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On an isolated beach in Australia, surfer CHARLEY WILLIAMS rides a wave.  He is good looking and the picture of health.  When he reaches the beach, he coughs.  He comes out of the water and we hear flies buzzing.  He doesn’t see a dead seagull that’s right by him.  He goes to a rundown shack that surfers use.  Nearby AMES SMITH is putting his surfboard on his roof rack.  He says he has an eight hour drive to Sydney and has a plane to catch in the morning.  He coughs and shakes hands with Williams and says he’ll see him in Baja the next month.  Ames heads into the shack as Williams drives off.  In nearby brush, a dead dog and four or five more dead seagulls lay in the grass.  Ames is at the airport the next day hustling through the terminal.  He is pale and sweating.  He gets to the gate and the ticket agent tells him that the plane has already boarded.  He begs to get on by saying he’s seeing his folks for the first time in a year.  She gets him on the plane.   more