Recognition

A Story by D Muller

“Today is going to be a good day”, Jimmy Collins said to himself as he made his way to the wet sand close to the water at Glenmore Beach to avoid burning his bare feet.

He was probably right, the sky was blue, the sun hot, and Jimmy was on holiday with his parents at Munster, just south of Margate on the South Coast. He had received new fins and swimming goggles for Christmas the day before, and today he was going to try them out in the lagoon.

A good all-rounder, as people liked to say, Jimmy was a handsome boy with good shoulders for an eleven year old. His clear green eyes and open face made people readily smile back at him whenever he walked past them and today was no exception. The crash of the waves, the sun on his back and the sound of people having a good time all around him just added to an already well developed sense of well-being. Yes, today was definitely going to be a good day.

Jimmy walked along the shoreline, swinging his new fins in one hand, the goggles in the other. When he reached the lagoon, he waded in up to his knees to get a feel for the water and to wash the sand off his feet. Moving out again he sat down to pull on his fins and surveyed the scene.

It was ten in the morning, but already the beach was getting busy. The area around the lagoon was popular. It was a great swimming area for everyone. Youngsters and old alike enjoyed it because there were no waves or current to compete with, and teenagers especially enjoyed the great rock jutting out over the water on the opposite side from which they could jump. It was about 5 meters high, and all day long you could see a constant stream of kids climbing up from the one side, and then jumping off the other into the water, screaming and yelling all the way down.

With the fins on his feet and the goggles on his forehead, Jimmy flopped the three final steps into the water and started swimming. It was incredible! He glided through the water like an otter, the fins doubling his speed. He put the goggles on and dived, but the water was muddy and he couldn’t see anything. He moved closer to the beach again and threw the goggles onto the sand.

Jimmy explored the newfound speed that his fins had given him by swimming furiously up and down the length of the lagoon, but after a while he got tired and turned onto his back and floated closer to the shallower end of the water. Then, sitting in water that reached up to his chest, he watched the kids climbing up and jumping off the rock on the opposite side. It looked like fun. He thought he would swim across and try it for himself.

As he swam, he saw a smaller boy trying to tread water at the deep end, and suddenly his head disappeared under the water, only to come up again. The boy saw Jimmy and gargled something. Jimmy actually continued swimming for another three meters or so before he realized that perhaps this boy was in trouble.

Indecision froze him for a split second, but when the boy’s head went under again, he kicked hard with his fins and in a moment he was right next to the boy whose face re-appeared, barely, sticking out his chin to reach for a little air, as his legs obviously couldn’t propel him higher to lift his head completely out of the water.

“Are you OK?” Jimmy asked, holding out his hand.

All he got for an answer was another desperate gargle and it seemed that the boy would sink again. Jimmy grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up, but he didn’t get a good grip, and the arm slipped out of his grasp. The physical contact seemed to galvanize the boy, and he exploded into panicky action, kicking furiously and reaching for Jimmy with flailing arms.

Jimmy was caught off guard and he only had a moment before the boy was on top of him, arms around his neck pushing Jimmy down before he could take a breath.

“Calm down!” he tried to shout but his head was already pushed under and he got a mouth full of water for his trouble. He choked and panicked for a moment, but then he kicked again with his fins and got his head into some fresh air.

The moment he was out, he was pushed under again. The little boy was completely panicked and kept pushing him down. Luckily Jimmy didn’t swallow any water this time, but he felt a quick stab of anger. He pulled the boys arms loose and pushed him, hard. He managed to free himself and came up for air.

Coughing and gasping for air, he saw the boy coming towards him again, his eyes wild, mouth working soundlessly.

“Wait!” he croaked, holding up his hand.

“Help me!” the boy said, reaching out again.

“Wait!” Jimmy said again, but the boy was already on top of him, pushing him under. He was quite a bit bigger than the drowning boy, but he was no match for the strength of panic, and the water was deep, there was no foothold.

This time he was better prepared and he shoved the boy again, but up, and in the direction of the water’s edge. When he was loose, he popped up, and shouted immediately.

“Stop fighting me, I am trying to help you!”

The boy clearly heard him but reached towards him again. This time Jimmy was ready and evaded him easily, his fins giving him the edge.

“I’m going to help you, but you have to stop fighting me!” he almost pleaded and looked at the boy for confirmation.

“OK”, the boy spluttered.

“Take my hand.” Jimmy said, reaching out warily, and this time the boy did what he was told and took hold of Jimmy’s hand.

“Kick with your legs, and I will hold you up and pull you out” Jimmy said, and started kicking strongly with his fins, propelling him and the boy gradually to the edge of the lagoon, under the jumping rock.

In seconds they reached the edge, and Jimmy pushed the boy onto a smaller rock that just cleared the water. He hung onto the side and tried to catch his breath.

After a minute or so, he was breathing evenly and looked up at the boy.

“You idiot, you nearly drowned me!” Jimmy said

The boy’s lips trembled and his eyes filled with tears

“I’m so sorry, but I was scared,” he cried

“I was trying to help you, you a*****e”

“I know, but I was so scared, I just wanted to get out” the boy said crying harder.

