A visceral terror gripped my soul as I stared out at the endless expanse of water before me. Every way I turned there was nothing but blue waters that went down into the depths and out of my sight. Desperately I clung to the small floating craft that was keeping me from a watery grave, though who knew how much longer it would sustain me above the waters...
This was all my fault, I’d let myself drift too far. And with no oars to take me back to the safety of the shore I was doomed! I’d tried kicking to bring me back to the protection of the small cove I’d left, but my legs grew tired and I made no headway against the rough waters.
Exhausted, and devoid of hope, I collapsed onto my small craft to sob. I only hoped that the end would come swiftly when it did.
Suddenly my craft started to move and I raised my face from the plastic to look past the head of my inflatable giraffe toy. There, haloed in sunlight, was my savior!
“Jimmy,” my dad called as he towed me out of the middle of the pool, “didn’t you hear the lifeguard calling? It’s time for a break, we need to get out of the pool for a bit.” My floatie scrapped the shallow bottom of the pool and I jumped off in glee, rushing to embrace my father. I clung to his legs and swore I’d never try to get into the big kid area of the pool again!
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