Sink or Swim Read Free

happening? Am I in my bathtub? Why can’t I breathe?
    Everything is blurry, and my eyes sting, so I close them. The water is salty. Bathtub water isn’t salty. Also, I’m horizontal, on my stomach, and my elbows are rubbing against the ground.
    A sandy ground.
    Need air! Can’t breathe! Lungs exploding!
    I open my eyes, look for the light, and push my face toward it.
    And then … cough, cough, cough! Ahhhhhhhh.
    Air. I’m breathing air. Gulps and gulps of air. Who knew air could taste so good? Who needs ice cream when air is so incredibly delicious?
    Once I’ve finished gorging on the air — it’s an all-I-can-eat air buffet! — I realize I’m looking at a sandy beach. But I’m not on the beach. I’m in the water, looking at the beach. It’s bright out here, too — around noon. What is going on? I twist around and see that a huge wave is about to smash into me. “No!” I yell, and try, unsuccessfully, to get out of its way.
    CRASH.
    No, no, no, I will not drown! Cough, cough, cough!
    My heart is thumping, and I push myself to my feet before I can get attacked again. What in the world is happening?
    I turn back to face the beach. It’s empty. No tourists, no sand castles, no bright-colored beach towels. Just pure-white sand sparkling in the midday sun. Beyond the beach are trees and beyond the trees are mountains. When I turn the other way, there’s blue ocean as far as the eye can see. Even as far as my stinging eyes can see. Wait a sec. One thing my eyes can’t see is my brother.
    “Jonah! Jonah, where are you?” Where is he? My heart sinks to the ocean floor.
    Just as I’m about to panic for real, he bursts out of the water and gives me a thumbs-up. “How cool is this?” he cries, sopping wet and grinning.
    He’s here! He’s okay! Hurray! “Jonah, get over here now!”
    “I’m fine!” he yells back.
    Unlike me, my brother loves to swim.
    According to my parents, when I was a kid, not only did I refuse to swim in the ocean, but I would cry hysterically when anyone else tried to. My parents. My brother. Strangers. Obviously I’m over that now .
    Kind of.
    CRASH.
    Another wave sends me toppling back under the water.
    AHHHHHHHH!
    Cough, cough, cough!
    Okay, fine, I’ll admit it: I AM AFRAID OF WATER.
    Not hot tubs or baths, but oceans, lakes, and rivers. Also moats, when I happen to come across them. Basically, I am afraid of bodies of water that have animals in them.
    I am also afraid of pools.
    They seem shallow but then BOOM the bottom’s gone, and you’re gulping chlorine.
    Right now, I need to get out of the ocean, pronto, before it sucks me under for good. As I stand, my pajamas feel like they weigh two-hundred pounds. My sneakers are no longer sneakers. They are now bricks attached to my feet.
    “I wonder where we are,” Jonah says, swimming up behind me. “Do you think we’re in Jack and the Beanstalk ?”
    Oh! Right! We’re in a fairy tale! There must be a fairy tale reason for the water, then. My shoulders relax. “Do you see Jack or a beanstalk?” I ask. There’s no ocean in Jack and the Beanstalk .
    He scrunches up his nose. Hmm, his nose is looking a little red. He might need sunscreen. Crumbs, I don’t think I packed any.
    Speaking of stuff I packed — where’s my suitcase?
    I spin around and around until I spot it a few feet away, floating in the other direction. “Our stuff! We have to get it!”
    “I’ll get it,” my brother says, diving after it. Except the waves are quick and I can see my red suitcase drifting away faster than Jonah can swim.
    “Forget it, Jonah!” I don’t want him swimming so far out. It’s too dangerous.
    “But I don’t want to lose my Kadima paddles!” he calls.
    “You didn’t pack them!” I yell back.
    “I did when you weren’t looking!”
    Now I know why my suitcase was so heavy.
    Eventually, when the suitcase is nothing more than a red dot in the distance, Jonah gives up and swims back.
    Great. Just great. I have nothing to