A family outing in ice cream weather.
My sisters and I in the backseat.
The brown fabric interior of our Cortina chafing our legs
and dad's cigarette chafing our lungs.
At the beach, the lazy ol' Sun kept watch,
slyly burning us as we pretended we could swim:
A childish farce that was nearly our downfall
when my searching feet were grabbed by Gravity.
Panic rose from toes to head as the Sea birthed me back to air.
Just long enough to note that nature's forces were in cahoots:
A kidnapping Current, a magnetic Gravity
and a Sea hooding me with saltwater cloth:
All combined to set a course South of maternal reach.
Of course, a mother's instinct kicked in.
A non-swimmer herself, she nonetheless set off in pursuit,
aiming to liberate her son from Mother Nature's conspiring forces.
And what was my younger sister to do but follow?
Now greedy Nature had three in its grasp.
Three fifths of a family doomed to drown.
As fatigue struck me dumb
I made a naïf's deal with Death
(a simple choice, no game of Chess)
And so, enter, the young heroes,
(partying only moments before)
who dived in to wrestle our would-be Killers:
Saving three fifths of a family
and the grief of two more.