Bay Beach Girls #1: The Rescue *Chp. 1*

By Me, Gymnast2801

Chapter One = Opel

 I can hear the waves.

They lap at the sandy shore as I walk home from school. I wonder how many people get killed by waves every year. Maybe it isn't many since most of the earth isn't next to a beach, but I'll look that up when I get home. Perhaps I can find an answer to one of my many questions in life.

I stop walking and wait for a car to stop moving along our busy road so that I can get to the far sidewalk. I'm almost home now and my two sisters can't be far behind. Since Katie and Ginny are part of the school band, they have to stay late sometimes so they can practice. Band has never interested me for some reason. Both my parents where in the collage band and that's how they met, I suppose. But band is just another thing to do on top of all my other work and I've never been very good with instruments so in my mind, why bother?

A car finally stops for me and I run across the street, only stopping when I reach

the other sidewalk. I then turn and walk a few houses down until I come upon my house; a medium sized cape cod with white trim . I walk up the steps and knock on the door. My mom opens it just a few moments later and I step inside, the Miami heat fading away as I enter the air-conditioned house.

"How was school?" My mom asks, taking off her reading glasses. She smiles when I look at her, the wrinkles getting deeper around her mouth. I smile back and set my backpack on the kitchen table. "School was good. I have to write an essay for LA."

My mom is already back to her book by the time I'm done talking, sitting on the couch in the living room with the family cat, Smudge. My mom likes to read and Smudge likes to curl up on her lap and sleep there for hours. I guess I can't blame the cat, it would be nice to be able to curl up on a warm lap.

I hear the doorbell go off once, twice, three times. I groan and walk to the door,

unlocking the bolt and opening the door to find my two sisters, Katie and Ginny, standing outside in the heat.

"For crying-out-loud Opel, can't you open the door any faster?" Ginny complains as she walk inside and throughs her bag on the ground. I frown at her and she ignores me, reaching into the freezer for a popsicle. Katie puts her backpack next to mine and smiles at me, "Guess what!" She exclaims.

"What?" I ask, wondering what Katie would be so excited about.

"Well," Katie starts, "it turns out that the band needs a new, solo trumpeter, to play in the parade next month and I got the part!"

I smile at my sister, her excitement shining clearly in her eyes. "That's great Katie!"

She blushes and smiles but then she turns around as Smudge hops onto the kitchen table next to her. She talks to him just as we all do and he purrs, rubbing his grey and white head against her arm.

"Opel!" I her my mom call from the living room and I quickly leave Katie to be with

the cat, walking over to my mom, "Opel, I think you should start on the essay. When did you say it was due?"

"It's due Tuesday."

A week from today.

"Okay, well you might want to start researching a topic because I know how long that can take you." She smiles and I smile back because what she says is true. I can't ever decide on an essay topic and one time I ended up deciding the day before the essay was due. I don't want to be in the situation again.

"Okay, mom." I turn and leave the room, grabbing my backpack and walking down the hall, into my room. My soft yellow walls seem to smile at me as I set my backpack down on the floor and walk to my desk, but then I pause for a moment as something catches my eye from out of my window. It's the ocean waves, rolling on to the sand, which reminds me about that question I asked myself while I was walking home from school: how many people get killed every year by ocean waves?

I log into my laptop and go to Google, typing in the same question that I just asked myself a moment ago. I click on the first link that comes up and read,

Year after year, the oceans most successful killer is not the great white shark. It's

not the deadly jellyfish. Now even monster waves or hurricane-force winds. Your worst ocean nightmare during a day at the beach is more likely to be a rip current, experts say.

I shiver, nervous, and continue to read,

Every year, more than one-hundred beachgoers drown in these strong rushes of

water that pull swimmers away from the shore. And that's just in the United States. Nearly half of all rescues made by lifeguards at ocean beaches are related to rip currents, according to the United Started Lifesaving Association. Sharks typically kill about six people a year globally.

I just stare at my computer screen. How could I never have known about a rip current?