The salty sea is overwhelming, all I taste is the salty Atlantic. I’m trying so hard to paddle but the bottom of this evil sea won’t let me free. It feels as if I am being held down to the bottom by heavy metal chains; ouf. I pop my head up for air and get pulled back under.
It was a beautiful day, sun was shining, bird were singing. It was 12:58 when we finally arrived at the beach. Teenagers were jumping off the wharf into the warm water; I’d hoped to be like them one day. I picked a spot to spread my towel upon. My throat was dry; I took a sip of my lemonade before putting it in the efficient cooler. I was feeling courageous as well as fearless. Today, I was going to learn to swim, I thought.
“Mom I’m going in the water.” “Alright darling, although no deeper than your hip!” That was always the rule, I knew that, yet I didn’t care; after all, I was fearless in addition to courageous. I had already taken a lesson and knew what I was doing, I was able to do this. I ran down to the water; kicking up sand with every step. Finally I made it into the edge of water, I submerged my toes, then my ankles, then my calves, until I reached my hips however I did not stop. Seagulls were screaming as if to tell me something perhaps I should have listened to them. I reached my elbows and had lifted my feet. I wasn’t quite floating but, almost. I had swallowed small gulps of the salty dehydrating ocean. I paddled my hands and feet, slap, clap, splat; at this point I was already progressing. Proudness took over my body. I was a big kid; I was swimming!
Or so I thought, until I got sucked into the bottom of the sea, glug glugglug, I attempted to paddle harder when in fact it didn’t do much. And here I am, drowning. I’ve definitely had my daily dose of sodium; yucchh. The sun rays beam thru the water as I propel my head gasping for air. Sand tickles my toes as it eats me alive. Why did I think I could do this? I should have listened to mom. I didn’t know how to swim and evidently this wasn’t the time let alone the place to learn. I’ve been holding my breath for aslong as I can remember now, my head is pounding, and I’m getting dizzy. I am going to die; I didn’t come here expecting to die but clearly, it’s happening.
The loud sound of a whistle pierces my ears. I push extra hard and maximize my hands and feet movement, my head bobs up for air, gasp. I see a flash of red. The turbulences make it impossible to identify the blob but it seems to be moving towards me. I feel light headed when all of a sudden something grabs my hands and forces them to hold on to something solid all at once I am now being counter tugged by something other than the ocean. Eureka, that red blob is actually an orange torpedo rescue buoy being held by a lifeguard. He is pulling me but the sandy ocean bottom is not budging. Finally after what seems like a lifetime, the sand finally lets me go. I am being rescued.