“The lifeguard did. The EMTs will be waiting at the dock for them. They know they can’t get to the scene as fast as Nate and Terri can.”
“And they know this from practice, do they?” She looked back to the water because the people had begun to count. It didn’t take much to know that they were counting the seconds Terri had been underwater. “Thirty-six, 37, 38.” Stacy began counting with them. “Forty-eight, 49, 50.” Please, she prayed.
Nate put his foot on the side of the boat. He was going down to get Terri.
But then she came up, and her hands were under the arms of a young man whose head was to one side. She held him up to Nate, who pulled the guy into the boat and began resuscitation on him.
With what looked to be a very practiced gesture, Nate dropped his arm down toward the water. Terri grabbed his wrist with both her hands and Nate lifted her straight up.
They didn’t seem to speak but just set to work on the young man.
From the shore, no one could tell what was going on inside the boat. Was the man alive or not? The onlookers seemed to collectively hold their breath. Not even the kids were restless as they stood there in stony immobility and waited.
Finally, Terri stood up straight, faced them, then held her arms up, her thumbs pointed to the sky. He was alive!
Nate started the boat motor and took off so fast that Terri would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to the seat beside him. They disappeared around the bend.
For a while Stacy just stood there, clinging to the lifeguard stand. The people on the beach were laughing and some of the kids were dancing. What she heard most was “Nate and Terri.” Only it was said as one word: nateandterri.
“You want us to give you a ride back to town?” Brett asked. His tone was as to someone who’d just seen the death of a loved one. Sad and full of caring.
If there was one thing Stacy didn’t want, it was to be the object of pity. She gave the smile that as a cheerleader she’d learned to put on after the team lost. “No,” she said brightly, “I need to clean up and...” She couldn’t think of an excuse. “My booth.”
“But how will you get back?” Brent asked.
“Nate warned me that something like this might happen so he left me his car keys. He told me he and Terri worked together, but I had no idea they were so good. It was like watching a ballet, wasn’t it?” She smiled broadly.
The twins looked dubious, but then nodded. “You’re sure you don’t need us?”
“Of course not.” I had no idea I was so good at lying, she thought. I’m an absolute master at it.
It took a few moments to get rid of them, then Stacy stood by her basket full of uneaten food and looked about the bystanders. Who could she get to tell her the truth of what was going on?
To one side, digging up shells, was Colby Felderman. He was nine years old, went to her church, was in her mother’s Sunday school class and was a great talker. She knew his parents lived in a house at the lake.
“Hi, Colby,” she said.
“Hi, Miss Hartman. Did you see it?”
“I sure did. I have some food here that needs to go to Nate but I don’t know where he lives. Do you know?”
“With Terri. Up there.” He pointed toward a house on a bit of land that stuck out into the lake.
“That’s a pretty place. Have you seen Nate up there?”
“Sure. He and Terri sit in the chairs and drink beer.”
“Every night?”
“No. Sometimes they have parties and everybody goes.”
“That sounds like fun. Does Nate help around here, at the lake?”
“He does everything.”
“With Terri?”
“Oh yeah. My mom says they’re in love but too dumb to know it. But I don’t think Nate is dumb. He fixed the motor on my dad’s boat. And one night he and Terri took my brother to jail, but Dad got him out.”