In This Wondrous Place

The familiar feeling of the sand under my feet was comforting. I curled my toes in and crunched the granules one toe at a time.

I relaxed against the back of my lounge chair and put on my sunglasses. The sun was beating down on the lot of us and there were no clouds for even brief moments of shade. It was absolutely perfect.

Lucas and my brother were running up and down the beach tossing a football between the two of them and tackling one another. I shouted words of encouragement to them, but they insisted that I could only cheer for one of them. Rolling my eyes, I returned my attention to the book in my hands.

Moby Dick. A favorite classic of mine.

I thumbed at the pages as I became engrossed in the story. It reminded me of when my father read it to me as a child. I didn’t understand then that the whale was no more villainous than Ahab, but as I reread the story for probably the hundredth time I considered it from the whale’s perspective. The story became much sadder as I pondered on it.

“Ouch, look at that.” Mason suddenly flicked my sunburnt shoulders. I flinched at the pain and swatted his hand away.

“Damn it, Mase. Hey, get me the sunscreen!”

He scooped up the container from our mother’s tote and chucked it toward my head. I managed to catch it before it made contact with my face.

“Grace,” I playfully smacked her stomach next to me, “Help me out and rub this on my back?”

“Aye aye, Captain.” She saluted me as she sat up and grabbed the sunscreen from my hand.

My mother and stepfather could be seen in the distance walking romantically along the shore line. I envied the relationship they had and at the same time resented it. After the divorce, my father never could find another woman he loved as much as my mom. It was sad to watch him pine after her after the separation. I’m glad she was able to find happiness, though. No matter how hard my parents tried to mend their marriage, it just wasn’t enough in the end. For her and my stepfather, James, things seemed to mesh much better.

Lucas and Mason jogged up as I finished my thoughts, still jokingly shoving each other.

“Who won?” I asked, looking up at them over my sunglasses.

“I did,” they responded at the same time. Grace and I giggled at them and opened the cooler up to reveal turkey and cheese sandwiches.
Mason’s phone began to buzz suddenly. He snapped it up and scanned a text before jogging towards the house. I looked behind me and saw a blonde woman stepping carefully onto the back porch with a belly the size of a basketball.

“Isabelle!” I yelled, dashing over to my pregnant sister in law.

“Hi, Emery!” She smiled and waved after pecking my brother on the lips.

Mason and Isabelle walked hand in hand down the wooden steps, where I greeted her with tight hug. I made sure to be mindful of her belly.

“How is my little nephew, Charlie?” I crouched down a bit and rubbed at her stomach. I could feel Charlie kick out at me as I did so.

“Oh,” Isabelle hopped a bit in surprise, “someone is excited to see their aunt.”

I smiled and stood back up. We walked and caught up a bit as we made our way over to the white tent that my mother had set up specifically for Isabelle. She didn’t want to take any chances with her first grandchild.

My mother greeted her with a kiss on the cheek as soon as we approached them. Like me, she also rubbed Isabelle’s belly and spoke to Charlie.

Before long we were all laughing and drinking, enjoying the good company. At one point, however, I became too warm for my liking and decided to go for a swim.

“Want me to come with?” Lucas offered, already standing up to join me.

“It’s okay, I’ll just be a minute.” I handed him another beer before dropping my frayed shorts and revealing my navy blue bikini underneath. I happened to catch the prolonged stare from Lucas as I kicked my shorts towards my chair.

I took my time walking toward the water. Today was not a day to rush little joys like this. I took a moment to look down the beach at all the people that had come to enjoy the nice weather. There were several large families with kids dashing in and out of the water, splashing everyone else in the process. Farther down a group of guys relaxed in their mesh chairs, enjoying what seemed like a few cold beers. One of them in particular looked like someone I knew. A certain handsome Australian.

“Well look at that.” I chuckled and continued walking until my toes felt the salt water wash over them.

I paused a moment, recalling a memory that still burned in my mind.

”Emery, pull the sheet tight and move starboard! We need to tack the boat and go back to shore!” My father was shouting through the wailing wind and the heavy rain.

