Alison Marqusee

Sometimes people love each other for silly reasons: Because they want to give each other flowers and chocolate, or because they happened to have been born into the same family. I guess there are dumber motives. After all, I love my family. Every summer we go up to a little cottage, in Massachusetts, and we spend the month of July with our uncles and cousins and aunts and grandparents, more than twenty of us enjoying the sun.

Usually the month passes peacefully. Not last summer.

Children running on the grass. We chased each other, shrieking, until we collapsed, exhilarated and exhausted. I looked up at the sky, unending like the summer, as I regained my breath.

“Ashley, catch!” The ball bounced beside me as I startled.

“Aww, you missed.” It was my cousin Robert. He was six and excited. His disappointment lasted only a moment. I stood up and rejoined the play, until we all decided to head down to the water and splash around.

After a few minutes, I swam a little distance away from the others and just floated, staring at the sky. My hair spread out around my head, and sunk slowly in the water. The clouds were wispy and I saw shapes in them.

Gradually I realized that everyone else was up on the beach, building sandcastles and generally running amok. I thought I'd head over to join them: I pulled the water in long, slow strokes.

Then I saw the shark.

My shoulders tensed, my heart pounded. My stomach turned to ice, and I let out a squeak of fear. Shore looked very far away.

I realized that my cousin Geoffrey was nowhere to be seen. My heart beat even faster: he had been eaten by the shark! I imagined him nestled in its belly, cocooned uncomfortably by the monster’s warm intestines.

Around then I had two thoughts: One was that it served Geoffrey right, for stealing my ice cream at lunch, and the other was that I should get as far away from this terror of the deeps as I possibly could.

Yelling, I struck out towards shore, but the shark was gaining on me. I floundered, choking as I accidentally inhaled a mouthful of murky water.

Go away go away go away! I thought, my breath harsh as I willed the creature to find some other unfortunate victim to devour. Eat someone else don’t eat me go away go away!

The shark was too fast. Only its fin was visible: the shark didn't seem to be swimming so much as slicing its way through the water.

Something smooth brushed against my leg.

I panicked, thrashing through the water as quickly as I could, stirring up silt and looking back over my shoulder as often as I dared. My breath came in short gasps; the minute my feet brushed bottom, I half ran and half swam towards shore, staggering towards the sunburned beach. The rough sand looked like paradise.

I was part way through the shallows when I realized the shark wasn’t following me any more. It had stayed in deep water, and was now circling: It was still just as menacing. I wasted no time making my escape. An image of needle-sharp teeth lurking just below the surface was hot in my mind. Stumbling backwards, I reached the shore and sat down hard. My soaked hair dripped water into my eyes. I shook with relief.

My eyes were wide.

Geoffrey popped out of the water, plastic shark fin haphazardly affixed to his head, and I squealed in shock.

“Hey!”

He laughed.

“You shoulda seen your face, Ashley!” He seemed delighted; I knew I had to rescue my pride. I thought quickly.

“I knew it was you all along,” My reply was haughty.

“Yeah, right.” We walked up onto the beach and I handed him his towel. I hoped he couldn’t see that my hand was still shaking, that my muscles were still tensed in anticipation of snapping jaws.

“You didn’t scare me." I paused. "I wish there was a real shark, just so I could fight it off!”

“Yeah, right.” He said again. I wasn’t fooling him.

“Hmph.” I pretended to ignore him, so he wouldn’t know that I loved him. I didn’t want anyone to know, because it was so silly.

I loved my cousin Geoffrey for not being a shark.