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Show sitting on their orange beach chairs watching the surf If I could have, I would have gone in, but the waves were already too big and I made the decision to wait the set out. Because waves are so deceiving in the way they rise from nothing, the horizon gave no hint as to where we, the ocean and me, might be in the series. Somewhere in the midst of having lost count, the treading and diving, the wish to be on the shore, the rogue wave rose from the pan-flat"sea. It was enormous. Waiting until the very last minute, until the giant wave had sucked most of the water around me to feed its growing body, until its lip was curling over my head, I plunged beneath it and headed for the pocket. I knew I would need to swim extra deep to be safely out of this wave's grasp, so I went as deep as I could, my ears aching with the pressure. Though I couldn't reach the bottom, I found the pocket and there I waited, feeling the surge of the wave as it moved over my body like a spell of nausea. Inside the wave, I counted out of habit, not sets but seconds. And I waited and waited for the pummeling and pressure to pass. But it didn't. The wave remained. Try as I might, I could not get back to the surface. Each new attempt was met by crazy swirling bubbling water pushing me back to the bottom. Panicking, I opened my eyes in the salt water. Through the sting and blur, I saw only what my body had already told me, the turning brew of white water. I will die, I thought, under this wave. Finally, after what seemed like many minutes, I broke through the remains of the wave and popped up to see the beach cleared of people like the streets after a summer rain. Having run for higher ground, my family stood like refugees clutching half-soaked beach chairs and open coolers. Soon other heads bobbed up around me, gasping as well. The water's surface still fizzled with bubbles, cooling in lacey chains like lava. We all 123 |