A horrifying brush with death

After swimming a quarter mile out into the Atlantic, I waded in waist deep water while standing on a sandbar rising from the ocean floor along with two young lads from my community.

Squinting my eyes to shield them from the blazing sun as I looked back to the beach, we could barely hear the sound of people laughing as they frolicked in the surf along the shoreline.

I felt like I had just conquered the world like Ferdiand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, when he rounded the southernmost tip of South America.

The feeling of exhilaration was quickly replaced by one of fear as something brushed up against my leg.

Then it happened. One of my young companions yelled, “Shark!” I saw my life flash before my eyes as a sickening sensation swept over me like a wave of the rolling tide.

Earlier that morning, I busily straightened up my single-wide mobile home shortly before picking up Matt Meekins and Philip Foreman, two of my former sixth grade students, to take them to the beach for a day of fun in the sun.

I was living on the Outer Banks of North Carolina at the southern tip of Roanoke Island in the little fishing village of Wanchese where I had been teaching a combination fifth and sixth grade class at Wanchese Christian Academy.

Living a short distance from the coast, definitely had its advantages; and with school out for the summer, only left more time to enjoy the pleasures of swimming and sunbathing in the tropical paradise we called home.

We stopped at McDonald’s in Manteo for a quick meal before crossing the bridge to the sandy shores of the barrier islands on the Carolina coast.

After pulling into the beach access parking lot, which was filling up fast with other beach goers, we quickly unloaded our gear and followed the foot traffic over the sand covered planks to our own little piece of heaven on the other side of the sand dune.

Without even looking at the temperature gauge, I could tell the mercury in the thermometer was pushing upward as the bright sun beat down upon the earth from the blue sky above.

Claiming our own little piece of real estate with our beach towels, the boys took off with their boogie boards to battle the waves and frolic together in the surf.

I stayed behind to lather my lean body with a thick coating of sunscreen before joining the adolescents in the cool ocean water.

Standing at the edge of the seashore, I breathed in deeply while soaking in the beauty of God’s majestic creation. The cool water lapped against my feet, which sank deeper into the sand with each rolling wave as they rippled onto the shore.

Not long after stepping into the surf, I found myself gasping for air. I was totally immersed in water after being overpowered by a huge wave, which knocked me off my feet.

After struggling against the tumultuous undercurrent, I finally made it past the foamy surf. I was then able to jump the waves each time they rippled across the water on their way to the shoreline where they crashed against the beach.

Staying out of harm’s way, I watched Matt and Philip crash and burn as they took turns battling the waves while attempting to ride the white capped swells back to the shoreline with their boogie boards.

After the two school chums tired of struggling with the turbulent billows of ocean water, they proceeded to engage in a rowdy game of tag using these transparent circular objects, which the pair claimed were jellyfish.

The little critters were actually slimy salp, which feed on phytoplankton blooms better known as algae, and are totally harmless to humans.

The free-swimming marine invertebrate were everywhere. I even snatched up a few of the slippery creatures and tossed them in the boys direction.

A short time later, I climbed from the surf to give my body a much needed break while the rambunctious youngsters continued with their impromptu merry-making.

I was ready to rejoin my young comrades in the water following a brief recuperation period; but they were nowhere to be found. After scanning the shoreline, I found them standing on a sandbar some distance away.

Without even thinking, I swam out to the sandbar and asked the dynamic duo what possessed them to venture so far into the ocean. They rather enjoyed the idea of standing in the shallow water so far from the shore.

It gave them a feeling of dominance and power. I knew exactly what they meant when I looked back to the beach, which seemed so far away. I felt like I was on top of the world.

Not long after my arrival, I felt something brush up against my leg. It wasn’t until the boys mentioned a similar feeling that I realized just how much danger we were in.

After one of the adolescents yelled “Shark,” they both hightailed it back to shore on their boogie boards and left me standing there like shark bait.

Exhausted from my swim only minutes earlier, I thought my fate was sealed. If the shark didn’t bring me to an untimely demise, the long stretch back to the sandy shore would surely bring me to death’s door.

Feeling queasy with a searing pressure in my head, the water enveloped my body while flapping my arms with laborious strokes as I frantically searched for land.

Miraculously enough, I made it back to the beach in one piece with no help from the whippersnappers I brought with me.

After catching my breath, I quickly discovered the brush against my leg was one of those so-called jellyfish the boys had been throwing around in their earlier game of tag.

Thinking my life was in mortal danger, I almost drowned from total exhaustion as I desperately swam back to the beach.

All the while, those two imprudent hooligans thought it was nothing more than a bit of tomfoolery and laughed about it.

Needless to say, I never took those two juvenile delinquents to the beach again.