He didn’t want to forget this moment for the rest of his life. He kept thinking of standing on the podium, holding the trophy up with both of his hands as the crowd roared his name. It had been just like a scene from a movie. He could still see the audience throwing their hands in the air, calling out for him. The trophy was placed in his hands as they shivered with excitement. He didn’t want to put it down, ever. He was still relinquishing in his thoughts when they were suddenly interrupted by a loud, piercing scream.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
He looked to his left and then to his right. He couldn’t find where the deadening tone was coming from. He stood up and picked up his board, looking out into the ocean. He saw a small girl, who looked to be about four or five years old, jumping up and down and waving her hands. She was too far away for him to understand what she had been screaming. From the way she was panicking, he could tell that she was in deep trouble. He threw the board under his arm and darted to the ocean as fast as his feet could take him. If he slowed down, he knew he wouldn’t make it in time.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Help me! Somebody help me!” She cried.
“Hang on! I’m coming!” He yelled as he ran faster. Looking all around him, he didn’t see a lifeguard anywhere near. He never understood why they were never around, when they were truly needed. They always made time to sunbathe or flirt with the opposite sex; but when someone was in danger, they were nowhere to be found. There weren’t many people on the beach, he noticed now. They must have all cleared out after the competition was over. He didn’t even see a parent for the poor child that was stuck in the dangerous current.
He raced faster and faster to get to her side. When he finally got into the water, he plunged underneath. Getting on top of his board, he paddled forcefully with his hands cupping the water carefully. He could almost see the blond locks of the child, as the waves were crashing down on her head. He knew she would end up drowning if he didn’t reach her in the next few minutes.
“Hurry, grab my board!” He yelled as he jumped off the board and pulled it out towards her. “You need to grab it, or you will keep getting sucked under.”
“I can’t!” She yelled crying. “I’m so tired. I’ve been stuck out here a long time! I just want my Mommy!”
“Grab on to the board, use all the might that you have left. We’ll find your Mommy, but I just need you to grab this board so I can get you out of here.”
“I can’t do it!” She submerged under the water once more, losing her breath. She came up out of the water coughing hard and choking.
“You can do this! Just reach out a little further and grab the board.” He looked at her earnestly, pleading with her to understand that he was trying to save her life. “You can do this. Please you have to. The current will end up killing you. I want to help you.”
She paddled along in the current, her eyes widening at the possibility of drowning. She kicked as hard as she could, swimming with all of her might to get closer to Marc’s board. Her little hand reached out and grabbed the tail end of his board. Once she held on, he grabbed the front end of the board and started pulling her and the board out as quickly as he could. When they had reached a shallower part of the ocean, he went to the back of the board and pulled her body completely on top of the board. He wanted her to be able to breathe again and calm down from her tough fight.
He looked at her little body sitting lifeless on top of his prize winning surfboard. Feeling bad for her, he felt a tear roll down his eyes. He had tried so hard to save her, but there she was lying motionless not making a sound. Picking up the pace, he could see the shore now. He wanted to get back and help her as soon as possible. He plunged underwater, with only his hand displaced above the surface to keep leading the board back to shore. As he turned to his left, he saw a gray fin pop up from under the water.
“Shark,” He murmured to himself as he breathed in an enormous amount of air. “This can’t be happening. Not when I am this close to the shore.”
He tried picking up the pace again, in an effort to get closer at a faster speed. He was so close to the shore that his shoulders, chest and the top of his swim trunks were no longer inundated in water. Looking to his left again, he noticed the fin was nowhere in sight anymore. He released a large breath and felt himself relax. At least he had avoided one horrible misstep today. Pulling the board out of the water was tricky, but he used all of his strength and saved the girl from the rough seas. He saw her eyes fluttering and felt his heart fill with hope. She opened her eyes and stared at him in wonder.
“Who are you?” She asked quietly.
“I am Marc. I’m thirteen years old. I’m a surfer. I saw you struggling out in the ocean, so I went to go rescue you.”
“What happened?” She held her hand to her head in pain.
“You looked to have been stuck in the current. That often happens when you go far out in the ocean like that. Are you okay?” He asked concerned.
“I’m okay. I’m starting to remember now.” She sat up, her eyes leaving this world for another. “I was swimming out in the ocean. I was having a lot of fun. Then I saw a gray fin. I thought it was a dolphin, so I swam further out. The fin kept swimming further away, so I kept going further out. Before I knew it, I was stuck in really big waves. I kept kicking my feet and swimming as hard as I could, but I couldn’t leave the spot. No matter what I did, I couldn’t leave. I thought I was going to be stuck out there forever.” Her eyes grew sad as she put her hands through her wet, tangled blond hair.
“Yeah, it’s never good to swim out too far. Usually the current will just suck you in and eat you up alive. Also I think that gray fin was a shark. I saw it too, when I was coming back to bring you to the shore. I was worried it was going to attack us, but for some reason it decided not to. At least we lucked out there. I am glad you are okay. Do you have a parent or guardian that I could call to come get you? I can also call the hospital, if you think you need to see a doctor. Just let me know what I can do to help. I’ll do whatever I can.”
