The Lifeguard

        For many people, there is nothing better in the world than a summer at Myrtle Beach.  Hot sun and giant waves during the day, hot women and giant parties at night.  That’s what the place is known for.  For Brad, all of this was completely new to him.
         This was his first summer at Myrtle and he’d landed himself maybe the best job possible.  His friend Sandy, a veteran lifeguard, convinced her boss to let Brad take the stand next to her.
         “It’s not all fun and games,” she had told him.  “You’re going to have to do a couple weeks of training if you want the job.”
         Brad did not mind this one bit.  Eight to ten-thirty in the morning, Monday through Friday, was very manageable.  Plus, the women in his class were very easy on the eyes.  Especially when they were gliding through the water in their little bikinis.
Other than the opposite sex, this training class was separated into four important sections: CPR, spinal injury management, and retrieving dummies from the bottom of a pool.  But, the most important part was swimming.
         Some people were made for basketball, some for golf, and some for swimming.  Brad was definitely made for swimming.  His shoulders bulged and his back was completely ripped.  If Arnold Schwarzenegger had been a swimmer, Brad would be a spitting image of him.
         Brad had the stereotypical lifeguard look.  His tan made him almost black and his blonde hair looked bleached.  Going against his mother’s wishes, he filled his back with permanent artwork.  Dragons crawled up under his arms, spitting their fire onto his shoulders.  The words Tantum deus sentio mihi were written across the center of his back.  This Latin phrase translates, “Only God can judge me.”  The words had absolutely no meaning to him in the slightest bit because he was not religious.  But, it definitely looked cool.
         “Hey Sandy, you bored yet?” Brad spoke into the lifeguard radio.
         “You can come rub some sun screen on my shoulders for me,” she replied jokingly.
         “I’m good.”
         “Then stop complaining.”
         It had been three weeks of sitting under the lifeguard umbrella in the hot sun, and the most action Brad had seen was a jelly fish sting on a little boy’s big toe.  The kid cried like a girl, but there was no need to jump in the water to save him.
         Brad pulled the Motorola cell phone out of his pocket to check the time.  It read one thirty-two.  He was two minutes late for his third application of sunscreen.  He grabbed the tube from the armrest of his stand and squeezed a big splotch into his hand.  He removed his Oakley shades and covered his face with the cream.
         He flinched when he felt a tap on his knee.  He opened his eyes to see a boy about the same age as the kid with the jelly fish sting.
         “What’s up little man?” he said.
         “There’s a man floating in the water, I saw him myself,” the kid replied.
         Brad stood up and shaded his eyes to scan the coastline.  He saw nothing.
         “Is this a joke?” Brad said, kind of annoyed. “Sandy probably put you up to this, didn’t she?”
         Before the kid could respond, Brad spoke into the radio, “That’s real funny with the kid Sandy.  You’re hilarious.”
         “What kid?” she answered.
         “The one you sent over here seeing bodies in the water.”
         “There’s a body in the water?”
         “You’re not funny.”
         “I’m being serious. I didn’t send anyone over to you.  He’s sayin’ there’s a body in the water?”
         “Yep.”
         “Hold on, let me look,” she said as she set down the radio.
         Brad looked to his left a hundred yards down the beach.  He could barely make out Sandy standing up in front of her stand.
         “Oh, my God,” she said into the radio.
         Brad saw Sandy in a full sprint to the ocean.  People ducked out of her way as she blew her lifeguard whistle.  He was completely confused.  He grabbed the pair of binoculars off the back of his chair.  The sun reflected off the water into his binoculars, making it hard to see.  He scanned the spot where Sandy was headed.  He saw no one in the waves.  He moved his gaze past the breaking waves.  It took him a few seconds to spot the man face down in the water.
         This was the first bit of real action that he had seen.  For a second he froze in place and couldn’t remember a single thing that he had been trained to do.  Finally, he unhooked the orange rescue float.  As he slid from the chair, he almost tripped over the kid that was still standing in front of him.
         The loud sound of his whistle stung his eardrums as he raced to the water.  Sandy was still running about forty yards down the beach.  He had been sitting closest to the man in the water, so he would be the first to reach him.  About fifteen yards into the waves, Brad dove into the water.  With the float in one hand, he stroked the water with more force than he ever had in the training pool.
         It seemed like an hour before he finally reached the man.  He was facing down.  Brad flipped the man onto his back. Being as gentle as possible in the ocean, he slid his hand under the man’s arm and to the back of his head.  This stabilized the neck incase of a spinal injury.
         As he started kicking back to shore, Sandy reached them.  She put her free arm around the man’s waist.  Together they made their way through the water.  To Brad, it seemed easier going toward the shore.  Maybe it was the help of the waves, or maybe it was the help of Sandy.
         When they reached the shallow water, they pulled the man onto dry sand.  Now what? Brad thought to himself.  He frantically tried to remember the procedure for CPR.
         “He’s still alive,” Sandy said with her fingers on the artery running down the side of the man’s neck.
         “Thank God.”
         Brad lifted the man’s chin back to open up his airway.  He put his ear to the man’s mouth to listen for breathing.  There was none.  He pinched the nose and delivered two deep breaths into the man’s water filled lungs.  Still nothing.  Counting out loud, he pounded the heel of his palm into the man’s chest thirty times.  When there was still no sign of life, he gave two more breaths of air.
        At about twelve reps into his second set of chest compressions, water exploded from the man’s mouth.  His eyes remained closed.  He started coughing violently.  With every hack, the man cleared more water from his lungs.
        Sandy moved around behind the man.  She sat him up to help get the water from his lungs.  By now, a crowd had gathered around the pair of lifeguards.  At the sight of the man’s revival, the crowd erupted in cheering and applause.  This sudden loud sound seemed to snap the man back into reality.
        “It’s okay big fella.  Get it all out,” Brad said with tenderness.
        The man was obviously confused.
        “What happened?” he managed to choke out.
        “That’s what we were wondering,” Sandy responded.
        “The last thing I remember was being pulled under.  I’ve got nothin’ after that.”
        “Be sure to stay closer into shore next time.  The rip currents can’t get you there.”
        Brad heard the sirens.  He looked up to see an ambulance pulling onto the beach.
        “The EMT’s are here.  Lay back down so they can have a look at you,” Brad instructed.
         Brad and Sandy backed away from the man.  They instructed the growing crowd to give some space. When the EMT crew made a full inspection of the man’s health, he was loaded onto a stretcher and carried to the waiting ambulance.  He heard the doors slam and watched as the man he saved was driven away.
         Brad settled back into his lifeguard chair.  He looked out over the ocean.  I just saved the life of a human being, Brad thought to himself.  He couldn’t think straight.  His adrenaline was still pumping hard from the dive into the ocean.
         Sandy put her arm on his shoulder and he realized that she was standing next to him.
         “That was some pretty impressive stuff, kid.”
         “Just doin’ my job,” he said with a smile.
         “Well you did it pretty darn well.  Most people don’t see a situation like that in years of working out here.”
         These words brought great pride and filled Brad with joy.  He knew that this was his acceptance.  He was no longer the unreliable rookie.  He was presented with the greatest test a lifeguard could have.  He passed with flying colors.  Beyond all the glamour of Myrtle Beach, he would always have a purpose.  He would always be a LIFEGUARD.