A Bad Day for a Swim

My family and I were laying on the river-side relaxing. It was getting later in  the day, and the temperature was cooling down from 80°F to about 75°F. Little did we know our day was about to get a whole lot worse. My two year old brother, Grant, launched himself off the shore, sinking faster than I thought possible. How naive we were, to think a little toddler wouldn’t do something stupid. It was like my brain malfunctioned, I didn’t know what to do and I was quite dumbfounded at the time to what had happened. My father’s voice rang out like a gunshot

“Who is going af-..”

“I’ll go”, my Mom hastily spat out the words before diving in the ominously calm, dark water. If you don’t know my mom, she seems very calm but she is a very nervous person, and like all mothers she has that sixth sense that tells when her children are in danger. She was practically in the water before Grant. My mom isn’t the strongest swimmer around, she doesn't even like to swim all the way across the river to the jumping rocks,but I think the adrenaline with her baby being in danger gave her an inhuman amount of strength and courage. Time slowed to a stop. Mom was underwater searching for what seemed like eternity, the fear twisting a sickly black knot inside my stomach, poisoning the vacation. I could see her under the water looking and feeling around for Grant, the bubbles floating up to the surface and exploding, my brother’s lifeline slowly ticking away. I could hear my heart beating in my ears, and the adrenaline gave me superhuman senses. I could taste the dusty dry air. I could feel the atmosphere buzzing with the tide of mosquitoes that come with the dark, and worst of all I could see the events unfolding in front of me. I could tell my dad was torn between staying on shore or joining the frantic search for my brother. I remember thinking to myself: My brother is so little, let him live through this safely. Time was running out,

“Dad, can babies hold their breath?” I quietly asked

My father muttered an unenthusiastic”yes.”

Grant just wanted to swim like the rest of us, but he doesn’t know how, and he doesn’t float. Then Mom plunged out of the water like a superhero with my brother in her arms and time snapped back into place.

“Wow, you saved him!”, I said breaking the silence. Mom is so great, she saved my little baby brother, my four year old consciousness thought. My mom in all her heroic glory sat down with her baby boy cradled in her arms. The sweet smell of the air and beauty of the impending dusk seemed to mockingly laugh at us, as if to tell us about how our day had almost come to a tragic end.

My dad said what we were all thinking, “let’s go back to the campsite, make dinner, and try to relax.”

That was my summer vacation nine years ago. My family was out camping in Petrolia, California. It was a majestic day, with the sun beating down like mighty Hephaestus, with Petrolia in the grips of his furnace. I can remember the conversations before that terrible turn of events.

    “I’m so glad we could take this family trip, I love being together” my Dad said blissfully.

“ Yeah, and the weather is so hot it’s great, it makes the water so refreshing.” My mom replied. At four years old I was quite talkative, but I have never really told anyone about this situation. Even at four I had a photographic memory and so to this day I am still haunted by that traumatic incident. I don’t hate Petrolia, in fact we have gone back many times after that event, but slowly it has seem to pull it’s tendrils of memories and experiences out of our lives. We haven't gone back there in at least five years and I am glad,because I think even if it is a nice relaxing place, it will always be the place where my brother almost drown. Despite that I am still haunted by this experience. It seems like just a memory now, and in my minds eye it could easily be a very realistic dream instead of a real life event.