We find a parking spot close to the beach. My mum carries the cooler and her canvas beach bag
while I drape our towels over my shoulder and cross the sand, looking for a spot to claim. ’m
surprised to see anyone else at the beach on such a cloudy day. Mum says they’re probably people
who are renting the beachfront cottages. It’s Still nowhere near as many people as on a hot sunny
day when you can barely walk between all the blankets and towels cluttering the sand. Today, we
have our pick of prime real eState so we lay out our towels close to the water, but not too close,
clear of the seaweed ridge that washes in with each wave. I Strip down to my bathing suit which
I’ve worn under my clothes for convenience; I run Straight to the shoreline. The waves lick at my
toes as I dig them into the quicksand. I look out over the water to the opposite side of the lake.
Once my dad came here with us, before he moved out, and told me that you could see the States
across the lake on a clear day. I look every time to check, but have never seen anything but miles
of lake and sky.

Normally Mum would come swim with me for a bit. She’s not a Strong swimmer, but she’ll
usually wade out until the water reaches her shoulders and swim a few lengths of sideStroke with
me before retiring to the beach. Today’s not hot enough for that, so she gets comfy on her towel

with a Louis L'amour novel.
If I had a friend with me, I’d run Straight

Sf 9 ‘ned a friend with me, B! a Wun straight in in and dunk my head under in a show of

mer Alirale my head under vag aay of bravery. bravery. Here on my own, I savour the gradual

immersion. Once my knees are submerged I
own, J SAVOUT the gradual immersion. look down to see my legs, diStorted and green
under the water, they wobble a little in the
waves. There are a lot of sand bars in Lake Erie. The water gets deeper and then shallower over
and over before it gets really deep and even then I might swim out to a spot far from the shore
where I can touch the sand again.

The water’s been warmed up a little by the hot weather laSt week, but it’s not warmer than the
air so I jump when the waves reach my belly. I walk on my tippy toes until I gather my reserve
and rush forward until I’m up to my cheSt. My shoulders prickle with goose bumps and I know
there’s only one thing to do. I take a deep breath, jump as high out of the water as I can and
land with my head underwater. I slowly exhale blowing bubbles out my nose to keep the water
from rushing in. I open my eyes to a world of seaweed snowflakes swirling upwards in Streams of
murky green sunlight, mixed by the bubbles of my breath. I lift up my feet and my body levitates
and sways under the waves. The motion gives me an idea.

I push my feet into the lake bottom and propel myself upwards, breaking through the water’s
surface. My head and shoulders pop up and I’m pushed backwards by another wave before I
land. Scanning the horizon for the biggest oncoming wave I can see, I spot a creSt forming twenty
metres out. I run parallel to the beach and align myself. Now face to face with the biggest wave,
I Steel myself with knees crouched and toes locked into the silty sand. The wave approaches, the
creSt has fallen off but its peak is at leaSt two feet higher than its trough. I raise my arms above my
head and dive head firSt into the wall of water. The wave moves over my body in an undulation
of smooth coolness. When the current releases me, neighbouring waves rock me side to side as I
ascend to the surface. A deep breath of air and I avoid letting the next wave crash into my face. I
Stand, wipe the water from my eyes and search out the next creSt in the diStance.

I could crash into waves for hours on a windy day like this, but soon the sky is an ominous
green. An anvil shaped cloud has been building over the lake and moves ashore quickly. I sink
into the water and pivot to peer back at the beach where I see Mum has put her book away and is
organizing our Stuff. When she sees me, she waves me in.

I take as long as I possibly can to get back to the beach. When the water gets too shallow to
swim, I crawl on my belly along the sandy bottom until I reach the shalloweSt part of the shore. I
know if I don’t Stand up here Pll get sand and seaweed in my bathing suit.