by Avery Kirk
I reached out as far as I could down into the water, my arm stinging with the cold temperature. I desperately stretched until I felt him under the dock. I grabbed a tiny piece of soaked fabric and pulled it with all my strength. I figured that I would hold his head above water long enough to give me time to scream for help or call someone on my phone.
I pulled him over to me as close to the edge of the dock as I could and began to scream for help. The closest people were in the mini-mansions set way back from the lake.
I couldn’t lift Dave out of the water. I mentally plowed through scenario after potential scenario where I could do something to help him. I couldn’t lift him over my head to get him onto the dock and there was no beach I could drag him to. There was only a metal seawall, no doubt full of rust and other things that made it not a good idea to drag a person across.
As I ran though the scenarios in my mind while I was kneeling at the edge of the dock clenching Dave’s jacket by the collar, I heard a slight plop. My cell phone. It slid out of my pocket and into the water, next to Dave’s leg. I wildly tried to grab it and not lose my grip on Dave. It sank. I felt a pang of desperation but blinked hard to make myself refocus. I glared at the shoreline wondering how I could be alone with the Coast Guard and a herd of neighbors looking for Dave.
Every second was crucial and the situation was feeling more and more hopeless. Only a handful of seconds had passed since I found him, but it felt like I was moving way too slow. Like it was one of my dreams.
I let Dave go for what would hopefully be only be a second and I jumped into the water with him. The cold water stunned me I gasped. I cried out for help as loud as I could although the pressure and shock of the water made me quieter than I wanted to be. I caught a glimpse of Dave’s face and his features were too relaxed and made my stomach sink so I made myself avoid looking at him.
“C’mon, Dave. C’mon. We just have to get you over here then you can get up. I’ll help you, Dave. I’ll help you. I’ve got you. All you have to do is open your eyes and say something. That’s all you have to do. Easy, Dave. No problem, right?”
I moved him as fast as I could over to where the boat was bouncing in the water, rubbing against the dock. The sound of the antique wood on the boat’s hull scraping against the boards on the dock made an eerie sound setting my nerves further on edge.
I pushed Dave through the water toward the swim deck of the boat, screaming for help on the way. Something large underwater tangled in my feet. As I got past that, seaweed was wrapping up on my ankles where my jeans had been raised by the water, slowing me down even more. I tried to lift Dave onto the swim platform but my timing was off. I tried twice to put my strength under him to roll him on the platform, but each time the boat rocked up and I dropped him back into the water, catching him just before he went under it.
I screamed for help the loudest and longest I could this time. Then, when the boat rocked downward I grabbed the swim platform and shoved my body into him to slide him into the platform. It worked. He was finally out of the water. I shoved him hard to keep him from rolling as the boat rocked above me with the movement of the lake. Without warning, my left hand tightened into a fist and I wheeled it from my side with great power to pound him square in his chest. I had no idea what made me do that.
I screamed for help again as I rolled Dave onto his back and straightened his legs out. I fussed with his clothes and talked with him, shaking him every couple seconds.
“Dave, you’re out. See? Now I need you to just wake up. C’mon, Dave. Why were you swimming, Dave? It’s super cold… and this water sucks so bad right now, Dave. Oh my God. How about maybe stay in the boat next time?” my voice shook hard. I looked at the shore and saw movement and heard rushed voices. “It’s OK Dave, I hear people coming. We’re OK.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw a man in jeans come running. He arrived, out of breath.
“What happened?” he said.
“Do you know CPR!?” I shouted at the man, still holding onto the platform as the boat moved up and down.
“Yes, yes,” he murmured. He seemed to be clearing his head once he realized he was needed. “We need to move him though; I can’t do it from there. I can’t fit on there with him.”
Luckily, another two men were just behind him. One jumped into the water to help lift Dave to the dock. Once he was on the dock, the man in jeans moved Dave around and tilted his chin up to begin CPR.