“You saved my life, Marc. I can’t thank you enough. I would have died out there if it wasn’t for you.” She looked in his eyes and gave him a small, childish smile.
Marc shrugged in disagreement and modesty.
“I don’t need to go to the hospital, I am fine now. I actually live a few streets away from here. My mother doesn’t know I came down here. She would never let me go to the beach alone. She would be furious with me if she found out that I went swimming in the ocean without her.”
“Do you want me to walk you back? Are you sure you don’t need anything? I just want to make sure you are okay.”
“I think I can make it. Thanks for everything Marc.” She stood up and gave him a wet hug as he smiled. “You saved my life. You are a hero.”
“Oh, stop. Really. It wasn’t a big deal. I just saw someone in trouble and I wanted to help.” He stated modestly again.
“It’s a big deal to me.” Her brown eyes trembled with gratification. “Thank you again. I’ll see you around, Marc.”
She walked off slowly and ran up to the stairs. He watched her from the distance to make sure she was still okay. After her shadow disappeared, he started walking off the beach as well. He wondered where his dad was. It seemed like it had been forever since he last saw him. Once he was on the parking lot, he traced his dad’s car. He wasn’t in it. Confusedly, he started looking around the parking lot and called out for his father.
“Dad? Are you around here?” He cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting as loud as he could.
He still didn’t see his father. He started to worry that something bad had happened to him. The sun was starting to set and the beach had cleared out for the most part. He hadn’t seen his father near the water, he had no clue where he could have gone. It had been a long time and Marc knew that he had probably gotten restless after waiting so long. It would have been hard for anyone to be patient for that long of a time.
“Dad?” He called ou
t again to the sea of abandoned cars.
To his left he saw a figure approaching. He looked closer. Squinting his eyes, he could barely see the figure with the sun blasting into his eyes. The figure moved briskly and had a pep to his step. It indeed was his father.
“Son, there you are. I am so proud of you. You are a champion.” He said as he threw Marc into his arms.
“I know, I know Dad. I won a surfing competition. It’s great.” Marc said distractedly, still thinking of the incident that happened just moments ago.
“I don’t mean the competition, Son.” He looked straight into his child’s eyes. “I saw what you just did. The way you ran out into the ocean and risked your life to save that girl. You overcame waves, a shark and your fears. You are a true champion.”
“Nah, I just did what anyone else would have done in my position. I saved someone who needed help.”
“Don’t be so modest. What you did there is quite remarkable. You are a conqueror. You have the makings of a true hero.”
“All right Dad, maybe I did do something great. I’ll take that at least.” He looked out at the ocean from the parking lot, watching the sun set into the horizon.
“What you did makes me proud to be your father. While you were the greatest surfing champ today, what you just did there, that makes me feel like I accomplished my job as a dad. You are strong and fearless. You help others in need. You are true to yourself.”
“Thanks. Dad, you know it’s all because of you. I am who I am because of you. Without you I would be nothing,” He moved aside from his dad and started walking towards the car. “Let’s go home. I’m pretty tired. I need to eat and then rest.”
“Nonsense. You were blessed with a good soul. You always do the right thing.” He opened the car door. “Home it is. Let’s get the hero something to eat and some sleep.”
Marc smiled as he looked out into the sunset, recalling the day’s events. He felt good. Successful even. It wasn’t because he had nailed a 360 or an Ariel. It wasn’t because he was a Junior Surf Champion. He had saved a life. A young girl, who had the rest of her life to live would now live on to see another day. A mother would be able to hold her child at night instead of crying longing tears. That’s what meant the most to him.
A fin swimming quickly by his face snapped him out of his flashback. The sharks were so close, he could reach out and touch them if he wanted to. He didn’t want to of course, but he did want to take a closer look at these dangerous creatures. Moving closer to the edge of the cage, he peered out at the sharks. He saw one in the middle of the other two. She appeared to have the crooked fin that Chris had talked about before they went down.
“Cathy, isn’t that Mandy?” He asked quickly. “She’s so close to us right now. We should try to tag her.”
“Yep, that’s her. I know it for sure. She has the key shaped fin.” She looked at the sharks as the neared by the cage, grabbing for the tuna on the line. Mandy plunged towards them and tried to eat the fish in one large gulp. The fish lay half-eaten, ready for the next attack. “I want to tag her, it’s the perfect time. She’s going to take another bite out of this fish and she will be so close to us. I just haven’t heard anything from Chris yet.”
“Hey, Chris? Should we tag Mandy now? She’s right next to us.” Marc asked quickly, pleading for Chris to answer as fast as he could. He knew that time was running out and they needed to tag Mandy while she was still there.
“Chris?” Cathy cried desperately into her speaker inside the hood of her mask. “Are you still with us Chris? We need to know if we can tag Mandy now. We haven’t heard any of your instructions!”
“Chris?” Marc added into the line, he looked at Cathy exasperated.
“I don’t think he’s there anymore. All I hear is static. I think the microphone system went out somehow.” Cathy stated with certainty.
