Dead Ringer

Psshlp. Be

Be

It was Alice.

Be

“No! Bear! No!” Be

“Bear! No! Come!” she yelled, making a megaphone of her hands. Alice was ru

Suddenly everything was happening at once. The college eights were racing toward Be

She began swimming frantically toward shore, a straight-ahead breaststroke. The water was freezing and filled with debris. It tasted like filth but she spit it out. She would never make it in time to save him. Bear would run right in front of the cars. No, please. No! She hiccuped with fright and swam as hard as she could, stroke after stroke, barely taking a breath. Her eyes stung. A stick scratched her cheek. She kicked something slimy from her ankle. She came up for air and heard people shouting. Screaming.

Be

She was swimming directly in the path of the college eights. And they were heading straight for her.

Oh my God.

16

Look ahead, eight! Look ahead!” rowers screamed from the other boats, but the eights rushed toward Be

The rowers tried frantically to brake, jamming their oars in the water, spraying water like fountains from both sides. “Hold water! Hold water!” their coxswains screamed and steered but it was no use. One boat’s rudder flapped uselessly back and forth. Its lead wire must have been broken by the sudden strain. Be

No! She swam harder. Her lungs felt as if they’d burst. The lead eight was coming right at her, the boyish bowman twisting his trunk around to see her in their path. Be

She gulped a final breath of air and dove down deep into the mud and shit, heading for the river bottom. Her chest felt as if it would explode. In the next second, she could feel the powerful current of the eight moving like a whale over her head.

Please, no. Be

But then she saw sunlight, up and to her right. She was sideways. The boat had passed. Out of air, Be

I don’t want to die. Not like this. Not with Alice still alive. And Bear.

Be

“Wait, wait, there!” she heard a coach yelling, but she was coughing too hard to hear more. She vomited gritty river water and tried to stay afloat.

Bear. She wiped her eyes with cold and trembling hands. She torqued in the water toward the riverbank and saw it through bleary eyes. Please, God. Let him be alive.

A crowd formed suddenly on the bank where Bear had been chasing the te

The skiff motored closer, and Be

She ran soaking and out of breath toward the fringe of the crowd, ignoring the stares and shock of the onlookers. She couldn’t see through the crowd to Bear. Dirty spittle covered her chin, and her hair dripped with filthy water. Mud caked her shins, and her socks were soaked. Maybe Bear could still be saved. Maybe if she got him to a vet in time. The vet school at Pe

“Bear!” she yelled, staggering her way to the front of the crowd, which was breaking suddenly into wild applause. The cyclists in their tiny hats, the ru

“Bear?” she asked with hope, and as the crowd parted she saw that one of the ru

“Bear!” Be

“Yeah!” “Way to go, buddy!” “Great job!” shouted the crowd, and the ru

“Yes, thank you so much for saving my dog,” Be

“No problem,” he said tersely. His largish mouth made a businesslike line, and his eyes, large, round, and brown, had gone flinty in the sunlight. He looked to be about Be

An older woman in a blue sweat suit and Reeboks was wagging a red-polished finger at Be