Yesterday, mr.stretch went fishing. He had planned to go to a lake he’s fished before, but as he was driving up the mountain, he made a last minute decision to go to a lake that he’d never been to.
For the first hour or so, he’s the only one at the lake. Then, five rigs show up with fellow fisher-folk. Mr.stretch decides to leave—he picks up his gear, and is heading for the truck but then changes his mind; instead he moves around the lake a bit, placing a group of trees between him and his view of the others.
About 15 minutes after he moved, he hears a splash from where he was fishing before. Mr.stretch is a curious dude—he moves up from behind his stand of trees and looks to see what made the noise. He sees a man in the water—only his part of his upper body is visible and he’s face down. Mr.stretch is on the move—asking if the guy is okay and running towards him. The man doesn’t respond and mr.stretch is in the water in a heartbeat, holding the guy’s head and chest up out of the water.
Mr.stretch sees he has an older gentleman (Old Dude) on his hands—he guesses the guy was in his early 70s. Old Dude is about 6’4”, 190 lbs. Mr.stretch is 5’6” and 145 lbs—mr.stretch can’t get the Old Dude out of the water. He asks Old Dude if he’s okay; Old Dude says, “My wife will be here soon to help.” Mr.stretch asks Old Dude his wife’s name—Sharon. Mr.stretch yells out, “Sharon!”
An older woman is at a car, unloading lawn chairs and stuff. She whips her head around and mr.stretch, trying not to scare the crap out of her since it appears he is wrestling her husband and perhaps losing, yells out, “Can you come over and give us a hand for a minute?” Just like a cartoon, lawn chairs go flying and the woman is moving as fast as she can towards mr.stretch and the Old Dude. She keeps up a running commentary of “This is why you have to wait for me; you can’t wander off like that” and apologies to mr.stretch as they leverage the Old Dude out of the water and get him up to the bank.
Old Dude has a bleeding gash on his forehead; he’s shaky and soaking wet. But, by God, he came to fish and that’s what they are going to do! His wife gets a lawn chair while mr.stretch holds Old Dude up. They get him settled in the chair and wrapped in a blanket. Then mr.stretch goes back to his fishing gear, finishes catching his limit and comes home. When he leaves, Old Dude and Sharon are still fishing and seem to be enjoying their outing despite the scare.
What did the other folks who showed up at the same time as Old Dude and Sharon do to help? Nothing. No one made a move to help this old woman and little guy, who were obviously struggling, get the big Old Dude out of the water. But mr.stretch did the right thing. One of the many reasons I love him!
