I get my head up enough to realize
that one of the “tree trunk” logs is
pinning my lower legs.
“Joooo!” Mick cries as he sloshes out
to me, grabbing my shoulders from
behind.
I could drown in two feet of water!
I choke and spit out, “Help, Jesus,
help!” as the water slightly recedes
and the log crushes my legs even
tighter.
Then suddenly, the log lifts even
though the water is receding, as if
there is an unseen hand reaching
down.
Mick lifts me to my feet, “Can you
walk?”
By Marijo Phelps
“What happened, there was no
The
strange words
water within blocks of us? We could
etched
the away or I could
have been into
washed
rock
walls
have had
my didn’t
legs crushed by that
tree!
Thank
you, Jesus!”
make
sense.
Until…
“Let’s get back to the truck. You must
be freezing.”
Maybe that writing about Jake
wasn’t just kids playing around.
We walk quickly finding the little trail
going up.
42
JASMINE'S PLACE
“Why don’t you go to the restroom
and get as much of the wet clothes
off as possible. We can turn the car
heater on full blast to help.” Mick
looks at me kind of shaking his head.
In the restroom is a sign that says
“Hazardous beach in the winter,
beware of rogue waves”, this, in the
restroom, not by the path going
down to the beach.
I take off my soggy, sodden, salty
layers to find sand in my underwear,
in my hair and ears... yep, sand in my
mouth too.
We had walked to the
edge of a twenty foot
drop off and noticed
writing on the rock walls.
“In remembrance of Jake,
RIP," I read aloud. "What
do you think that
means?”
“Ah, probably just kids
messing around, let’s see
if we can find a way down
closer to the water,” said
Mick.