“Noo!” I jerk awake breathless. I glance at the surging red lights on the alarm clock that read 3:42. I lay restless, unable to fall back into a hypnotized stage for the longest half hour of my life. As the streaking light shines through the oak wood frames, I recognize what all lay ahead of me on this beautiful Monday. I scramble out of my den and scamper down the steps towards the gallery, where I sense the fragrance of homemade old country pancakes steaming on the shiny black grill. I turn and see my mom dressed in her golden scarlet sweater she received from my middle aged father who looks like he is in his late twenties. I ask her, “How was your night? It had to have been better than mine.”

“Well, I couldn’t fall asleep until I heard the clock chime twelve,” she replied weary. “Why do you say your evening was so awful?” Ema questioned.

“I had an evil dream that startled me awake in the middle hours of the silent night.”

“Do you care to share this frightening dream with your charming mother?”

“Not quite, but I will anyway to get it off my back.”

“ Okay, why don’t we get you a glass of water and take a seat by the glossy marble counter.”

“Where do I even begin? I will start by saying I’m at work standing next to the seven foot wooden lifeguard chair that is soaked through with rain from the night before. I was watching the beach like an eagle staring at its prey, when I seen this kid suddenly get swallowed by the aqua blue waves. I just stood there in shock unsure what I should do. I know I should have done exactly what we learned in the class, but I was stuck unable to do anything. It nearly killed me to think I should have been able to do something. I wish I could have saved him.”
“It’s okay. Dreams hardly ever come true, so don’t let it put you under the bus. When you’re on the job today or any other day, things just happen for a reason,” Ema said reassuringly. “With that said, I think you should eat some breakfast. I made your favorite meal! It should help settle your nerves before you take off.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re my mom. You always know what to do to cheer me up when I’m not on the right track,” I replied calmly as I sat to eat my breakfast.
After breakfast, I went back up to my racing room to get ready for my day. I put on my lifeguarding trunks and my silk gray t-shirt that I cut the sleeves off of so I wouldn’t get so warm standing out in the blazing hot summer sun. I glanced at the silver clock that hung by the door and noticed that I would be late if I didn’t leave in the next couple seconds. I dashed down the stairs and reached for my fifty ounce sky blue water bottle. I filled it with ice and crystal water from the refrigerator. Then, I was off to get my bike because during the summer, I don’t like to drive the car because I can save money. I really hate using money, so, whenever I can save it, I go for it. Everyone should know that college is not free these day. That’s why I save my money, because my mom can’t pay for all of her children’s college expenses.
On my way to the Sandy Beach, I bike past thousands of in lined trees that never get old. I always wonder how in the world all of those trees can be in such a pretty scenery. I finally get to the well kept beach that looks like a tsunami has swept through over the night. As my job, I had to clean the mess up before the people started showing up for the day. I started at the west side working my way to the east. I was still hard at work when the first people started to show up. Thank goodness there was an adult with the children. That way I could still keep cleaning up the last of the broken sticks before the crowd really started to grow.
The beach is only open for three hours a day in the middle of July because I am the only worker that the beach management Taylor County, Wisconsin could find willing to work out in the simmering heat of summer.
I now stood by the wooden lifeguard chair watching the shore to make sure everyone was being safe and not hurting one another. Some of the children were being stressful the last couple of days. I had to ask them to leave, that way I could pay attention to all of the beach goers instead of just those little rascals…..
It was coming close to closing time, when all of a sudden, it started to get super windy out. The waves started to grow into a massive outbreak. I blew my whistle indicating that it was time to get out of the water. They all listened very well, but this one little boy couldn’t swim very fast. I was watching him like a lion staring at its prey. All of a sudden, I blinked and the kid was gone. I thought NOOOO this can’t be real. Its just like my dream. I cleared everyone else off the shore so that I could go and rescue the child. I told myself, keep calm it will be fine. I swam to where I saw the young one get swallowed by the crest and dove through the surface to seek the surroundings. I came up breathless without any sight of the little one. It tore me apart that I couldn’t do anything besides call the Taylor County rescue service to go out and look for him. I climbed out of the water breathless and heartbroken.
On my ride home all I could think about was how my dream matched exactly what had happened today. I passed the arrangement of trees without even looking at them. I was almost home when some faded sirens roared behind me. I thought, Oh, I sure hope they can rescue that child. I should have stayed there. What was I thinking? They probably won’t find him now because I didn’t tell them where he went under. I just left after I couldn’t find him.
How dumb am I! I can’t believe I did that. I suddenly found myself turning my bike around to head back to the beach. I got close to the beach when I saw dark clouds rolling in quickly. I saw the rescue crew. They were all gathered around-I’m guessing-the chief because he was drawing a picture in the sand. I ran over to them and they started firing questions at me. I just stood there speechless until the chief said, “guys, stop. One question at a time, so he can answer them.”
I started by saying, “I blew the whistle for everyone to get out of the water and everyone listened, even the little boy. He was about four feet five inches tall. He was wearing a bright aqua blue swim suit. And, he couldn’t swim fast enough and got swallowed by the medium sized wave. I swam out to look for him but couldn’t find him. That’s when I called you guys to come look for him.”
The chief questioned me with a serious face, “ Okay, do ya no where about he went under? If ya can tell us that much. I can send a couple of my men out to scuba-dive for him, while a few of us go above the water and look.”
“Well, he was about forty feet away from the shore over by the farthest booey,” I replied, scared and shaking.
“Thanks, it will be okay ya couldn’t do anythin about the wave comin in on the boy,” the man said reassuringly.
“Okay.” I asked, “Is there anything I can do?”
“Not really I think ya should go home. Ya will be safe from the storm there,” the chief replied.
I grabbed my bike and started to walk it towards the road. I didn’t feel ambitious enough to bike it home but shortly realized that it would take me too long to walk the whole way. I got about half a mile when I heard sirens roaring behind me. I sure hope that this time the little boy was being rushed to the hospital to be treated.
I jumped on my bike and pedaled the rest of the four miles home as fast as my muscular legs would carry me. I reached my front yard and threw the bike against the huge rose bush. Running into the tan two story house with a porch all the way around the house, I dashed up to my room, not wanting to talk to anyone. I was very disappointed with myself. A little while later once I was cooled down a bit, my mom came in. She asked, “What’s wrong? What happened at work?”
I announced quietly, “You know how I had that dreadful dream? Well, it turns out that actually happened today.”
“Oh I’m sorry, it will be okay, did anyone else come to help?”
“Yeah, I called the Taylor County rescue squad.”
“Oh, good. They will do what they can. They are a good group of guys and know what to do. I think all you can do now is pray that the boy will be ok. Also, you should get some rest. You look extremely languished. When you feel better you can come down and join the rest of your brothers and me in the commons.”
I laid myself down in my super soft spring bed and covered up with my Superman fleece blanket. I sang a little prayer before I drifted off to sleep. I awoke four hours later to the sound of pots and pans slamming on the ground beneath the floorboards of my large rectangular room. I scampered down the wooden steps into the commons and turned on the thirty inch television, seeing the report on the boy that was swept away by the wave. The reporter was chirping about some disaster in Indianapolis and quickly changed the subject to the accident at the beach. He mentioned that the boy was rescued about twenty minutes after he went under and was at the local hospital in stable conditions. I couldn’t believe that one of my dreams would actually come true in the same day that I had it. What a shock.