Within about twenty seconds, Dave was breathing. His breathing seemed much faster than usual. I kept waiting for him to sit up and gasp loudly, but that wasn’t at all how it went. Oxygen and a stretcher arrived about two minutes later from the paramedics who showed up. I felt like it took forever. The man who had jumped in the water pulled me over to the ladder and helped me get out. A woman stood near the seawall and waited with a large blanket for me. She sat me down at a nearby picnic table and I watched them load Dave into the ambulance that they’d driven onto the grass. The Coast Guard had also arrived and secured the boat and asked me some questions.
I heard a familiar set of keys jingling and looked over to see my grampa running over to me. I smiled when I saw him so he’d know that I was OK, but his expression was severe. I assured him that I was only cold and nothing else was wrong.
After taking a shower and forcing down some canned soup that my grampa made for me, I went with my grampa to the hospital to check on Dave. Dave was alive and stable. We sat in the waiting room for about half an hour before Dave’s parents arrived. I couldn’t figure out where they would’ve been this whole time. His parents were jerks. I was pretty sure his father hadn’t even looked for him at all.
His father wore a beige fisherman’s hat and a lightweight beige coat. He had beige shoes and old man jeans on with a blue and white plaid dress shirt under his coat. He always frowned and his face was ugly—almost as though anger had done that to him.
I used to say ‘hi’ to him when I was little, but I stopped after a while when he would never respond. He plopped himself in a chair on the opposite wall while Dave’s mother talked with my grampa. We didn’t know much so we didn’t have much to pass along.
After a short time, they decided to admit Dave to the hospital and we were able to go and see him. I went in the room while my grampa and Dave’s parents got the update from Dave’s doctor. I sat there watching Dave sleep and listened to the beep that was his heartbeat. I stood on his right, rubbing his chubby shoulder very gently. The doctor wanted to keep him for a few days just to be sure he was OK. They were going to bring in a psychologist to be certain Dave wasn’t trying to harm himself. I stared at Dave’s father through the doorway and imagined myself punching him in the stomach and then just walking out.
I looked back at Dave. He stirred and opened his eyes. They were open only for a moment before he closed them and fell back to sleep, but seeing him open them on his own without someone opening them to pass a flashlight over them was a great relief. I thought back to the paramedics screaming his name to try to get him back to consciousness.
We left after about an hour of my grampa talking to his parents. His father didn’t say much while we were there; he just sat in the corner of the room looking mad with his arms crossed. His mother cried almost the entire time and asked my grampa a bunch of questions that he would have no way of answering. They rehashed the story of what had happened about six times, adding new details each time. Dave’s mother kissed me on my hands for pulling him out of the water. Then she hugged my head against her stomach, which I found odd.
It was on the way home that I remembered Kevin. He had been waiting for me. I explained our plans to my grampa and what had happened with Lanie. I figured Grampa would be understanding about it, especially after finding out Kevin’s heart had been broken. Plus, he liked Kevin, so even if he didn’t understand, he still probably wouldn’t object to my spending time with him.
As soon as we got home, I called Kevin and told him about Dave. He understood, of cours
e, and wasn’t mad. It also explained why I didn’t answer his repeated phone calls.
I decided to grab the original Superman movie since I owned it, and see if we could salvage any part of the morning’s plan to veg all day. I pulled up into the driveway of Kevin’s house and suddenly felt sad. I was replaying the events of the afternoon in my head and kept picturing the slow image of Dave when I tried and failed the first couple times to pull him out—his relaxed features and vulnerable body at my mercy as I did my best to get him out of the water. The image played over and over in my mind. It haunted me and made me frustrated with myself
After I was able to dull the image or at least distract myself from it, I walked to Kevin’s door and knocked. My whole body ached. He opened it and walked back into the kitchen, still in his black pajama pants and gray T-shirt even though it was late in the afternoon. His T-shirt was partially stuck in the waistband of his pants. He had dark circles under his puffy eyes and his hair was sticking up in every direction. I let the screen door close behind me.
