was a shining light for the Brightside. Dee’s smile is always contagious and wherever Dee shines her very bright light, the discouraged and downtrodden are lifted at once to a better place. Dee knows no strangers, and to her, every day is a blessing and an opportunity to help others.

During the final days of the chair cleaning crew with the white cowboy hats and the Goodland Gucci’s and the soapy mops that only stopped during uncontrollable laughter, we learned during a lunch break that Timmy G once mistakenly dove into the shallow end of a swimming pool and broke his neck. He was temporarily paralyzed and the doctors did not know if he would ever recover. When prayers were answered, and Timmy G did make a full recovery, he realized there was no further time for doom and gloom and bad days anywhere. 

When Jean L was confronted with the fact that he never seemed to have a bad day, he revealed that he was the only survivor of a helicopter crash during his service in Vietnam. After that day in war, bad days for Jean, were a waste of time and not an option.

Dee was born with heart problems. After many surgeries and growing up with many visits to the ER during childhood, Dee can no longer find the time for a bad day or for anything other than looking to the Brightside.

Tom Williams is a Marco Islander. He is the author of two books: “Lost and Found” and “Surrounded by Thunder - the Story of Darrell Loan and the Rocket Men.” Both books are available on Kindle and Nook.