This is my post for #weekend #freewrite prompt Horrific by
I lived at the inlet for my first 15 years sometime in the 1960s there was a horrific thing that happened. There was a man, woman their daughter and their nephew, they came there to camp and they had some leather wallets and purses that they handmade. My Dad bought some from them to resale in his store. I have one of the purses.
They went down to what we called the point of the inlet, the tide was ebbing and the little boy got in over his head, the little girl tried to reach him but she got in trouble with the tide. The parents saw what was happening and the Father dove into the water, it was shallow where he dove and he broke his neck and died. the Mother reached the girl but could not find the boy. By this time Dad was alerted to this happening and was giving the little girl CPR and got her back to life before an ambulance could get there. They searched for the boy's body for days, I think he went right out the inlet with the ebb tide.
While all that was going on, I was on the dock with this old couple who came to the inlet every weekend to fish. They had the old-style aluminum folding chairs. The old man went to cast his rod and the chair folded up on him and he went in the inlet. My Dad always told me to never jump in the water to save someone unless I had a life ring or rope tied to me and the dock, he said in their panic they will drown me. When the old man went over that thought came to my mind. With the tide ebbing I ran past him and climbed down a piling and stuck my leg out for him to grab, which he did and I got him back on the dock, I think I was 12 or 13 years old. His wife kept yelling get his hat, so I dove in an swam to his hat which was pretty far away by this time. I brought his hat back to him. Then I dove back in and found his rod and reel and gave it back to him. They came to the inlet the next weekend and the old man gave me a dollar and thanked me for all I did. They were very poor people and a dollar was a lot to them, I told them I did not want money for it but he insisted I take it. A month later I found out the old man was mowing his yard and somehow his push lawnmower ran over his legs and he laid in the yard and bled to death, his wife wondered what was taking so long and went to check on him and she found him.
It has always bothered me that while I was saving the old man, getting his hat and diving for his fishing pole, that little boy floated by me. I think he was already passed on by that time but it still bothers me.....
Today I fished I caught 21 trout that weighed 34 pounds