“I wanted to ask you if you’d go to California with me. I’m buying. You know, paying. On me,” I blurted out.
Kevin turned his head toward me before he spun around slowly.
“Huh?” he said. “Wait, how is Dave?”
“He looked OK,” I said, instantly sad as I remembered. “He's stable, they said.” I didn’t bother to tell him that I pulled him out.
“Why the hell would he take the boat out on his own?” Kevin asked.
“I dunno. I mean, he’s an adult. We treat him like he’s younger but he’s not. He knows how old he is. Anyway, he got into a fight with his parents about that very topic. I’m guessing that was why.”
Kevin nodded. “Now what’s this other thing you’re talking about? California?” He rubbed his forehead back and forth with this open hand.
“I have tickets to go. Random, right? I am going to go either way—but I wondered if you might want to go—you know, with me. It’s in like a week and a half. And I’m probably crazy. But, I’ve just decided to go. I actually put a ticket in your name. That part doesn’t really matter. It’s not to pressure you. But it’s just for a long weekend. Not like a week or anything. Quick trip. I still have to mention it to Murray, actually. Well, and my grampa,” I rambled, looking down.
“Is this about the dreams?” he asked, sounding totally lost. He looked exhausted, and with all that had happened today, I’d almost forgotten about his breakup with Lanie. I paused, realizing that I shouldn’t have dropped this on him now.
“You know what? Let’s watch the movie. We can talk about it after. OK?” I didn’t wait for a response. Instead, I popped the movie in, feeling pretty bad that he’d just dealt with female drama the night before and here I’d doubled it.
We sat next to each other on the sofa on the first and third cushions. Kevin’s sofa had a honey-colored, thick-ribbed corduroy cover. I had pulled the ottoman over from the other sitting area so we could use it. Given the way the day had gone, that was the extent of our veg day.
About a third of the way through the movie, Kevin grabbed the remote and paused the movie at the part where Lois, who has the worst luck ever, is about to fall out of the helicopter. He looked over at me.
“I’ll go,” he told me.
“Huh?” I said.
“To California. I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t even know when.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, stretching and making his voice sound funny.
“Why?”
“I haven’t had a vacation in a while, I have flexibility in my work schedule right now and I don’t have a girlfriend to explain it to. And I like hanging out with you. Nothing else matters, especially if you’re going to go either way. So I’m in. When do we leave?”
“Next week, Thursday,” I said. My heart swelled with happiness. “Thank you,” I told him. I gave him a big bear hug while Superman stood frozen on the screen.
I spent the next half-hour talking to Kevin about the trip. He said he wanted to reserve the hotel. I was fine with that as long as he used my credit card for it. We planned to rent a car, which he insisted on paying for. Apart from that, he didn’t ask much about my reasons—yet—and I didn’t volunteer to tell him. We talked a lot about Dave too.
It wasn’t the veg day I was planning and I was bummed about that. But, I was able to get my friend out of the water and talk to my grampa a little. And, Kevin said he would go with me to California. Turned out to be a pretty good day.
Chapter 12: Two Signs
I worked in the morning only for a few hours. I was still sore from pulling Dave out. I’d planned to tell Murray about my trip, thinking I would see him at the house, but he let me finish the job on my own so I didn’t see him.
I’d never finished a job on my own before, but I remembered to leave the customer recommendations sheet on the counter. I’d ensured that the cabinet doors were all the same distance apart, flush with the edges and closed at the same depth. The cabinets were very nicely made so I had to adjust very few.
The kitchen was perfectly square at about 20 feet per side. The cabinets were white with classic half-moon cupped pulls and a butcher block countertop under the wall cabinets and recycled glass counters in brown and blue on the island. Glass doors fronted the corner cabinets and open shelves for display sat on the wall next to the gigantic stove and oven combo.
I grabbed my glass cleaner and gave the doors and counter a final cleaning. I didn’t want to rush through the job, but it was hard not to because I really wanted to get to the grocery store and buy the stuff for Grampa’s dinner as well as try to visit Dave in the hospital on the way home.
