Drowned Rat

By Cynthia Lamb

 

   My knuckles are turning white I am holding on to my seat so tight.  I have a lifejacket on, but I have never really trusted those things.  I could swim, but the water is so rough and there is so much commotion, no one would even notice if I went overboard. I would be down the river and out of sight before anyone even missed me.  If they even missed me at all. I think they forgot I am in the boat.  Mom wouldn't forget, she is just busy right now. Ever since we stopped to pick up those two people, Mom and Dad have been paying more attention to them than they have to me.  I don't know who they are, but they sure have made this a wild ride.

Every time someone leans over the side of the boat to grab for her, it feels like the whole boat is going to tip over.   I have never been so scared in all my life. I just wish it would be over.  Dad keeps going under to look, but he comes back up, he gasps for breath and says he can't find anything.  It would probably be easier if it wasn't raining, that always makes the water so murky.  Dad says that is why the fish don't bite when it is raining; they can't see the worm.

Finally! There she is. Her eyes are closed and her lips look blue, kind of like they are bruised.  Her skin is really white.  Her arms and legs are not moving on their own, they just follow wherever they drag the rest of her body.  It is kind of hard to tell if she is dead.  I have never actually seen a drowned person before.  They always tell me that it could happen if I don't wear a lifejacket.  Dad is pushing her up against the side of the boat.  That guy and Mom are pulling on her arms trying to get her in.  Everyone is moving around too much!  Don't they know you are not supposed to stand up in a boat?  We are all going to drown, I just know it!  Why did she have to do this?  I don't understand grownups at all sometimes.  One minute they are happy and the next minute they are crying.  When we picked her and that guy up, everyone was smiling.  I thought these people were friends.  They were all joking around and stuff.  But when they started talking about sleeping, everyone started to get mad.  I did not know you could get mad when you are sleeping.  Now everyone is yelling, crying and upset.  If she dies I am really going to be mad.

I thought that once they all got back in the boat things would be fine, but everyone seems to be in even more of a panic than they were before they found her.  Dad is driving way too fast and Mom keeps slapping that lady in the face.  Maybe if she would just wake up and tell Mom to stop, things would calm down.  I wonder why that man is crying?  He keeps saying this is all his fault.  If it is his fault, I wish he would just go away and take that lady with him. Now Mom is saying it is all Dad's fault. I am so confused now.

I have never been so glad to get out of a boat in my whole life!  These people are crazy!  At least we are on the docks now.  I think I will just go up and wait on the levy, at least until everything calms down.  I will just leave my lifejacket on 'til I can ask Mom if we are going back to the beach tonight for the wiener roast.  All of our food and stuff is still there.  We probably will go back as soon as they are done with these weird people.

Mom quit slapping her, now that they have her on the dock.  She is all wet and there is black stuff running down her face.  Her clothes are all wet and sticking to her skin.  Her black stockings have runs in them.  I wonder if that is what they mean when they say someone looks like a drowned rat?  She sure looked a lot better before she jumped in the water.  I thought she was very pretty, in fact.  Dad said he thought she looked really sexy in the black skirt she was wearing.  I think sexy means the same thing as pretty, but I will have to ask someone when we get home.  She is trying to stand up now, but she is wobbly.  I hope she doesn't fall back in the river again.  I wonder why she jumped in the water without a lifejacket on? Everyone knows that you don't go in the river if you can't swim, unless you wear a lifejacket.  Maybe she fell in. It sure looked like she jumped in to me. But what do I know?  I'm just a kid.  My dad says I am smart, but my brothers say I am stupid. I like my dad better.

Great, now she is crying, too.  At least she isn't dead.  Now why is Mom slapping her?  Everyone is yelling and crying!  It is really gross when she throws up all that river water.  I cannot believe that guy is leaving without her. I don't think she has her own car.  I know he was mad at her, but what are we suppose to do with her?  Before she jumped in the water he called her a whore.  I am not really sure what a whore is, but I know she did not like it when he said it.  She was really mad. I think it had something to do with what she was wearing, because he said she looked like a whore, not that she was one.  Dad didn't like it when he called her that, either.  He yelled at the guy and told him to sit down and shut up.  I will have to remember to ask Dad what a whore is when we go back to the beach.  It must be an important word to cause so many problems.

Here comes Mom.  It must be time to go.  I wonder why Mom is crying.  She didn't jump in the river without her lifejacket and she still looks pretty to me.  I will just let her sit here for a while and calm down.  Where did Dad go?  I need to find him so that we can go back to the beach.  Why is he in his truck with that lady?  Where did that other guy go?  Dad and that lady must be going to look for that other guy.  I wish Mom would stop saying the word whore over and over again.  Now Mom is crying really hard.  She is starting to worry me.  Maybe I should put my lifejacket on her just in case she decides to go in the water. 

  I don't want Mom to look like a drowned rat.

 

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