18
The horror of that moment to all who stood around. —Persuasion
I watch Freddy make his way through the crowd to the ticket booth. So it’s true. He is dating Rosie. Why else would he insist on having a private carriage on the Ferris wheel? And like a fool, I thought... I don’t know... It felt like we had a moment when he first greeted me at the pier. He looked at me with eyes so intense and focused solely on me, it took my breath away. The past five years apart were compressed to nothingness. We were right back to where we began—two lost souls who found each other.
“You okay?” Johnny asks. We’ve been walking aimlessly toward the far end of the pier. I can see Rosie up ahead. She’s hard to miss, carrying that giant panda. I should have known Freddy would win. He is annoyingly competent at everything.
“I’m good.”
“Is there some history with you and Freddy West? I can’t help but sense something between the two of you?”
“Hmmm.” I debate how much to tell Johnny. If I date Johnny, I will have to tell him the whole story eventually. And watching Rosie with that stupid panda Freddy won, I reconsider the handsome man at my side. Johnny is not half bad. I might as well tell him a watered-down version. The same one I told September.
“I knew him a little before he was famous.”
“I knew it,” says Johnny. “How did you meet? Was he a fan?”
“No, I don’t think he ever listened to my music. It’s a funny story. He worked as a lifeguard. I didn’t understand the tide, and he rescued me.”
“Did he now?” Johnny pulls me in close to his side. As if just the mention of Freddy threatens his hold on me. He is probably right on that. Up ahead, Rosie walks on a park bench, holding her giant panda. Benwick walks beside her. She leaps from one bench to another. Benwick scolds her, tells her to get down. Rosie laughs.
Freddy joins us. He hands Johnny the tickets. “We still have thirty minutes to wait.” His eyes dart to Rosie up ahead, now climbing up onto the railing at the edge of the pier. She takes a couple steps with her arms outstretched as if she’s on a highwire, except in one arm, she’s holding the dumb giant panda.
“Is that Rosie?” Freddy jogs off. We also hurry behind him. Before he reaches them, Freddy yells, “That’s too high, Rosie, get down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!” she hollers back at him.
A pier employee notices her. “Miss!” he calls into a bullhorn. “You can’t be up there.”
Startled by the bullhorn, Rosie turns back to look, loses balance, and topples backward off the pier. On the way down, her head smacks something. Her body disappears into the ocean. In one fluid movement, Freddy kicks off his shoes, climbs over the rail, and dives in.
Carlos runs up to us. “What happened?” he asks.
“Rosie fell in,” says Johnny.
“And Freddy went after her,” I say, my voice wobbling.
Our feet pound on the wood as we run to the banister.
Daisy and Flossman stand by a forlorn Benwick. We stare down into the water with the giant stuffed panda floating on top. I wonder how far the drop is. Twenty feet? Thirty? Maybe more? The water must be deep. She should be fine. Except it sounded and looked like she hit her head on the way down. If Rosie is unconscious, she won’t be able to swim. But will Freddy be able to find her?
“Do something!” Daisy yells at her date.
“I’m just a dentist,” answers Flossman.
Johnny is already calling 911.
“I’ll get a medic,” Benwick says as he runs toward a building with a giant red cross on it at the end of the pier.
Freddy’s head surfaces, then disappears. He looks so small and vulnerable from up here. I can hardly breathe—scared for Rosie, terrified for Freddy. How can he find a body in the dark water? My eyes tear up just as a head breaks through the surface. It’s Freddy! And he has Rosie. Tears fall with relief. She’ll be okay now. Now that Freddy has her. We watch him swim to the shore, pulling the seemingly lifeless body. Then, as if the same thought hits us all at once, we start running back toward the shore, heedless of the crowd and anyone who might call our names.
An ambulance flashing red lights pulls up on the boardwalk right as we reach the stairs down to the beach. I pause for a moment and look to the shore. Freddy walks out of the ocean, cradling Rosie in his arms like a groom carrying a bride over the threshold. He is met by two EMT’s with a gurney. Soon a crowd gathers around them, and I cannot see what is happening. “Is she alive?” September asks. “Is she breathing?”
“I can see as much as you can,” I say as I watch them carry the gurney to the ambulance. “But the fact that they aren’t doing mouth-to-mouth makes me think she’s okay.”
“Or dead!” September wails. “I can’t believe Carlos left me.”
Carlos is already down by the ambulance, talking to the EMTs. “She is his sister.” I remind September.
“You know how upsetting stuff like this is to me. After Mom.”
I do know. Though, I would guess watching two friends in peril would be upsetting to anyone. But I don’t say that. Rather, I put an arm around September.
“She’s going to be okay,” I say, trying to believe it.
“I know,” she whimpers through tears. “For a minute there, I was worried we’d lost Freddy, too.”
“So was I.” My voice trembles.
“It was horrible,” my sister says.
The blue and red flashing lights shine on the crowd. Freddy climbs into the ambulance with Rosie. Is he injured? Or is he going to keep an eye on Rosie? The doors shut, and the vehicle drives away, resuming its mournful wail.