“Hey, Aly.”
“Hey, sis, how’ya doing?”
“Tired. Mom and Dad?”
“They’re coming. Just rest.” She closed her eyes and breathed deep, but it had a scary, rattling quality.
“That’s normal.” I turned around where a man in a white coat and velvet black skin was standing behind me. “Hi, I’m Dr. Okunwe, are you Aly?” I nodded. “Good, she’s been asking for you.”
“How is she?”
“Well, what we are most worried about here is brain injury from lack of oxygen. But she knows her name, she could tell us her address, she knew you, so I think we’re going to be okay there. Can’t tell for sure yet, but it looks good. Next is infection. She has had an injury to her lungs, so she could have an infection, develop pneumonia.” He shrugged. “We’ll put her on preventative antibiotics and keep her at least overnight to watch. Her parents?”
“They’re on their way.”
“Good. Have the nurse find me when they get here.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
He nodded to me and withdrew. I sat down in a chair by Kelsey’s bed, took her hand firmly in mine, and waited.
Taylor
It was almost five thirty when I finally got to go home. I shouldn’t complain, that’s half an hour before I usually leave, but the last few hours had been interminable. Back at base I had to pee in a cup for a drug test. I knew it was for liability issues and I wasn’t worried, but it still pissed me off, if you’ll pardon the expression. Jennifer helped me prepare a written incident report, no big deal. Next came the lawyers. Shit. I was deposed for nearly an hour, and they went into painstaking detail of every decision I’d made, especially about trying to resuscitate while still in the water. Jennifer sat next to me throughout the ordeal. After that they left me in the conference room for a solid hour to just stew in my thoughts.
I don’t care who you are, that level of scrutiny can make anyone question their decisions, and question I did, but I was able to go back to the fact that the girl was alive and breathing when we’d gotten her to shore. In my book that was a big win. I’d been lifeguarding for almost four years full time, and I’d never lost anyone. This was the closest I’d ever come by a long ways.
Finally Jennifer poked her head into the conference room. “Taylor?”
I followed her into her office.
“I just wanted to say again, very, very well done. I fully endorsed your decision on the water rescue breathing, as did Jared. You saved a life today, we’re all really proud of you. Do you want to take tomorrow off?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? Sometimes it’s best not to be alone.”
“No, thanks. I think I’ll go to the warehouse, burn off some energy. And I want to be back out there tomorrow.”
“Ok, but you know Vicky will be worried about you until you stop by.”
I smiled. “Yeah. I will. Promise.” Jennifer’s wife was a bit of a mother hen when it came to me, which was sweet, especially since I didn’t have much in the way of family anymore. I actually lived in a mother-in-law apartment over their garage, which I had since leaving school. It gave Vicky ample opportunity to spoil me.
“Alright, go on home. See you in the morning.”
I stripped off my one piece in the locker room, throwing it into the laundry bin before dressing, pulling on my jeans and leather jacket. My helmet was sitting on top of my locker, and I walked out into the lot and sat astride my bike before pulling it on over my short blond hair. I kicked the starter and my cruiser roared to life underneath me. I motored out of the parking lot and let the road wash the day away, just running up and down the coast for a couple of hours before heading back into town.
I knew the fatigue was coming, but I hadn’t really felt it yet as I drove up to the warehouse. The roar of my Indian’s motor quieted, replaced by the slow tink-tinking of Bishop’s chisel, who was working on his masterpiece again. He looked over his shoulder at me as I walked in and pulled off my helmet.
“One of these days I’m gonna pour glue into the tank of that thing, Taylor.”
“Love you, too, Bish.”
“Uh-huh.” He went back to his piece of marble. He’d been working on that thing for years, and only made minimal progress in the time I’d known him. But given the quality of smaller works he put out, I didn’t doubt it would be beautiful someday.
My own work was in metal sculpting. Currently I had several tabletop pieces I was working on, and I sat in front of them for maybe fifteen minutes before pushing them away and grabbing my sketchbook. As I stared at a blank page I found my mind wasn’t going to where I guessed it would, the rescue itself. What I remembered was that girl. Not the one I’d saved, the one waiting on the shore when I’d come up out of the water. I’d been watching her, seeing all the ways her face had changed. I’d seen her flirty with that guy, then terrified as I’d carried her sister onto the beach. It was a face that captivated me for some reason, and maybe getting it down on paper would get it out of my head.
