Yuma

By Amanda Lunetto

Ah. You slowly dip your feet into the cold fresh water on a hot day in Yuma. It’s like putting your feet in an ice bath, and it feels so good when its 100° out. You either do that, or let the cold be a surprise and run to the end of the dock and jump in. Then you feel the rush of the cold shoot into your fingers and pour out of your toes like a waterfall.

Yuma is your typical desert with brush, leafless trees, and a bunch of little lizards. The water is goopy with mud, leaves, and fish poop.

It all started on a Friday in June, at 3:00 am. We were going to make our way over to Yuma (it would be a six-hour drive). It was pitch black for the hour. I played cards with my mom. I wasn’t sleepy because I had gone to bed early the night before. My dad drove the truck so fast that he actually got us there in four hours!

I was so happy that the drive was over. We met up with two other guys named Jorge and Todd. Jorge is Mexican. He is a really nice tall guy with black-greasy hair. I’ve known Jorge since I was seven. Todd is tall with blond hair. The thing I like most about him is that he picks me up by my arms and swings me around. When we saw them we waved them over to where we were parked. We said our hellos and then decided to check in and put our bathing suits on.

It was time to hit the water. I felt a shiver of excitement going down my spine. Jorge and Todd have two-seater jet skis that looked like motor bikes, but without the wheels. My family and I have a three-seater jet ski. Ours looks like a boat.

After we put the jet skis in the water we put the trucks away. I was first to drive the jet ski. I drove it so fast, that my dad (the speed devil that he is) had to tell ME to slow down. Then he directed me to where we would put our coolers and towels. When we where all done moving the gear, I was anxious to play in the water. I brought Todd out and we splashed each other for about a half-hour until Jorge came in to join the fun.

We played for about two hours in the water. Then my dad asked if I wanted to put some "waves in the water," meaning did I want to go jet ski. I said, "Sure," and we got our vests on. We rode faster than the wind blew.

We got to the middle of the lake. We saw coolers in the water. Then we saw a guy trying to pull his boat out of the water. My dad and I were both wondering what had happened. We asked the guy what happened. He told us that a jet skier came around the corner too fast and crashed right into him. I felt bad for the people in the crash, because their boats were ruined. But luckily, nobody was hurt.

We saw Jorge and Todd coming up to where we were. They asked what happened. Before we knew it, they pulled the jet ski up. My dad and I went to go find a police boat. As we were riding, I kept telling my dad to be careful so that we wouldn’t crash. When we found a police boat, my heart was pounding and my stomach quaked with fear. I felt like that could have been us. We were going so fast and having so much fun that someone could have turned the corner too quickly on us. We could have crashed. But we didn’t crash. And as soon as we delivered the police boat to the scene of the accident we went back to camp, packed up, and went back to the hotel and went to bed.

That night before I went to bed, I thanked God that I have been safe after all these years in the water.