Free Cousins by Virginia Hamilton

under. Elodie leaped to get her shoe. She jumped up and over, kind of, like a little kangaroo, or something. Both little paws, reaching out.
    Kid. Kid, Cammy thought.
    “L-O-D!” Ms. Devine, calling. “L-O-D!”
    The call sounded weird now. Ms. Devine seemed to be calling through her teeth.
    There was noise. Cammy didn’t know what it was. She thought, wildly, bear. She could hear thrashing, a huge sound, coming down on her. She bent low and held to a bush, where she’d been for a long time. The noise was enormous, breaking away. It hurtled past her.
    Ms. Devine. She hit the water, out of control. She scrambled back to the slant.
    All of it was like a picture wheeling, to Cammy. For the first time, she saw it all. Ms. Devine, covered in mud and wet, scrambling out of the water. Elodie, sort of going backward in the water. She was making a big kind of U-turn. She’d tried for her sneaker and failed. Her face was just full of something, Cammy couldn’t be sure what it was.
    Fright, that’s what it is.
    Elodie’s eyes, staring, pleading. They gleamed, searching for a friend.
    Elodie!
    Right on that, in one instant, Cammy knew Elodie was caught in the river. She saw it all.
    Patty Ann. Larry was just off the hill, ankle-deep in water, holding his head. Seemed he was yelling. There was noise from lots of kids now.
    Patty Ann. She’d left Larry behind. Went wading out toward Elodie. Her little hands were daintily up by her shoulders, as if to keep them dry. Then, she reached out toward Elodie.
    They all could see the back of Patty Ann’s head, her long hair riding like a tail on the water before it got too heavy. Patty Ann wasn’t making a sound.
    Elodie stared into her face. Cammy saw that, saw it all, like a spiraling in light.
    Ms. Devine, trying to keep out of the water. Larry, jumping up and down, holding his head. There were these loud sounds, coming from him—“No! Look! Look! No! No!”
    Patty Ann, wading out, moving in slow, long strides in the water, her arms out. Going deeper; then, getting carried closer to Elodie. Elodie reaching for her. Both, reaching.
    All the time, the current was swirling in an arc from near the hillside and pulling back into the river. Curving like a big teardrop.
    The bluety.
    Oh. Oh. Cammy closed her eyes. There was screaming now, all around her. Kids were scrambling back up the hillside. Ms. Devine was below Cammy, holding onto the hill’s bushes with her feet in the water. Her voice was shrill, calling both Patty Ann and Elodie.
    Patty Ann and Elodie reached each other. Cammy didn’t know she had opened her eyes. There was this look of peace all over Elodie’s face. It was just so swell, to see her face seem to break out in happiness, with tears. Elodie was crying.
    Cammy didn’t know what Patty Ann was saying. But she was sure Patty Ann was talking calmly to Elodie. Elodie turned over on her back. Her head pointed toward the hillside. Patty Ann had Elodie under one arm. She guided her back toward the hill. Patty Ann’s left arm pushed through the water while she kicked with her feet.
    Cammy watched it all. She kept losing sight of it in a daze. It was as if her eyes were closed and she couldn’t see. And yet, they were open the whole time. She felt she was actually using her own energy to help Patty Ann and Elodie. She could see Patty Ann’s face now. That no-nonsense look as Patty Ann tried to bring Elodie out of the current. Elodie kicked her legs, helping. And they were more than halfway back now.
    Cammy couldn’t believe her cousin was so good at everything, and so brave. It made her feel proud. Yes!
    Screams and cries, still loud all around. She saw when the current seemed to tug at them, seemed to jolt them. Was it swifter, coming back?
    All at once, the sure look left Patty Ann. Never strong to begin with, now she seemed tired. The current had picked up, pulling both girls backward toward the bluety as they struggled forward. Patty Ann looked confused and hurt.
    I