I can still see her face

It may be 57 years, but I can still clearly see the face of the girl who nearly drowned me.  I was nine, she 14; I a good swimmer, she not.  A bunch of us were swimming from the beach to the raft at our cottage and she got into trouble.  I was the nearest to her and knew I was in serious danger the minute I saw her face contort.

She lunged.  I tried to swim away, but she caught me.  Once in her grasp, I could not escape her death grip as she pushed me under water to hold herself up.  She was screaming "help, help", but my mother and uncles on the beach apparently didn't notice right away.  I didn't know what was going on, struggling for my life as I was.  Time and time again I fought to the surface, only to be pushed back down by this monster.  I was clawing at her shoulders, kicking her, punching her, but that death grip could not be broken.

My mother had always warned me never to go near anyone who was drowning.  "Grown men can be drowned by a young child," she said.  "The will to live is very strong."  Later, when I was taking swimming and lifesaving courses, that's exactly what they said.  Never go near a drowning victim, stay well back until they stop coming up.  Then retrieve them.  That day I couldn't.  She was on me before I could escape. 

"I can't do it anymore," I remember thinking, absolutely exhausted by my fight to live.  Just as I was about to inhale, a hand grabbed me by the hair and yanked me up.  It was my Uncle Elgin in a row boat, my saviour.  He hauled me into the boat, where I lay on the bottom crying hysterically and shaking hard.  The other girl was fine, having been able to breathe air the whole time. 

I was taken to the cottage, where I stayed in bed for two days.  Obviously in shock, I don't remember much about the recuperation part.  But I will never, never forget the drowning part.  The girl came around to see how I was; I refused to talk to her. 

That I got right back into swimming and became very proficient is a credit to my parents, who understood the old adage that when you fall off a horse, you have to get right back on.  But that incident may be the reason I had a bit of a panic attack when facing my open-water swim on Lake Windermere a couple of weeks ago.  That near-death experience came back so clearly the morning of that swim.  But I overcame it and finished. 

Drowning is a terrifying way to die.