LEAKY BOATS DON'T FLOAT!!

The last day of High School. A day to celebrate making it all the way through school, and graduating, finally. My friends and I were so excited that we forgot to plan on what we were going to do to celebrate. We chose the wrong way. After our official release, we all got together and decided to hit the bars. Unfortunately for us, most of us were still underage, so that plan wasn't a good one. After being denied access to several bars, myself and 2 of my good friends came up with a better plan. One that would almost get us all killed.

"Why don't we go to the pond?' I asked my two friends, Dennis and Skip. "It's quiet there, and we can drink all the beer we want, and nobody will bother us," I reasoned. Being from the big city, the two of them loved my small town, and all of the quiet places I had discovered along the way. "'Are you sure the cops won't bother us?" Skip asked. He was more of a partier than Dennis, but if he went, Dennis would go too. 'I've been going there for years, and I have never even seen another person," I explained. We really didn't have much else to do, so my plan was approved.

Arriving at the small pond, the three of us were quite content. Although our celebration was a little on the lame side, we could at least sit and talk, and drink our beers. They agreed that my choice of locations was a good idea. That was about to change dramatically. As we sat there, one of us noticed a small row boat down by the shoreline. No oars, no motor, just an abandoned boat. Putting it into the water, we noticed it was leaking a little, but that would not be a problem. Wanting to take the boat out for a quick spin, I came up with a game plan. "Let's go back to my house. I'm sure my dad has something around there that we can fix the leak with," I told my two friends, who were now getting thier hopes up for a boat ride. We jumped in the car and headed to my house.

After digging through my dad's stuff, the best I could come up with was a hammer, some nails, and a few small boards. 'So, what are you boys up too?" My Mom inquired. She had seen me rummaging around the cellar, and thought it was a little odd when she saw the three of us. "Oh, nothing much Mom,' I answered, "Just grabbing a few things. The guys and I are going out celebrating," "Well, be careful, and have fun!" My Mom told us.

Our master plan was working. We had the stuff to fix our newly found boat, and we were about to go on a great adventure. Why I chose to not listen to my Mother, or stop and think about how silly we were being is still, to this day, beyond me. High School Graduates, huh? Anyways, we made our way back to our pond, and proceeded to fix up our luxury liner. While we were smart enough not to use nails, we did put a few small boards on the bottom of the boat, to stop the water from coming in. Dennis and Skip found two large branches to use as oars, and I loaded a coffee can into the boat, just in case we needed to bail a little water out. We all got in, and began our fantastic voyage. We were so proud of ourselves, especially as we got out away from shore. The boat was still leaking a little, but nothing I couldn't keep up with. My coffee can was a good idea.

As we floated around the small pond, we were all enjoying ourselves a lot. "Nothing like a cold beer, a beautiful day, and a boat ride with friends," Dennis laughed. "Good thing you brought that coffee can though." "Well, I don't really think we need Rick to bail us out," Skip theorized. "He's too busy bailing, and has no time to drink his beer." "You know Skip, you are absolutely right, who needs this thing anyways? We're fine without it," I said, as I kept bailing.. "No sense of adventure in you, Rick," Skip replied, "Get rid of the can and relax, I dare you!" Three High School Graduates, and lots of fun and beer. I threw logic out, along with the coffee can. "Why did you do that?" Dennis asked nervously. "Don't worry about it, we'll make it to shore in plenty of time," I reassured him, 'Besides, Skip dared me!" We all laughed, and continued to float round.

It didn't take long for the laughter to turn into panic. The boat was filling with water a lot quicker than we all thought. I guess my bailing was sorely missed. It didn't take too long for us to figure out that the boat would probably sink, way before we reached any shoreline. The next thing I knew my friend Dennis made an obvious statement, one I'll never forget. 'I hope everyone can swim! he laughed. "We are never going to make it to shore." It was then I realized we were in deep trouble, especially me Because swimming was not my strongest physical skill. In fact, I couldn't swim at all. As the boat sank, I remember the look of fear in all of our eyes. We were quiet as the boat filled and sank, 500 feet from any shoreline.We all hit the water, and began to swim to shore. Except for me, I began to dog paddle.

It didn't take long for me to realize that I was in deep trouble. My arms were already tired, and I hadn't swum more than 50 feet or so. I went down for the first time, and touched bottom. The bottom of the pond was very muddy, but I managed to push myself back up to the top. I didn't stay up top for very long, and down I went again. "What am I going to do?" I remember thinking, "How am I going to get out of this one?" I again went back up top, long enough to see that the shoreline wasn't much closer. And then it hit me. "You're going to die, stupid!' popped into my head. You're going to drown, that's how you're going to die!" I touched bottom for the third time, only this time I knew it was all in vain. I was going to die, no sense in even fighting it. My muscles ached, the water was freezing, and I had already swallowed more water than a camel. This was my fate, I might as well accept it. I went up for the last time. "Hey Rick, over here!" Dennis yelled. He knew I was in trouble. He had stopped to see where me and Skip were, and found a large tree stump sticking up from the bottom of the pond. He was standing on it, with his head above water, but he was also still 70 yards away. I began to dog paddle with all of my might.

Some how, I managed to reach Dennis, and he pulled me up onto the log. My head was barely above water, but I was safe for now. "Hurry up Dennis, go get us some help," I yelled, and he was on his way to the shoreline, now 100 yards away. It was then that I saw Skip. He too was struggling to get to shore, and it was obvious he wasn't going to make it. He had seen me get onto the log, and floated up to me. My first thought was "There is no way I an help him up here, what if I fall off?" That thought was short lived though, as I saw the same look of panic on his face, as I had a minute earlier, and pulled him up with me. We both stood there, up to our chins in water, and waited for Dennis to go find help. There was no way either of us were going to attempt to make it to shore.

What seemed like hours later, we saw police cars and ambulances arrive at the pond. Relief set in as we saw officers getting ready to swim out to help us. As they arrived out at our log, they put ropes around us, and we were helped to the shoreline. I collapsed when I touched the ground. So did Skip. We were immediately given oxygen by the paramedics, and transported to the hospital, sirens blaring. Once into the emergency room, Skip and I barely spoke to each other. He was in the next cubicle, but we were both very quiet. We knew we would be Okay, but we were still embarrassed by the whole spectacle of the situation.

A nurse came in to check on me, and began to yell for help. Apparently, my body had several leeches on it, and it grossed her out. I remember wondering what she would do if I was bleeding to death or something? Anyways, they resolved the problem, and I was put into a room with two other patients. Skip's Parents had arrived, and I figured he was going home with them, which he did. I, on the other hand, had to stay overnight, and hoped I'd hear from my family soon. I didn't until the next morning. After waking up to one of the patients in my room holding up the front page of the local paper, asking me, "Hey, is this you?" a cold chill set in. Not from almost drowning, but from being on the front page of the newspaper. "Yeah, that's me," I replied, in response to the picture of me on a stretcher. I was now famous also.

My Parents arrived, and after my Dad told me how stupid I was, and my Mom telling me how dumb my siblings thought I was, we went home. I never really got the chance to tell Dennis how he saved my life, along with Skip's. He didn't think he was any kind of hero, and we went on with our lives. The following week we had a graduation party at my Uncle's house. How many flotation devices, toy boats, and rubber duckies do you think the three of us got for gifts? I personally didn't see the humor in that, at the time. Please, don't ever get into a boat that doesn't float!