By about 3:30, I had all my groceries waiting in the car while I rushed into the hospital to see Dave. In the hallway, outside his room, I heard his signature hollow-sounding voice expressing his irritation at the hospital’s macaroni and cheese. I laughed to myself.
I walked into the room. Dave had been attempting to play cards with a man I’d never seen before.
“Hi, Dave!” I said. I’d brought him a dancing flower toy that I’d found at the grocery store and set it on his table, turning it on. He laughed.
“That’s awesome! Thanks, Melia,” he said. The man stood up, extending his hand to me. I shook it, although he grabbed only my fingers, which I hated. He was a short man in his 50s, maybe. He wore a plaid shirt with a burgundy V-neck sweater vest over it. He had a diamond stud earring in his left ear and a little bit of curly gray hair remaining.
“I’m Tom. I work at the school Dave attends. I came to visit him after I heard what had happened. We’ve been trying to play Euchre, but it just isn’t the same with two non-existent players.” He laughed and pointed to the face-down cards where he and Dave must have been trying to play the other two players’ hands.
I smiled. The man’s face grew serious just as something seemed to occur to him.
“Oh, my goodness—this is Melia?” He looked at Dave.
Dave nodded proudly.
Tom leaned over and shook my hand again with a lot more movement this time.
“I’ve heard so much about you. And your recent heroics too, of course. What an excellent person Dave has as his neighbor. I told him that he’s very lucky for many reasons,” Tom said.
“Oh, thank you,” I said.
“Melia, you saved me,” Dave told me, his eyes watering. He still had a cough, a bandage on his head, and an oxygen tube in his nose but looked fine otherwise. I was desperate for him not to cry.
“Yep, I scooped you out,” I agreed, rubbing his shoulder. I wanted to ask what the hell he was thinking taking the boat out, but I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his teacher. Plus, it didn’t seem like something he would be doing again anytime soon.
Dave put his hands out and seemed to want my hand so I held it out to him. He scooted more upright in his bed and waited for me to give him both hands. His hands were super soft and fluffy in comparison to
mine. He took my first two fingers in both of my hands and laid them across each other. Then he flipped my left hand so my wrist faced the ceiling, curling my fingers into each other. He took his hands away and made the same symbol with his hands.
“Friend,” he said, his voice strangled with emotion.
I looked at him, and tears were streaming down his face. His upper eyelashes stuck together where they were soaked with tears. I was leaning down toward him and he put his hands on both sides of my face and stared at me for a few seconds. He didn’t have to say anything. I knew he was grateful, and I swallowed hard. I studied his features: his soft round eyes, pale skin, unevenly shaven face, and eyes as dark as night with short and black wet eyelashes. Yes, he was my friend—ever since I could remember.
He let go of my face and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. I stood up, swallowing back my tears again and trying not to think about the image that had haunted me before. I replaced it with the newer image of Dave’s face filled with gratitude as he held mine and the new sign he’d taught me. We were quiet for a moment, and then Dave spoke first.
“Oh, hey, Mr. Tom. I forgot. Melia wanted to know a sign. Remember, Melia? Do it for Mr. Tom. Please.”
I had forgotten about that. I felt a little sheepish and I’m sure my body language showed it, but I had asked Dave to check for me. So I did the sign from my dream for the man on the other side of the bed. The crossed wrists in front of my face. I fully expected him to say ‘it doesn’t mean anything.’ He didn’t.
“Oh, um. That means ‘protect,’ I think. Yes, protect,” Tom said, doing the sign with his arms.
“Cool,” Dave said, looking at his teacher. “Like a shield.”
No way. Adrenaline rushed through me. I nodded and stood up.
“Dave, I’m sorry I only had a few minutes. I have to get home. I’m making a big dinner for my grampa for his birthday. All his favorite stuff,” I said. “I’ll see you soon, OK?”