Rip Tide

the scene unfolds like the start of a bad dream about drowning the surf is calm the sky clear and quiet abruptly the shore recedes leaving my partner and me in deepening water

i don’t like how far out it’s pulling us he says and i agree we try to swim back and end up further out where his feet do not touch the sand

let’s swim this way i say pointing southward and he agrees clasping my arm i am pulling him he founders gasps panics i picture him dying alone in the sea

now i am behind him digging my toes into the sand at every trough ordering him not to panic holding him back telling him to let the next wave push him toward the shore now growing dim

we catch the eyes of my young sister stumbling in the shallows and wave she starts toward us then turns away to seek help when we vigorously shake our heads we push hard and the shore grows mercifully closer

when we stumble back an apocalyptic fog has settled on everything dampening the sound of the breakers but apart from this change in the weather and our shared memories this event now has no more reality than a bad dream about drowning