(All characters are over 18)
Summary: Married man shows his gratitude towards two hot latinos who saved him from drowning.
Note: Thank you to Annie (1moeannie) who worked some miracles in editing this story.
Latino Surfers
I don't know why I feel the urge to write what happened to me during that journey, perhaps I just want to relive it as vividly as I can imagine. The experience forever changed me. On the outside I am still the same, a father. A husband. My son is getting married now. He doesn't know, my wife doesn't know, that I've become someone completely different.
I must write it down.
I almost died.
We were traveling through the northern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, on our way to the city.
Me, my wife Bianca, and my sisters, Dora and Donna, were traveling down the coast, visiting all the beaches in that beautiful country. I was 39 years old, Bianca was 35, but in Brazil, we were younger than ever.
I thought it was incredible how those beaches seemed so much calmer than the beaches back home. I always considered myself very careful when dealing with the sea, I respected its dangers at all times. `
The event happened at a quiet beach, which was guarded by a town that could barely hold that description, basically a small group of homes. — The place had its secrets, as I was to discover later. "Careful with the back currents," my sister Donna, the only one who could speak Portuguese, translated for us. The woman who had warned us was a local, she carried a toddler, and was walking away from the beach.
None of us knew what said currents actually were, but we thought we would be fine, as long as we didn't go too far away from the shoreline.
When we got there, we sat on the beach and made our little space comfortable. I decided to go into the water, and enjoy the beautiful blue waves. I loved the sea.
There weren't many people on the beach, and in the water, fewer still.
I could see two surfers, so far away, that my eyes could barely distinguish them from the water.
I liked the peaceful energy of that quiet beach.
I had the warning of 'back current' in mind, and walked around a bit, to look for a safe area to relax in the water... I should have known there was no such a thing where the sea is concerned.
I found a pool of water where no waves were breaking. Nothing seemed to bother that place. It seemed really safe. I walked into the water slowly, not too far, I went deep enough to float, then closing my eyes I relaxed. I let myself float.
My inattention to the danger worked against me in that moment, as well as the apparent calmness of the sea.
With my eyes closed, I was being carried away so fast by the treacherous current, all the while having the sensation of being perfectly still. When Bianca screamed my name behind me, I could barely hear her.
The moment I opened my eyes, turned back, and realized both that I was too far from the shore and my feet could not touch the sand below, I panicked. The sea seemed to have turned cruel in that moment of realization, where before the water seemed to be gentle waves. I don't quite remember all the emotions.
I started to swim back as fast as I could, pouring out all my energy.
The image of Bianca, so tiny, waving her arms at me, looking worried, was so frightening that I felt dead already, drowning. How could I have been so stupid?
My strength had been worthless. I was fighting the current, and few people win that fight. I was moving farther away from the shore. Just then I realized I was also naked.
In my frantic, crazed attempt to swim back, I somehow let my bathing shorts go. They were gone, and I wasn't wearing underwear, so I thought I was not only about to die, but to die pathetically.
All the fears of being in the ocean by myself resurfaced, hitting me hard. I imagined all sorts of monsters ready to drag me down, all the while, trying to swim back, trying to fight the real monster, the current.
I was certain I was going to drown.
In that moment of utter powerlessness, I heard a voice.
"Hey" Bruno screamed, very close to me. I didn't know his name at the time. He told me later. "Hey!" He yelled again, then spoke a bunch of nonsense in Portuguese.
I saw another surfer mount his surfboard, and look at me worriedly. Both were staying at a safe distance, watching me, saying stuff that I couldn't understand.
"Help me!" I screamed, trying for the almost universal English.
Bruno, a brown—eyed, curly—haired youth, used his arms to make a soothing motion. His skin was deeply tanned from surfing below the scorching South-American sun.
"Be calm" he said in English.
Then he opened his arms wide, "Be calm. Float. We will help." He spoke well, though his accent was heavy.
The other surfer's name was Kaique. He didn't speak a single English word, or Italian. Kaique's dark skin was more a gift from birth than the sun, a mixture of black and white, but he had the most gleaming green eyes, they put my blue eyes to shame. Even though they looked young, their shoulders were wider than mine, the muscles more defined, lean, lithe bodies, probably from constantly surfing .
I was so filled with gratitude for not being alone that it was easy to obey these strangers, to be calm, to float, just like he told me. From the way they behaved on their boards, and from their fearless expressions, I believed I was looking up at two masters of the sea.
I nodded to what Bruno was saying, and nodded to his friend, who could only speak Portuguese, as well, because I knew they were wary of me. I knew that those who were drowning might try to carry others with them. They needed to know I was safe to approach.
Once I was calmer, they paddled in my direction. They were bare—chested, Bruno wearing crimson shorts, and Kaique, a black tight speedo. The Brazilian way.
Bruno pointed to his surfboard. "Mount it"
Then he slid off the board. I grabbed the board, and felt instant relief from my tired arm muscles. I started to breathe, actually breathe, since the whole insanity started. Bruno swam until he was next to me, and grabbed his board like I was doing. It's going to be okay.
"Thank you." I was trying hard not to cry. I didn't want to shame myself, to show how weak I had been when I thought I was going to die, but most of all, I didn't want to feel ridiculous in front of my saviors.
Kaique said something, what they said in Portuguese will forever be a mystery to me. They had a short conversation but I couldn't guess about what. Bruno turned to me at last.
"The water will take us back, or we swim in that direction," Bruno said, when he turned to me again. I looked to where he was pointing, and it was parallel to the shore. "No worries. I promise."
"Take us back? Are you sure?" I asked, uncertain. I thought they were going to swim on the boards and carry me somehow. The water seemed to be taking us ever farther away.
"Yes." Then he started to make circling motions with his fingers. — "It pulls you, then it returns. We use it all the time to catch waves. It's more dangerous when you don't know. You panic. Get tired. Try to swim against the current. Lose your shorts" He was smiling.
I could only lower my head and avoid eye contact. Each example he gave made me realize how much of a fool I had been, but when he talked about the shorts, I must have full blown blushed. I was humbled by two young men, who were also my heroes. I wasn't the kind of man to bow down and blush for other guys. But in this situation, I could only smile back.
"Thank you so much. Thank you. I owe you my life."
The other surfer was looking very tranquil on top of his board. His hair crisp and short, but just then I had a very advantageous view of the sun making his green eyes almost shine.
"Get on top, if you want. I will stay down."
"I can't. I lost my shorts. I'm naked."
"I know," Bruno said. "You were pretty wild on those waves. We saw you trying to cut them. It's okay, you don't have to be ashamed, your life was in danger."
"My wife must be worried sick."
"Is she there on the beach?"
