Chapter 2
Cara’s Rescue
“That was crazy!” exclaimed James breathlessly.
“What happened?” he asked Tom.
“I don’t know, I just started sinking as I stepped onto the sand. We’d better get out of here, and fast.”
Tom turned quickly to take the path back up where they had come. He stopped suddenly and turned to the others.
“Not a word about this to Nana or grandpa,” he warned.
“Are you out of your mind? They would kill all of us if they found out,” James told him.
“I think we’d better go back home though,” Cara joined in. “I don’t feel like any more adventures today.”
“What! Looking like this?” Tom screeched pointing down to his wet, sandy appearance.
“You would not need to tell Nana anything if we went home now like this,” he added.
James suddenly his old self again laughed.
“Besides, the day is still young, you giving up just like that?” he asked incredulously.
“Weren’t you scared James?” Jill asked her twin.
“Nah, I wasn’t scared,” James returned, pretending to be brave.
“You could have fooled me,” Cara rejoined sarcastically recalling both boys’ terrified screams for help a brief while ago.
She was thankful that they were safe now though.
They were almost back up on the top of the ‘Drifton’. The way back was moving faster than their descent.
“Going to the beach would be safer,” Tom put in.
“We can wash all this sand off in the sea. Besides, even if we were able to sneak back in at home now, we would have to explain to Nana why we are coming back so soon,” he pointed out.
Cara agreed that he had a point.
They made their way out of the bushes and found the path down to the beach where they sat for a bit to recover from their little adventure.
The beach was sunny, beautiful, and peaceful. The waves were washing gently to the shore and out again in a soothing rhythm, while the chatter and laughter of other children could be heard further up around the docks and beyond in the distance.
The cousins could see their dark figures too, dotting the sand and the waters as they splashed happily about.
“Do we go up to where they are?” Cara asked her cousins.
“Nah,’ Tom replied sounding uninterested.
“I much rather stay where we are,” he added.
“We get to have this space to ourselves.”
At that, James jumped up and slapped Tom on the back.
“I’ll race you in,” he said tauntingly. “I can still beat you running and swimming.”
The two boys took off running toward the sea, kicking up sand behind them with their bare feet.
Cara and Jill watched them as they went.
“Are you going in Jill?” Cara asked.
Jill shrugged her shoulders still looking pinched from their earlier episode.
“Come on, just for a minute, it will be fun.”
Cara had put on her swimsuit under her shorts and tee. She found a covering behind some vegetation to change and then spread her shorts and tee on top of a low-hanging casuarina branch, and then paused to wait for Jill.
Jill was still sitting down.
She looked up at Cara now and then got up. She had also worn her swimsuit. It had always been their plan to do some sea bathing in the course of their day.
Jill found a spot to change and put her clothes on the branch next to Cara’s. The boys had simply gone in wholesale.
Both changed, Cara and Jill walked down to the water’s edge and stood where the water washed up on the bay and covered their feet. The water was pleasantly warm. Cara waddled further in and began swimming around.
The warm water on her skin felt good. She was enjoying her swim.
She called to Jill again who had sat down at the edge of the water, sufficing to let the water wash over her there.
Cara dove under the water, looking at the school of tiny fish swimming around them. They were everywhere and not disturbed by the presence of the young people splashing around. They swam right up to Cara and bumped against her and she laughed with delight.
“Ah, this is what summer is like,” Cara mused to herself.
“Freedom and relaxation.”
One thing she was sure of, she was never going back to the blue hole again.
Nana had warned them every summer not to go there, saying it was not a place for child’s play. This year, they had figured that they were old enough to go. They had wanted to see just what Nana had warned them to be careful of and to stay away from.
Now they knew; at least she did.
Something told her that her cousins Tom and James would not agree.
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