Cait the Encourageable on Nostr: Part 2: We went down to the dock, and my sister and I got on an air mattress (she was ...
Part 2:
We went down to the dock, and my sister and I got on an air mattress (she was 12), while my dad just jumped in and went for a swim.
We paddled around a bit, and then saw my dad waving from the next dock over. He looked at us, grinned, and ducked under the water. He didn't resurface where we could see him. The hunt was on. Hide and seek. Super fun in the sun. We were splashing and laughing, calling out to him, saying "Marco" and things, but he didn't reply. As we got closer to the dock where we'd seen him, the water started hurting us. Anything dipped in the water started to cramp painfully. We finally got close enough to the dock to reach a rope on the edge, pull ourselves in, and I heaved her up onto the dock. I got out myself, barely, with the water making my legs hurt immensely. Familiarly.
I called out for Dad, who should have been able to hear us shouting and crying. No answer. No sight of him. We started freaking out some, and other people came. Someone called 911. When firefighters showed up, I showed them where we'd last seen him...and looking down into the water of that clear lagoon, I saw a pale shape under the water at the bottom of the dock stanchion.
Soon enough it was figured out that the painful water was electricity, and it was turned off. The boat was trickle-charging at the dock, the neighbours not home for the weekend. Extension cord, water, tidal action...pain.
The police diver got my dad out of the water, and they tried to revive him on the dock, but he was gone. What we'd taken for his playful grin was his rictus mortis - the death smile, as his hands grabbed the metal pole and his heart was stopped. Quick, at least. He didn't drown, the autopsy found.
Anyway, cue mother's arrival by emergency flight, and our subsequent flight home to Edmonton (where he lived), and the memorial service. And my lifelong dread fear of electricity.
We went down to the dock, and my sister and I got on an air mattress (she was 12), while my dad just jumped in and went for a swim.
We paddled around a bit, and then saw my dad waving from the next dock over. He looked at us, grinned, and ducked under the water. He didn't resurface where we could see him. The hunt was on. Hide and seek. Super fun in the sun. We were splashing and laughing, calling out to him, saying "Marco" and things, but he didn't reply. As we got closer to the dock where we'd seen him, the water started hurting us. Anything dipped in the water started to cramp painfully. We finally got close enough to the dock to reach a rope on the edge, pull ourselves in, and I heaved her up onto the dock. I got out myself, barely, with the water making my legs hurt immensely. Familiarly.
I called out for Dad, who should have been able to hear us shouting and crying. No answer. No sight of him. We started freaking out some, and other people came. Someone called 911. When firefighters showed up, I showed them where we'd last seen him...and looking down into the water of that clear lagoon, I saw a pale shape under the water at the bottom of the dock stanchion.
Soon enough it was figured out that the painful water was electricity, and it was turned off. The boat was trickle-charging at the dock, the neighbours not home for the weekend. Extension cord, water, tidal action...pain.
The police diver got my dad out of the water, and they tried to revive him on the dock, but he was gone. What we'd taken for his playful grin was his rictus mortis - the death smile, as his hands grabbed the metal pole and his heart was stopped. Quick, at least. He didn't drown, the autopsy found.
Anyway, cue mother's arrival by emergency flight, and our subsequent flight home to Edmonton (where he lived), and the memorial service. And my lifelong dread fear of electricity.