There was no reason to dwell on it, after all. Sure, she was beautiful, but for one she was very clearly straight. I keep telling myself that I am not doing that anymore. And two, I would never see her again. But I couldn’t think about anything else. So I sketched.
It was ten o’clock and my stomach was growling at me. I’d gone through maybe half a dozen pages, not having eaten or done anything but think about that face. I put down my last attempt, my favorite, showing her in profile, looking desperately out to what I knew to be the sea. I closed the book and left, riding home in the dark.
When I arrived and climbed the steps to my little apartment I saw my oven was on, set to one-eighty, and there was a note on my counter.
-A little treat for the hero of the day. Love, Jen & Vicky.
I pulled a pan out of the oven and removed the foil, luxuriating in the smell of the Pao de queijo, small Brazilian cheese breads. I moaned to myself as I popped one in my mouth. Yeah, overall, today was a good day.
Alyssa
I’d nodded off in the chair. When I sat down, I didn’t think that I’d ever sleep again, but between the steady beeping of Kelsey’s heart monitor and the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, I was gone.
I felt a hand gently shake my shoulder. “Aly, Sweetie, wake up.”
I opened my eyes. “Mom?” Sitting up I realized I was still holding Kelsey’s hand.
My dad was on Kelsey’s other side, his hand laid gently on her shoulder. “Kelsey? Honey?”
Kelsey’s eyes fluttered open. “Hi, daddy.”
“How’re you feeling, pudding?”
“I’m okay. Tired.”
I stood and stepped out of the way so mom could get closer. I was reluctant to let Kelsey’s hand go, but mom needed it more than I did. I felt squeezed out, but also like I deserved it. The doctor had asked me to find him when my parents arrived, so I decided to do that. Might as well be useful. It only took a moment before I found him talking to one of the nurses behind the reception counter. After getting his attention I followed him back to the room, where I saw the orange bikini folded up in the corner. I slipped over and grabbed it while Dr. Okunwe spoke with my parents. No need to get anyone in more trouble.
Once I had it I ducked outside, making my way to the busy waiting room. I found a seat in the corner, tucked my knees up under my chin, and let the tears come. I hated that I was crying. This shouldn’t be about me; it should be only about my sister. She’s the one who almost died. And if she had, I can’t imagine what it would’ve done to our family.
I loved my parents, and they loved me, I knew that, but Kelsey was the apple of their eye. Mine too really, she just was impossible to dislike. She’d never turned sullen or moody like most teenagers. Boy crazy a little, but she was still happy and bubbly and relentlessly adorable.
What would have happened if she’d drowned? Could I have ever gone home? Ever hugged my mother again without thinking of her? Could my parent’s marriage have survived? I remember my roommate Sadie telling me the death of a child would break up a marriage more often than infidelity.
And it would have all been my fault. But it hadn’t happened, all because some young woman I’d never met before was doing what I was supposed to be doing, watching my sister. I remember seeing her coming out of the water, holding Kelsey. She’d been like a goddess. In one swoop she’d saved my whole family. I remember some of my heroes, Brandi Chastain, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, all players from the US women’s soccer team. I had posters of them on my walls at various times. But that lifeguard deserved to be there more than any of the others.
Somehow I’d managed to fall asleep again in that horrible, uncomfortable chair when my father found me. “Alyssa, sweetheart? Are you okay?”
I looked up into his kind face, and the tears started again. “I’m so sorry, daddy.”
“Oh sweetie.” He pulled me into a hug. “Everything’s okay, we all got lucky. She’s awake, and asking for you. No one’s mad at you, I promise.”
I let him hold me for a moment longer before following him back to the room. Kelsey looked up as I entered. “Hey, sissy. I’m sorry I went out too far. I’m sorry I scared everyone.”
My mom was sitting by the bed. “They’re going to keep her overnight, we’re just waiting for a bed on the pediatric floor.”
Hospital waiting is one of the worst kinds of waiting, but eventually they got us all transferred out of the ER. Dad volunteered to stay, and I drove mom home.