Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul on Love & Friendship by Jack Canfield

Author:Jack Canfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9780757399961
Publisher: HCI, The Life Issues Publisher
Published: 2010-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

One Final Lesson

One rainy day I was at home playing on my computer when the phone rang. It showed up on my caller ID as one of my really good friends from across the state. I anxiously grabbed for the receiver and answered. But instead of the lively reply that I had come to expect from my friend, I heard nothing but sobbing. She was crying so hard she couldn’t even talk. Finally, she got it all out. Two of her best friends had just died. Slowly over the next hour and a half I got the story piece by piece.

After I hung up I couldn’t clear my mind of what I had just heard. It was a scenario I had heard too many times in my life. So I pulled the facts together and wrote a story of what happened. The following is what I came up with.

The last day of school is today. It couldn’t be more perfect since today is also your seventeenth birthday. All that you and two of your buddies have planned is a night out on the lake.

For a couple of hours you and your friends sit in a little aluminum boat in the middle of the lake under the colorful skies painted by a setting sun. As you guys empty can after can from a case of beer, you talk about the usual: girls and your plans for the summer, and what it’s going to be like when school begins and all three of you are finally seniors.

You don’t notice the wind beginning to pick up, churning the calm, smooth lake into something dangerous. By the time you realize it’s time to come in, the waves have already begun to thrash your little boat. Your friend gets the engine going and handles the steering while you work the throttle. As soon as he gets the engine started you open the throttle maybe just a little more than you should. With a jolt, the little boat is sent speeding across the waves. Halfway to the landing you helplessly watch in horror as you notice a huge wave coming at you from the side. Your friend turns the boat into the wind and toward the wave as you throttle down the engine for all you’re worth, but not soon enough. The wave hits the boat at an angle, sending her off the crest and smashing down into its trough. All three of you are knocked against the side as the force of the wave capsizes the boat and sends you all into the lake.

You kick for the surface, but your legs feel heavy and sluggish. It feels as if something is pulling you down into the depths. Your boots, now weighted by the water, are pulling you deeper and deeper into the darkness. As much as you try, the light of the surface becomes more and more distant. As your last few seconds of consciousness pass, you desperately try to pull your boots off. You tear at the laces, but they won’t come undone.

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