Lifeguard on Duty

I am no fan of the Atlantic.

Yet, I hold a deep respect for the old girl.

As did my parents.

Although my brother and I were both strong swimmers, our mother and father did not allow us to wade in the surf past our ankles.

One ridiculously hot beach day, the heat (or our incessant nagging) finally got to them both as the gift of the sea was bestowed upon us. We plunged into the water, two deliriously happy specks engulfed by a glorious expanse of teeming life.

Mom used lunch to lure us back and I didn't need to be asked twice. My brother needed more than a peanut butter sandwich to drag him out of the water, so I headed in to get back-up in the form of our father.

Three steps out of the water, I noticed my mother scramble off the blanket, stand and point toward the water. Her face is contorted. She is screaming. My eyes follow my dad as he screams by me, yelling my brother's name over and over.

A shark swims between my brother and shore. Caught in the tide, this bad boy cut the surface with razor precision, back and forth, back and forth as my father paces the beach, back and forth, back and forth, never taking his eyes off my bobbing brother.

A small crowd gathers. One bystander smacks the water further down the shoreline, successfully attracting the shark's attention. My dad seized the moment. Swimming furiously to my totally unaware brother, he pulls his first born son safely past the shark and into our mom's frantic grip.

That was the last time we ever swam in the ocean as children.

My parents let their guard down that long ago day on Canova Beach.

With no lifeguard on duty, not such a great decision.

I think it pays to have a second set of eyes.

Support keeping lifeguards in the big chair.