“Well, what do we do now? Should we go back up now?” He questioned nervously.
“No. I know they are going to pull us up soon, since they lost connection on the speakers. I am not giving up on tagging Mandy. I have waited too long for this opportunity and I am going to take it.”
“Cathy, are you sure you know what you are doing? We could be seriously hurt if you don’t.” He said with tension.
“I know what I am doing I promise.” She called back confidently. “Now hand me the tagging needle and applicator.”
“I hope you are sure about this. You’re making me really uneasy.” He opened up his diving pouch and took out the equipment. Handing it over to her, he felt his stomach move. He knew he was getting nauseous, but he didn’t want to say anything to ruin the tagging for Cathy. Mandy swirled up in the water, attacking the hanging tuna for the third time. She was right in front of their faces and he knew it was the perfect time to tag her. “Cathy, now is the time. Tag her!” He shouted.
“Calm down. I need you to relax,” She said still fully composed and controlled. “I need to wait until she stops moving around so briskly. Once she is still and calm, I will reach out and tag her. I need to be able to reach the back of her dorsal fin to tag her correctly.”
He backed away from the front end of the cage and moved closer to the middle so he could still see, but not interfere with what she was doing. “Do your thing. I trust you.”
Mandy finished eating the tuna and sped away from the front of the cage. She still could sense the sweet smell of fish and kept circling the cage, hoping that more tuna would come about. Slowing passing the side of the cage, she stopped right at Cathy and just stared at her. Cathy took the applicator in her dive glove and stuck her hand outside of the cage. She inserted the needle into the back end of Mandy’s dorsal fin. She inserted the tagging dart at an angle towards the head fin of Mandy. It went in smoothly. Mandy didn’t appear to think so. She started roughhousing, trying to swim away as fast as she could. Cathy’s hand was still on the applicator as she was trying to pull it back into the cage.
“Marc!” She shrieked. “Hurry help me take it out!”
He swam closer to Cathy’s side and pulled Cathy back with all of his might. She moved into his arms as he closed in on the shark. With steady hands, he pulled out the applicator making sure that the tagging dart was still fastened on to Mandy’s dorsal fin. Mandy swam away as fast as she could, forcing the other sharks to scatter as well. Cathy breathed in a huge sigh of relief as she looked at Marc in gratitude.
“You saved my life.” She said breathlessly. “You saved Mandy too.”
“It’s not a big deal, I knew you were in danger. I needed to help you.”
“You’re too modest. It is a big deal. You are a hero.” She stated admiringly as the cage slowly started to move out of the water. She was glad that the incident was over. They had tagged Mandy, even though it had been a struggle. She could barely speak. She was so out of breath from fighting her hardest to do what she was meant to do. By tagging Mandy, they would be able to track her whereabouts and figure out shark patterns better. Looking up, she could see the light from above. They had reached the surface.
It didn’t take long for the crew to pull in the cage to the boat. The team looked worried and frazzled. She attributed that to the microphone system going completely out. What horrible timing that had been. They had just been about to tag Mandy and Chris was gone. Without Marc by her side, she wouldn’t have known what to do. He had brought out her fearless confidence, then he had saved her life. She was grateful to have him in her life. Chris was rushing over to them as she stepped out of the cage with Marc. She didn’t feel like talking. She was out of breath, still in shock and she knew he would probably get frustrated with her for tagging Mandy without his permission.
“Are you guys okay? The speaker system went out. I’m not sure what happened. That’s never happened before.” He said looking alarmed.
Marc looked at Cathy, sensing her shock. He turned back to Chris. “Yeah, we are fine. It just got a little rough down there once your speaker went out. Luckily Cathy and I could
still hear each other. We actually got around to tagging Mandy before you pulled us out. The tag dart should still be in her dorsal fin.”
“You tagged Mandy without my help?” He spoke with defiance. “How did you even manage that? It’s a dangerous task to take on. Especially without any assistance.”
“It was my idea. I know it was probably idiotic, but I figured since we were already down there we should just tag her. We didn’t want to let you or the rest of the Shark Savers crew down. Cathy and I worked together. It wasn’t too bad of a fight. Mandy didn’t like the needle application obviously and she did fight us a bit after we inserted it. We ended up pulling it out quickly enough for her not to attack or hurt us.”
“Well, I am glad it worked out. We will have to track her later. And are you sure it was your idea? This sounds a lot like something Cathy would do,” He said looking directly at her. “She’s fearless and she never gives up on a task given to her.”
“No, it was my idea. I…” He started.
“It’s okay Marc, you don’t have to take the blame for me,” She said as she turned towards Chris. “It was my idea. I know I shouldn’t have done it and I am sorry. I just wanted to tag her badly.”
“Don’t be too sorry. You did a good job.” He patted her on the back. “Next time, just wait for my instructions. Hopefully we won’t have any more speaker issues in the future. And just to let you know, you are probably one of my best divers. I can’t afford to lose you. Nobody else is as courageous and daring as you, just know when to hold it back. Sometimes you can take it too far, to the point where you put yourself and others in danger.”
Shark Lover Page 9