Summer Lessons (534 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 1 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by miss_behvn (View user info) at 2004-11-17 15:00:52 EST
My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, where, when, how? I continued doing mouth to mouth while Joe did compressions. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and breathe. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and breathe. As I watched his chest compress up and down I looked down his body and knew he wasn't coming back. The white around his lips, the white at the bottom of his feet. Not blue. But white. Then I thought, what a waste of a life. Young and fit and so much ahead of him, a whole life.
He said his name was Clint Black. We believed him, what did we know? We were a
bunch of 19 year olds who were just looking to meet our new co-workers. It was
the summer of 1992 and I was going to be the head guard at the city pool. I had some
of the best times of my life at this pool, but this summer it would be some of the worst
It was orientation and we were getting to know each other. Most of us had worked
there every summer for quite some time, so it was more about scoping out the
newbies more than anything. He was automatically odd because we found out shortly
that his real name was Bill and who Clint Black really was.
The summer went along like all the others, beach parties and affairs and gossip
and general goofing off in between guard rotations. Bill was a loner. He would read
the sports page, run at lunch, while the rest of us swam or played water polo. He
never came to any parties. We nicknamed him Cowboy because he always wore a cowboy
hat and old boots. He was nice and he was polite, but he didn't "fit in".
August 16 turned out to be a day I would never forget. It was Marys birthday, so we
went to the grocery store on our lunch break and bought her a cake. We sat in the
picnic area and ate cake and gossiped. When we reopened after lunch there was a storm
on the horizon. We would do anything to put off work, so we held all the kids while
we looked for lightening.
I went and sat in the guard room. As head guard I was upset that Cowboy was not back
from lunch. Damn he was always late coming back. I would have to talk to him. I noticed
his hat and boots sitting on the floor. "Hey, anyone seen Cowboy?". No one had seen him.
That was odd because he never went anywhere without his boots and hat. Mm, oh well.
I heard the triple whistle, warning a guard was going in for a rescue. By time I got
outside there was someone on th ground, motionless. Two guards were starting CPR. My
mind could not comprehend what was going on. No one had even been in the pool, none
the less long enough to need CPR. Maybe it's a drill? No, they are really doing CPR.
I walked over to the group of guards standing watching two of my coworkers go through
the regimen that had been drilled into my head., 5 compressions 1 breathe times 4
cycles then recheck for a pulse. I did not recognize who they were trying to save.
Who were they doing CPR on? The person doing the mouth to mouth started throwing up. I
took over. I removed the goggles from this persons face. It was Cowboy.
After the ambulance took him away, the police arrived. Who saw him last? What time?
The crime scene investigators laid his clothes and boots and hat out and took pictures.
Everything was so surreal.
We found out about an hour later that they pronounced him dead at the hospital.
As we left work we all evaded the television crews. I didn't sleep at all that
night. What happened? I knew he took risks, held his breathe underwater until he
would almost pass out. Did he dive in the shallow end and hit his head? Did he indeed
pass out underwater? Was it just his time to go? How could 10 lifeguards be 50 feet
away and not notice a body at the bottom of the pool? Even if it was on the black
lane line.
We will never know. I will never forget him.
User Reviews
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2004-11-18 10:00:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by miss_behvn (user info) at 2004-11-17 19:08:17 (#)
Ranking: 0
Tigerlilly- They didnt see anything on autopsy, so they figured he must have passed out underwater while holding his breathe.
----
Damn, that sucks. Poor guy!
Submitted by Kent_Weirdo (user info) at 2004-11-17 19:34:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
That's a pretty sad story.
Submitted by Kent_Weirdo (user info) at 2004-11-17 19:30:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2004-11-17 19:14:49 (#)
Ranking: -1
You should have attempted mouth-to-pussy resuscitation.
---
That's kind of funny. Such an act could actually KILL a girl, blowing air directly into the vagina. It works in the same way as a bubble of air in a syringe.
Submitted by Tigre (user info) at 2004-11-17 19:16:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Crazy..
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2004-11-17 19:14:49 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
You should have attempted mouth-to-pussy resuscitation.
Submitted by miss_behvn (user info) at 2004-11-17 19:08:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Tigerlilly- They didnt see anything on autopsy, so they figured he must have passed out underwater while holding his breathe.
Submitted by Saxon (user info) at 2004-11-17 17:13:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Tragic. i like your style miss very well written.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2004-11-17 16:25:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Something similar happened in my town a few years
ago. Shook the whole town and resulted in the pool
closing for the summer.
Did they ever find out what happened to him?
Submitted by Sofa_Ace (user info) at 2004-11-17 15:18:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
death sucks
Submitted by Sassmasterr (user info) at 2004-11-17 15:13:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
nice. but i need closure!
Submitted by the_lone_stranger (user info) at 2004-11-17 15:07:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Paging Mr. Black, Paging Mr. Black. Your Darwin Award is in the front lobby.
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2004-11-17 15:04:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
made me smile.