“Jeez relax, you’re out, OK, quit crying now” Jimmy said

He heaved himself out of the water and sat next to the boy. Half embarrassed, he put his hand around the boy’s shoulders to reassure him

“Don’t worry, you’re fine, and you’re safe, OK?”

The little boy continued crying and Jimmy sat there with his arm around the boy’s shoulder, for the first time being able to pay attention to his surroundings. He looked around at all the people, but no-one paid any attention to them, which he thought strange. Something big had just happened, surely someone should have noticed? It seemed that no-one did. The kids were splashing and playing and jumping, and the older folks were still floating at the shallow end. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. Everything was still the same with the world.

Jimmy thought about what had just happened and wondered how long it took from the time he saw the drowning boy up to the point when he managed to get him out of the water and onto the rock. To him it felt like a very long time, but it must have been just minutes, or even seconds.

“This boy nearly died!” he wanted to shout.

“This is important! I saved someone’s life!” he wanted to shout, but no-one noticed.

He turned back to the boy, who seemed to be calming down. He was wiping his face with his hands, and his chest hitched every few seconds, but he looked all right.

“What’s your name?” Jimmy asked him, still keeping his hand on the boy’s shoulder, feeling less uncomfortable now, and a little protective. He saved his life after all.

“Davey” the boy said, and looked up at Jimmy with red-rimmed eyes.

“I’m Jimmy. How’re you feeling, Davey?” Jimmy asked

“I’m OK, I guess”, Davey replied.

“Do you think you can make it across to the other side? If I helped you, I mean” Jimmy asked.

“I can swim, you know. I just got tired. I can swim a little bit.” Davey said, almost more to himself than to Jimmy.

“I’m sure you can, Davey, but will you make it across?” Jimmy asked

“I will, if you help me.” Davey said, and looked at Jimmy pleadingly.

“OK, come on. Get in the water and start swimming straight for the other side. I’ll be right beside you. Don’t grab me if you get tired, just take my hand and I will pull you across.”

Davey slid into the water and slowly starting doggy-paddling across the lagoon. He seemed stronger now, but Jimmy stayed close to him and watched warily as they made their way to the other side.

As they got closer, Davey lifted his head a little higher to talk.

“There’s my mom.” He said, pointing with his chin. Jimmy looked ahead and saw a worried looking woman standing close to the water’s edge, looking up and down the lagoon with one hand on her hip and the other over her eyes, shading it from the sun.

“Swim to her” Jimmy said, and changed direction slightly. As they got closer, he suddenly and irrationally felt embarrassed about what had just happened. He didn’t understand the feeling, but it was there nonetheless. He didn’t want to meet this woman.

Tentatively he lowered his legs, and found that it was shallow enough that he could stand.

“We made it, Davey!” He said. Davey looked at him standing up, and grinned.

“Thanks Jimmy, I owe you one” he said

“Nah, it’s OK” Jimmy said, and then added, “Gotta go now, Davey, you just go straight to your mom, OK?

“OK, thanks Jimmy.” Davey said, but Jimmy was already turning away and swimming downstream. He was feeling very uneasy about the whole thing. He knew that he had done a good thing. He saved a boy’s life, so why didn’t he want to meet Davey’s mom? Surely they would be happy to meet the boy who saved their son?

Jimmy swam a distance off and got out of the water amongst a bunch of other kids playing with a ball. He glanced over to where Davey was now standing with his mom, evidently explaining to her what had happened. He must have mentioned Jimmy because the woman lifted her head and scanned the area as if looking for someone.

Jimmy ducked between the children and then sat down to take his fins off. He didn’t understand this conflict inside of him. He wanted go across to the people who were clearly looking for him, stick out his hand and introduce himself. They would obviously be happy to find him and then they could thank him for his good deed. Suddenly he wanted the recognition, he felt good, important, but he was too shy to go and get it. It was almost like sucking up to your teacher, or bragging to your friends. It was just not done.

He walked halfway back to his own mom before he realized that he had left his goggles back at the lagoon. He quickly ran to fetch it, furtively, as if he was trying not to get caught, and then returned to where his mom was sitting, a big, floppy sunhat on her head and white suntan lotion on her face, reading a book.

“Hi Mom”, he said, picking up his towel, and shaking out the sand.

“Downwind, Jimmy! The sand‘s blowing in my face!”

“Sorry Mom”, Jimmy said, and moved to the other side.

“How was the swim, Love?” his mom asked, not taking her eyes off the book

“The water’s great”, Jimmy replied

“And the new fins?” his mom asked from behind the pages.

“They work like a bomb, Mom, they’re awesome!” Jimmy said. He turned over on the sand where he was lying on his towel, and spoke again.

“I saved a boy’s life in the lagoon today.” He said expectantly.

“That’s nice, Jimmy”, his mom replied, turning the page.

The End

© 2014 D Muller

Author's Note

I would like to get a general impression of the story, the writing style and whatever other criticism / opinion you my have

My Review

Would you like to review this Story?
Login | Register

Featured Review

Scribblerlarry

The story isn't bad at all. It was clear where you were going with it from the beginning but then it isn't the sort of story that needs a surprise ending. You might think about getting more emotion into a story like this; both boys should have had moments of absolute, mind bending terror!

I'll want to read more by you.