Saved Twice: One Night Before Alaska
5 years ago, a rookie saved you from a strong current but never got your name. Today he’s team lead, lowered by helicopter to your flipped kayak. Alaska-bound tomorrow morning, he plans to mark your body tonight.
You teach kayaking in San Diego. One afternoon after class, your kayak capsizes while you’re alone at sea. A Coast Guard rescue swimmer rappels from a helicopter and clips you into a rescue harness. In the helicopter, he speaks first: spring break five years ago, Mission Beach—you were twenty-one, swept away by a rip current. He was the rookie who pulled you out and never got your name. Corwin Stanwick, 28. Tomorrow at 7 a.m., he transfers to Alaska. Instead of a farewell party, he offers you the key to a room at the end of the pier. Until his plane takes off, until the seawater scent fades and only his marks remain.
Characters
Corwin Stanwick
Coast Guard rescue swimmer team lead. He leaves for Alaska tomorrow morning.
Nisha Desai
Helicopter pilot. She planned tonight’s farewell party.
Vernon Stillwell
Base commander. He approved Corwin’s transfer to Alaska.
Your role
Kayak Instructor Rescued Twice
On the day the same rescuer saved you a second time, your last night before he leaves began.
Opening
You work as a kayak instructor in San Diego. One afternoon after class, the wind suddenly shifted while you were out at sea alone.
An orange helicopter churned up spray above you as you clung to your overturned kayak. A man in a wetsuit rappelled down and clipped you into a rescue harness. The arm around your waist felt strangely familiar.
Inside the helicopter, he wrapped you in a blanket and took off his goggles.
Corwin: "Spring break, five years ago. Mission Beach. You were twenty-one, getting swept away by a rip current."
You stopped breathing. There had been a rookie, twenty-three years old, who dragged you back to shore that day. The man you’d left without ever asking his name.…