Free Firestorm by Ronnie Dauber

alive!
He’s on a …”
    I couldn’t hear
what Brad said after that because my ears were blasting so loud
from the fear that rang through them. The water was a lot deeper
than it appeared from the surface but I was a good swimmer and so
its depth was the least of my fears.
    I pulled myself
up beside Brad who was holding Don’s head and talking to him, and
that’s when I noticed that Don really was okay. Brad turned towards
me for a second as he spoke.
    “Yeah, Sarah,
he’s okay. He’s laying on this rock here. Didn’t look like a rock
from back there and I thought he was just floating in the
water.”
    Don was
stretched across a large rock that protruded out of the water. His
hands were clinging to one side of the boulder that looked like a
little shelf protruding from the side. That’s when I knew that he
was really scared because all along he’d been complaining about how
much his hands hurt and now they seemed to be the least of his
concerns. He lifted his head and growled at Brad.
    “Leave me
alone!”
    We kept buoyant
in the water by holding onto one side of the large rock and the
whole time Brad was trying to get Don to let go of it so we could
get back to shore.
    “Come on, Don.
Grab hold of me and I’ll take you back so we can get out of
here.”
    “No! The rescue
team will be here any minute.”
    “There’s no
rescue team coming, so come on. Let’s get back to the others and
get out of here.”
    But that just
made Don scream all the more that the rescue boat was just up
ahead. Brad looked at me inquisitively and then I remembered what
Grandpa had said.
    “Gees, Brad. He
thinks he’s in the war being rescued by Grandpa. What are we going
to do?”
    “Not sure. Come
on, Don. We have to get out of here. Now come on, take hold of my
arm.”
    “No, we have to
wait here. The rescue boat is coming soon to save all of us.”
    Don had his
body wrapped around the boulder and he wasn’t going to let go of it
easily. He swatted at Brad each time we tried to get him off the
rock and I knew that if we forced him off that we might not even
get back to the shore. Just then Brad pulled the rope from his
shoulder and opened the coil.
    “Okay, okay,
have it your way. Sarah, we’re the rescue team and we’re taking Don
to the boat.”
    Brad was a
compassionate guy and somehow he had more patience and was able to
understand Don a lot more than me. I just wanted to pull him off
the rock and get him to shore, but Brad looked at me and shook his
head as he spoke quietly.
    “We’re going to
have to go along with him if we’re going to get him back. He’s not
going to budge otherwise and we’re wasting time out here arguing
with him.”
    He patted Don
on the back and asked him several times to let go of the rock so we
could get him to the boat. Don finally lifted his head up and spoke
slowly in between his gasps for air.
    “Can’t do it,
son…. Gotta wait here for Luke…. Can you see him? …. Is his boat
out there, yet?”
    Brad looked at
me and raised his eyebrows as he shook his head. I could see the
compassion in his eyes and yet at the same time, the frustration
that covered the rest of his face.
    “Don, Luke hurt
his leg, remember? He sent me to get you.”
    Don lifted his
head again as high as he could to look at Brad. His squinted at
Brad and his countenance changed from rough and scared to hopeful
and happy.
    “Yeah? Well,
why didn’t you say so?”
    As I floated in
the water beside Brad, my whole body shook and my teeth chattered.
Brad stopped talking to Don and turned to me.
    “Are you okay,
Sarah?”
    “Yeah, I’m
just, you know, shaking a bit. Thought he was dead and that kind of
got to me. Now I think I’m just scared.”
    Brad reached
over and rubbed my arm as he forced a smirk.
    “Well, crewman,
you’re going to have to finish being scared later because right now
I need you to help me get Don off this rock and into the boat.”
    Just as Brad
said that, Don perked up