I exhaled sharply as I leveraged my weight against the floor of the boat to pull the line taught. The strong wind was yanking against me and nearly knocked me over several times.

“Pull, Em!”

I yelled out as I made a final jerk of the rope and wrapped it around the winch, securing it as well as I could. I then ducked under the swinging boom and leaned starboard, grasping tightly onto the railing.

The wind pulled against the boat, shifting it forcefully towards the shore. I was thrown back against the metal rail and made an audible yelp in response. At the same time my father was also tossed sideways.

“Shit!” His back hit the side of the boat and the force plunged him backwards over the side.

“Dad!” I cried, searching frantically over the water for any sign of him.

After a moment of not seeing him, I radioed in for the coast guard, hoping that they could hear me through the storm. Then, taking a deep breath, I dove in after him. My arms burning as I swam deeper against the pull of the thrashing water, towards a dark shadow.

I shuddered and kept my thoughts from venturing any further. It was hard to think about that day and everything that could’ve gone differently. The “maybes” and “what ifs” might tear me apart if I let them play out in my mind.

“I don’t think you’re having nearly enough fun.” Chris’ voice approached me from the side. I was still standing at the edge of the water, toeing at the wet sand.

“I was just about to go in, actually. Are you and your friends enjoying the city?”

I faced him and crossed my arms.

“They just got in this morning and we’ve been having loads of fun. Your city is quite beautiful, but I’m sure you already know that.”

I nodded and smiled.

“You just have to know what to look for. Anyways, my family is waiting, so I better cool off and head back. It was nice talking to you again, though.”

“You too, Emery. Hey, we’re going out to the local cantina tonight, if you want to join. My friends and your family could mingle a bit, if you’re up for it.”

I thought about it for a moment before telling him that I would ask my family and see.

As he walked away, I tread through the water towards the horizon. The waves were mild today, so I didn’t get as much push back as I descended farther into the ocean. It wasn’t until my feet no longer felt the bottom that I stopped.

I arched my back and closed my eyes as the salt water soaked through my hair and over my face. For a moment I was completely submerged, floating soundlessly among the waves.

His arm was just within reach, but he was descending quickly. I kicked my legs out and followed him downwards. My vision was already beginning to blur from the lack of oxygen, but I didn’t care. The burning in my lungs only fueled me to push further, my fingertips just barely brushing those of my father.

As I was about to grab his hand, an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me away. I screamed and thrashed, struggling to pull away, but was met with an even stronger grip.

My screams exhausted my remaining air and I momentarily lost consciousness.

The next time I woke up I was sputtering for air and fighting against the arms that held me.

“Emery! Emery, it’s me! Stop!”

I gasped as my eyes flew open. Water had entered my lungs and I began coughing up what I could.

“No!” I cried between coughing, “You have to get him, you have to—“

“Emery,” Chris shook me, “Who are you talking about?”

As my coughing subsided, I looked up and realized where I was. Chris’ worried face peered down at me and one of his hands held firmly onto my shoulder while his arm was curled under me for support. We were out some ways from the shore, where my family and friends were now standing and looking in this direction with terror.

“What happened?” I asked, unwrapping myself from his hold, but keeping a hand on his forearm to steady myself.

“You started screaming and thrashing in the water and then went under. We all thought you were drowning….Jesus, Emery. You gave everyone a scare.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” he tilted my head up to look at him,” don’t apologize for this, ok? Let’s just get you back to shore.”

He eyed me carefully as we swam towards the shore, making sure that I didn’t go under again. It was embarrassing to be watched like I could go off at any moment, but I understand why he was doing it. Chris seemed to be genuinely concerned.

I noticed as we stepped up on to the sand that his nose was bleeding.

“Did I do that?” I went to wipe away the blood, but he pulled back.

“You have quite the right hook,” he laughed, “but it’s okay, I’ll take care of it later.”

“No, please, my house is right here. Let me get you some ice at least.”

After answering a barrage of questions from my family and friends, I motioned towards Chris, who was still profusely bleeding from his nose. I then excused the two of us and led him into the house.