Sunday, April 24, 2011

Surviving a Storm Part 2

          I could almost feel the electricity in the air when the first lightning bolt came down. As I was driving I watched as lightning hit parts of the island and the bay water that we were on. From what I could remember, lightning strikes whatever object was highest in the air. Considering we were the only people out on the water, I figured that made us a perfect target. I wanted to try and see if I could take us too land and hide. But I new that our parents would be worried about us and we had no way to get in contact with them to let them know we were OK. So I decided to just keep driving as fast as I could. What made things worse is that I knew we had more than ten minutes before we would even reached the dock.
          As the lightning hammered around us I started to truly believe that we might not make it back. I turned back to my younger brother and yelled "Nick! F--ken pray!" "I am!" he yelled back. I than said my own personal prayer as we sped on. My greatest fear was that my brother might lose his grip and fall off the back into the water. The closer we got, the more the rain, waves, and lighting increased. Because of where our dock was located, we had no choice but to drive deeper into the storm.
          As we got closer I saw a boat that was parallel to us trying to get back to it's dock. It was taking a severe beating from the waves as it struggled to maintain it's course. Considering how helpless they looked on the boat, I can't imagine what we looked like. I began to feel more comfortable because I knew our dock was a few minutes away. But as we got closer a terrible fog kicked up end kept me from seeing more than ten feet in front of me. This was a big problem because the only way I could know if I was going in the right direction was if I was able to see what part of the island I was by. If I stayed where I was, all I would be able to see is water. Which could lead me to travel aimlessly in the water with no idea of where I was going.
          I felt like I was in a movie and the director was doing everything he could to keep me from reaching my destination. I immediately turned to the right and got as close to land as I could. Once I was able to see land I knew I was going the right way. I eventually saw our dock and almost breathed a sigh of relief when I realized I had one last obstacle to overcome. Our docking area was in the back and in order to get their I would have to make a few turns past some other boats before we could get to our spot.
          Normally this is done at the slowest speed possible so that you don't hit any boats and have the time to correct yourself to make a mistake. But if I went slow into the docking area with these rough waters, a wave could easily slam us into the dock or somebody else's boat. Instead I choose to go at normal speed so that the waves couldn't grab us. I drove past the other boats and somehow manage to dock our wave runner with no problem. My brother and I jumped off and secured the wave runner in it's spot.
          As we started to head for the house our sister met us. She told us that our parents had already been to the dock looking for us and were now going to get the coastguard to look for us. We ran to the house as fast as we could and called our parents letting them know we were back. They arrived home and asked what had happened to us. We then began to explain what had happened.
          The next morning I got out of bed and went to grab some coffee. After I got my cup I saw a cut out piece of newspaper stuck to the fridge. The paper had the picture of a twister out on the bay with a bunch of boat's struggling to get away. I turned to my mom and asked "What's that?" She answered "That is what was going on while you and your brother were out on the water?"

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