Saving Sam by Lynnette Beers

Author:Lynnette Beers [Beers, Lynnette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781619294103
Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises
Published: 2019-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

San Diego: Autumn 2014

SAM STEPPED DOWN the rungs of the ladder then hopped onto the sand and dashed to the water’s edge, focusing on the little girl plopped down in the shallow zone close to shore. She heard the child’s sobs from several yards away. Once she was almost in the water, Sam shed her bulky lifeguarding jacket and tossed it onto the damp sand. She didn’t bother to remove her long-sleeved T-shirt as she sloshed through the surf to get nearer to the child. Sam recognized immediately that the kid had been stung by a stingray; she knew she must administer first aid as soon as possible to neutralize the venom before it did too much damage to the tissue.

The glassy ocean often created seemingly safe conditions to beachgoers. Unsuspecting swimmers like this girl would step on a stingray and end up with a painful sting on the bottom of the foot, the barbs piercing the skin and causing unbearable pain.

Sam trudged through the shallow water and within seconds reached the young victim and scooped her into her arms, then tromped through the water to get back to shore. By now her T-shirt was sopping wet and saturated with the child’s blood—the bright red so dark against the white cloth.

It’d been a quiet Saturday up until this moment. Weary from not much sleep, Sam sat atop her lifeguard station all morning wrapped in her thick lifeguarding jacket. She’d been perched on her tower replaying what she learned yesterday about the man who tried to kill Robert. Still stunned that it was Johnny who’d caused the accident, Sam couldn’t quite wrap her head around the latest information. She awoke in the wee hours of morning in Kim’s bed but drifted back to sleep once she’d taken another Xanax.

Tired and foggy-headed, Sam tried her best to focus on the injured child. She carried the girl onto dry sand and kneeled next to her, gently holding the foot in her hand. She studied the serrated skin and seeping blood. She glanced at her tower to see if the relief lifeguard was here yet. Almost her lunchbreak, she’d been looking forward to a twenty-minute run on the beach and a dip in the ocean, but with this child sobbing and in intense pain, Sam wouldn’t leave her side until she could provide relief.

“Let’s have you lie back so I can get a good look at that foot.” Sam gently guided the girl’s body onto the sand then propped the foot up on her own leg. She’d become adept over the years at not conveying how severe an injury was and typically downplayed any scary situation. She examined the foot to see if the stingray’s barb was still in the skin, but the blood kept pouring out from the wound, which prevented her from assessing the damage. She kept the foot elevated above the girl’s heart, hoping to slow the bleeding.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” Sam asked.

“Olivia,” she said, continuing to cry. “I think I got cut by glass.

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