Beach Incident

By SG
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Our whole family decided to go for an outing at the beach. I was elated as it was not very often that we had a chance to go to the beach. Soon we were in the family car and heading for the beach.

When we got there, we saw a crowd of people standing at the beach pointing and shouting at something in the water. I squinted to see what the pointing and shouting was all about. It was a little boy in the water, thrashing about. It seemed as if he was about to drown!

My blood froze as icy fingers of fear crawled down my spine. My mind was numbed with shock. Oh why did this have to happen today? Just then, a person ran past me and jumped into the sea. I thought he looked strangely familiar. Before I could figure out who it was, Mom gave me the answer by exclaiming,” Your Daddy, my hero!” I was so proud of him, but in another second, I felt a pang of uneasiness. As Dad swam over to the little boy, the boy kicked and splashed.

“Dad must be having a hard time!” I thought.

Dad tried to calm the little boy down, but his efforts were in vain. The boy paid no attention and screamed and kicked wildly. Dad had difficulty keeping his head up in the water as he gasped for breath, losing air and energy at the same time. My sister held on to my hand tightly.

“I’m scared. Will Daddy be okay?” she whimpered.

I assured her that everything would be fine and told her not to worry, but my voice quivered as I spoke.

“Am I as sure as I think I am?” I thought as I watched, sick with anxiety.

Finally, Dad managed to grab hold of the boy. At that moment, both of them went under the surface of the water! In another second, Dad burst out of the water with the boy and we all heaved a huge sigh of relief. It was then that we noticed the boy was unconscious. Dad took much effort to drag the boy to the shore. Upon seeing this, the crowd cheered. A lifeguard came over to Dad and said, “That was really brave of you. Here, let me take over.” Dad, who was dripping wet and panting heavily, nodded in agreement.

The lifeguard then proceeded to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the boy. In the midst of it all, a woman pushed through the crowd, screaming hysterically, “My son, my son! Where is he? Is he okay?” Someone from the crowd explained everything that had happened to her and pointed at Dad. After regaining her composure, the woman came over to Dad and expressed her thanks to him for saving her son.

She explained that her son had gone for a swim when he was not supposed to, and it was only just now that she had found out he was missing. At this juncture, the boy had revived and was choking and spluttering. His mother ran to his side.

Apparently someone had called for the ambulance as the loud wailing of sirens could be heard. The woman thanked Dad again once more and got into the ambulance with her son who was on a stretcher. We watched as the ambulance drove away.

Soon after, the crowd dispersed and it was getting dark. We decided to go home for dinner. We talked about the incident as we walked to where our car was parked. What an eventful day!