I'm originally from Orange County, California, where I had the pleasure and honor of serving as a Newport Beach ocean lifeguard. Whenever I could, I got shifts working the Point. The Point was known for its massive rip currents (退潮流).
So, late in a shift, I was working Tower 15. Two blocks to my right was another guard named Mike, working Tower 17. He called me, "Hey, I got a couple of kids. I got to go and give them a warning. Keep an eye on us." I said, "Sure."
And sure enough, as soon as he hung up the phone and grabbed his buoy (航标) , a rip was snapped up under these two kids, and they were getting sucked out. All I saw was two small noses bobbing in the water. Mike was dashing toward the ocean.
By now, the mother of the two kids realized what was happening. She was screaming. I started rushing toward her, but before I was even halfway there, Mike reached the kids.
Mike swam sideways out of the rip current into the clear water and started bringing them in. When I reached their mother, Mike was in waist-deep water. The kids were so exhausted, so Mike was carrying them, one under each arm.
I turned to their mom, "Hey, it's OK. They're safe." I saw her terror start to fade.
She glanced back and got her first good look at Mike. He had a number of really scary tattoos (纹身), and his shaved head showed the scar he got from a broken beer bottle. Then a crazy thing happened. I saw a new kind of panic wash over her as though there was some new, equally dangerous threat on her kids' lives. She rushed up to Mike and snatched her kids. Not even a thank-you.
Mike just glanced at me, shrugged, and jogged back to his tower.
If any other guard had worked 17 that night, including me, there would be a very real chance that that mother wasn't going home with both her kids.
